Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Salgın

“A second chance doesn't mean you're in the clear. In many ways, it is the more difficult thing. Because a second chance means that you have to try harder. You must rise to the challenge without the blind optimism of ignorance.”

i really thought i might like this a bit more going into it a second time and because i am in dire need of a copy of bliss montage but! all feelings about this novel remained the same (which is not really a bad thing)

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avilareads's review against another edition

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reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

there were things i enjoyed about this novel (mainly its reflections on capitalism, family, and the interesting concept of the fevered) but the present tense portions of the book didn’t do much for me other than make me deeply uncomfortable.
huge trigger warning for confinement in this novel that i had no idea of beforehand!
overall, a unique book with a captivating narrator. if it wasn’t for her flashbacks and insights on society i would not have finished this one.

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readwitheel's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The cubicle banality of the end of the world is explored quite skillfully in Ling Ma's Severance. The interweaving of two different timelines flowed nicely with the overall themes and plot of the book. Throughout the novel, it was often a point of dispute wether or not Candace living her routine as an office worker was better or worse than living in the tragedy of post-pandemic world traveling with strangers. Nostalgia, memory, and identity were strong themes that stood out to me in this book, especially when tied with the reminiscing of her parents immigration to Salt Lake City from Fuzhou, China.

Spoiler

The illness in the book, Shen Fever, seems to be triggered by nostalgia and the fevered enter into a state of repetition of their daily routines to never resume consciousness or self-awareness. It is a point-of-no-return sickness, taking almost all of the population. It seems to be implied that Candace herself succumbs to this wave of nostalgia at the end of the book when she is fleeing from the Facility into Chicago, as if nothing ever presented itself with enough emotional power to sway Candace into becoming fevered until now. The trigger for Candace's fever is potentially nostalgia for her ex-boyfriend Johnathan, who lived in Chicago before he moved to NYC.
Ling Ma skillfully blurs the quantifiers of what it means to be sick and healthy, fevered and unfevered,

Spoiler

Candace's personality and life-choices felt distant and almost mechanical to me, even if there were writing descriptions of her laughing, being upset, etc. It was almost as if she were just living the life and having the feelings that she felt like she was supposed to have, rather that trusting that she was living the life she actually wanted to. Even though I felt distant from Candace, I was still able to relate to her, as her struggle of staking out a place in this world through working is one of many facing the harsh brutalities and requirements of surviving within capitalism requires.

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potatokao's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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? N/A

4.5

the writing was beautiful and illustrative. i underlined in every chapter a sentence i needed to read. the back n forth between past and present was seamless, like a rocking chair. (rating especially writing over plot)

my original expectation was simply “zombie novel,” that’s all i had really heard. because of that, i felt the book was slow paced as i was waiting for adventure to happen.

however, once i realized what the book was about, i wept. her identity, her relationships, her family. i didnt expect to cry but her relationship with her mother was everything to me and i want to know more. i want to hear candace’s active voice on who she is, who she is in relation to her mother

Spoiler

, and who she will become as a mother.

even her tender moments with her father had me in pain.

candace is a passive character stuck on routine but i want nothing more than her to actively participate. if not now, then when.

there were moments where i felt underwhelmed from how passive candace was but i understand this is who she is. i wish she’ll grow more from here, away from our gaze.

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bluebrooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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? It's complicated

4.0

this book is gonna stick with me for a long time. i've never related to a character more than candace, and i feel like i really understand her. the only critical things i have to say about the ending are that it felt rushed and i wish ling ma would have developed candace's character just a bit more. there were definitely a few loose ends with this book and the ending is pretty open - ma makes allusions to passages from the beginning of the novel in the final pages, which helps brain everything full circle. still, i was left wanting more.

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dreamdoughnut's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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