Severance by Ling Ma

Severance by Ling Ma

Not sure it was a good idea to read Severance while on lockdown during the COVID-19 Pandemic, but boy did it make it prescient and a bit surreal. I would wake up in the morning, having read before falling asleep, not sure which apocalyptic situation I was dealing with. I loved Ma’s descriptions of an empty, decaying New York and the way the Shen fever took over in a very gradual way. Information was not believable or trustworthy and before residents knew what to fear, it was almost too late. The flippant way in which revelers in the bars and restaurants ignored the mayor’s warning about a major hurricane was foreshadowing of what was to come. I loved Candace’s determination to fulfill her parents’ immigrant capitalist dreams and how their death gave her a certain freedom during the Shen fever situation. I highly recommend!