Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Winter of Our Discontent

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

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In Bliss Montage, a woman and her family live in the same house as her one hundred ex-boyfriends, women trapped in a toxic friendship take a drug that makes themselves invisible, and a pregnant woman must caretake the protruding arm of her fetus as she awaits giving birth to the rest of it. The distance from everyday life that fantasy brings us can be used to magnify reality, and Ling Ma takes takes ample advantage of this in Bliss Montage, a short story collection that examines […]

The Mend is Nigh

Severance by Ling Ma

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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 […]

But did they try more cowbell?

Severance by Ling Ma

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In the spirit of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good/adequate/completed review, I’m just going to try and get my thoughts down about this book. Severance was one of my it’s->$4.99-on-Kindle-so-if-I-have-even-the-vaguest-interest-I-will-buy-it impulse purchases. I read the critics’ reviews on Amazon and friends’ ratings on Goodreads, skimmed the free sample to get a sense of what it was about, and was hooked. Unfortunately, my interest had waned by about the third chapter. Severance, which was written in 2018, takes place in 2011 and […]

Pandemic Through My Generation

Severance by Ling Ma

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I tried to read this gem the first few weeks after the pandemic broke out in New York. Couldn’t do it. As it is significantly better than the other pandemic reads (Killing Williamsburg and Zone One), the fact that it dealt with a terrifying virus from China was hitting too close to home. It took months to work up the gumption to return to it. And I’m glad I did, because it is really good. Yes, the focus of it is a pandemic ruining the world. Shen […]

Couldn’t put it down, but had to cuz SCARY, but then had to pick it back up again.

Severance by Ling Ma

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I love post-apocalyptic literature. Don’t know why, haven’t pulled at that thread, but it is my jaaam. My bread and butter. And other sandwich metaphors. So, I was predisposed to like this (cuz it’s my favorite genre) but also NOT like it, if it wasn’t well done. And it was so so well done. The day after I finished it, I bought it for someone else to read because I need them to read it so I can talk about it. I can’t stop thinking […]

Just because you’re adequately good at something doesn’t mean that’s what you should do.

Severance by Ling Ma

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I decided to read Severance (2018) by Ling Ma after seeing it on NPR’s Best Books of 2018 List because it looked interesting and was a little bit outside my wheelhouse. I’m up for a Dystopian novel every once in a while, but the ones I read are more like adventure stories. Severance is different. It’s a little slower and more melancholy. The book mirrors our own lives in order to make us wonder how far from the sick we really are. Candace Chen is a first-generation American living in New […]



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