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Severance
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$14.94
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Trade Paperback
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9781250214997
Overview
Overview
Winner of the NYPL Young Lions Prize, Winner of the Kirkus Prize, A PEN/Hemingway Finalist, A New York Times Notable Book of 2018, An Indie Next Selection
A Best Book of 2018 at Elle, Marie Claire, Refinery29, Bustle, Buzzfeed, BookPage, Bookish, Mental Floss, Chicago Review of Books, HuffPost, Electric Literature, Amazon Editors', A.V. Club, Jezebel, Vulture
"A fierce debut from a writer with seemingly boundless imagination. . . A stunning, audacious book with a fresh take on both office politics and what the apocalypse might bring." --Michael Schaub, NPR.org
Maybe it's the end of the world, but not for Candace Chen, a millennial, first-generation American and office drone meandering her way into adulthood in Ling Ma's offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire, Severance.
Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she's had her fill of uncertainty. She's content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend.
So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies cease operations. The subways screech to a halt. Her bosses enlist her as part of a dwindling skeleton crew with a big end-date payoff. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.
Candace won't be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They're traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?
A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma's Severance is a moving family story, a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale, and a hilarious, deadpan satire. Most important, it's a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive.
- Format: TradePaperback
- Author: Ma, Ling
- ISBN: 9781250214997
- Condition: New
- Dimensions: 8.20 x 0.80
- Number Of Pages: 304
- Publication Year: 2019
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Pandemic reads
Jessica M. - 6 years ago#SummerReading This is an interesting book to read during a pandemic! Written in 2018, there are so many parallels between what happens to the society in the book and what we are all experiencing now - a highly contagious disease out of China, distribution to supply chains, disruption of regular workflows, masks. An interesting story and cultural commentary on what might happen to a disengaged millennial in a pandemic, though the author sometimes fails to make connections to greater points. Still enjoyed!
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A New Classic
Kathryn W. - 6 years ago#SummerReading A new favorite for me. Ma successfully tackled an apocalypse novel, something I and many readers usually hate, and made it into a lean, vivid, and human story. I was perfectly satisfied in every way by this book; I got genuinely anxious with its suspense, I remember Candace Chen as a real person, I think about the realities of Shen Fever with serious concern. The writing was beautiful and I could have read and read more and more forever. Cannot wait to follow Ma’s career. I am so so glad I read this book.