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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.25
i rly like how society and human behavior bend in all surprising directions here when aspects of society at large consequentially start to collapse. calling dibs on shops in a mall for personal rooms? moving into the office when public transport stops? like, it doesnt get more capitalistic and american than that. the titular theme - in all its various forms - provides an intriguing examination of the ensuing loneliness of modern society as well. anddd it also makes me rly rly rly miss new york in all its barmy, yucky, yet freeing glory.
this is def a thought-provoking and mysterious read that subtly keeps one guessing, though i wish the writing was just a lill bit more polished.
Graphic: Confinement and Violence
Moderate: Death, Racism, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
kelleykamanda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Racism, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Sexual content, and Xenophobia
Minor: Suicide and Alcohol
Though this book was written before the pandemic, it is about a global pandemic. At times it is very eerily similar. Due to this, many people might find this triggering.plantbetti's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Confinement and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
Minor: Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, and Religious bigotry
takarakei's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Re-reading now in 2023 after going through a global pandemic, and quitting my shitty office job - I have a new perspective on life in general. It's rather eerie to read a book written before 2020 that got so many things right. I applaud Ling Ma who likely did a lot of research to make things so realistic. This book definitely reads more literary than sci-fi, although it is a dystopian setting (although I'd say about half the book is pre-pandemic reflecting that happens throughout the story). It is really a critique of our capitalist consumeristic society intertwined with the first generation immigrant millennial experience. I've read a few reviews where people say they don't like the main character Candice, but I would challenge people to question what it is they don't like about her. Because I would propose that perhaps the things they don't like about her (her stubbornness to continue going into work despite the absurd conditions) are perhaps things that they don't like about themselves. I truly don't think I would have gotten that perspective out of this book on my first read, so I am glad I re-read it.
**I recommend doing this one on audio or a combination of the audio + ebook/physical - because all the dialogue is written in that obnoxious way where there are no quotation marks. However, the narrator does a great job inflecting when people are talking, so that made it much easier to read.
To live in a city is to take part in and to propagate its impossible systems. To wake up. To go to work in the morning. It is also to take pleasure in those systems because, otherwise, who could repeat the same routines, year in, year out?
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Dementia, and Pregnancy
Minor: Drug use, Racism, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry
this is a pandemic novel, so most of the content warnings come from living in that apocalyptic world.maziodynes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
booksandmo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence and Sexual content
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
awashinfeeling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Pregnancy
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide and Religious bigotry
f18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, and Grief
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Car accident, and Abortion
writtenontheflyleaves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
🌟🌟🌟🌟
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🌇 The plot: Candace Chen is treading water. The routine of her corporate job keeps her from thinking about the recent deaths of her Chinese immigrant parents, her boyfriend leaving New York. It even keeps her from noticing that a fever is taking over, dismantling the city and the world she knew bit by bit. The novel jumps between this and her life After, as part of a band of survivors in the totalitarian grip of a former IT guy called Bob, from whom Candace increasingly wants to escape...
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This book is unbelievably expansive considering it’s under 300 pages. It conjures in great detail experiences of disillusionment, of grief, of what the New Yorker called “the millennial condition” (which at first I thought was a bit lofty but after reading it makes a lot of sense). It was even more impressive to read it during an actual pandemic - there’s a moment when Candace looks up one day and realises that the world around her has totally changed, but that she can’t pinpoint exactly when, which sounds painfully familiar. I also loved the integral role that Candace’s identity as a second generation immigrant plays in this novel, the perspective it gives her and how it contrasts with other post-apocalyptic fiction I’ve read.
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What I loved most is that this is a book about a woman surviving a plague, but it is also a book about how we survive the past. The past is an open wound in this novel: it splits the text, it divides the characters, it divides Candace. Though I loved the spirit of renewal in Station Eleven which I read this time last year, I appreciated the treatment of grief and pain in Severance. Station Eleven leans into nostalgia from the remove of a society rebuilding itself while Severance is still in the blood and guts of it, though I think they are both ultimately occupied with what it takes to keep going, to turn to the future.
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🏪 Read if you love a good anti-capitalist novel that deals with Big Themes but has all the intrigue of a really meaty post-apocalypse novel.
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🚫 Avoid if you don’t like reading pessimistic novels (I wouldn’t say this is fully pessimistic but it is ambivalent), and check the TWs carefully!
Graphic: Death, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Murder
bencaroline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, and Grief
Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Medical trauma
Minor: Racism, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
Pandemic