The characters, outside of Candace, all feel like tinged silhouettes, archetypes meant to serve the story’s purpose.
Ling Ma’s voice feels distinct and fresh, making Severance a gem in a sea of derivative fiction. When she writes of the dredges prevalent in corporate America, it feels like a slog, and I get tired with Candace, sick of the jargon that covers everyone’s real personalities and insecurities. Ling Ma has a way of making every problem feel relatable, every struggle feels visceral and real. The prose, for me, is the standout star of the novel. Ling Ma narrows her lens to focus on Candace, and the reader experiences the book’s disparate events through the unifying force of the book’s protagonist. The book clocks in at ~300 pages, but it feels simultaneously sweeping and focused. It combines the millennial condition with a dreadful and deadly virus while diving deep into issues of identity and self-discovery.
The book’s second timeline, only months following the complete downfall of society, sees Candace fall in with a group of survivors led by the power-hungry Bob, who ushers the entourage to the Midwest, where he promises a multi-story “Facility” replete with supplies and safety. When Shen Fever rages through China, then the rest of the world, “The End” occurs. All the while, she wonders what she could accomplish outside of the corporate walls. Candace lives the twenty-something life of a New Yorker, dates, has dinner parties, and pursues her photography in her spare time.
The first is our normal life, in which protagonist Candace Chen works a menial corporate job coordinating reprints of the Bible with South Asian printers. They’re only months apart, but the world of each period is unrecognizable, compared to its counterpart. Severance juxtaposes its story with two timelines. Severance lampoons rampant capitalism, offers insight into the experience of a Chinese immigrant living in the States, and provides a hauntingly prescient look at how a virus could completely overturn life as we know it. But I read Severance anyway, thanks in large part to Ling Ma’s excellent storytelling and sharp, witty voice. I first picked up Ling Ma’s Severance thinking the novel inspired Apple TV’s show of the same name.
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