Ling Ma has crafted a beautiful pandemic tale in Severance, akin to Station Eleven. The tale of humanity’s downfall is told through the eyes of Candace Chen, a disconnected millennial living her days in Manhattan with her directionless boyfriend, her soul crushing corporate job, and the unresolved feelings associated with the death of her parents. She is on a coffee/work/sleep/rinse/repeat schedule, not staying still but also not moving forwards… as society collapses around her.
The end of the world this time is not via a viral plague, but a fungal one – the Shen Fever. The afflicted are not so different from Candace herself, as they go about half-living their lives while neglecting the needs that make them human. They get stuck in cycles doing their daily tasks but not eating, sleeping or resting. There is very little violence in this ending. It’s just plain sad.
Manhattan collapses around Candace as she hangs on, fulfilling her contractual obligations to her employer. Even as the subway stops, the coffee carts close, and the elevators stall, she continues. After all, what else can she do?
Eventually she joins up with a group of survivors led by Bob. Bob is The. Worst. He’s a gamer-turned-apocalypse-expert who takes charge of the lost survivors and leads them on to his ‘facility’, which he procured in [gleeful] anticipation of the End Times. He is the controller parent of the group, continually disappointed with the poor choices of other survivors and convinced of his Chosen One status.
I loved this book – the characters, the chilling set pieces, the story of various endings (and beginnings). It was an excellent pandemic read to round out the year. 5 Limited Edition Gemstone Bibles out of 5.