Severance by Ling Ma
Severance follows Candace Chen, a millennial woman who uses routine to shield herself from the horrors of the outside world. When Shen Fever devastates New York City, Candace continues to head into the office like the diligent worker bee she is. Even as the city empties around her and the subway systems cease, Candace continues to dutifully clock in at her publishing job in a Manhattan office tower, and she blogs about her experiences under the name “NY Ghost.”
Candace quickly becomes used to spending her days entirely isolated from any in-person human contact. But she won’t be able to escape the city alone. When she finally leaves, it’s with the help of other survivors who are heading to a place called the Facility. The Facility promises to rebuild the world as it once was. But is that even possible? After all that Candace has been through, is that even what she wants, especially when she knows her companions might not have her best interests at heart?
Severance is not your typical zombie novel. Rather than being plagued with a fever that makes people violent and rageful, this is a world where people are sick with a disease that forces them to endlessly repeat the most mundane of routines. It’s a vision of an apocalyptic future that questions the way we live our lives, the things we find important, and (of course) the nature of capitalism and corporate America. To me, that vision of a zombie apocalypse is much more unsettling. These people are not plagued by passion. They’re sick with resignation.
Maybe in the future, this bleak version of America might seem less connected to reality, but for now… there’s something so moving about reading a novel that gets how mundane the apocalypse could potentially feel.
Severance isn’t just pages and pages of despondency. This is a really funny and entertaining novel as well.
So at the word seems to be falling apart all around us and we’re continuing to just act as if everything is totally normal, it seems like a good time to revisit Ling Ma’s smart apocalyptic satire.