I N C L U D E S A F F I L I A T E L I N K S
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Title: SeveranceAuthor: Ling Ma
Published: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 291
Rating: 4/5
Summary:
A woman working in an office in New York is one of the last people to stay in the city after a fever epidemic sweeps the world, before she joins a group of survivors on their way to somewhere safer.
Review:
This was a really interesting and engrossing book.
I do love a good post apocalyptic story, so it's no surprise that I really liked that aspect of this story. Seeing the world go from its normal state to falling apart is equal parts terrifying and fascinating. One thing I really like about this particular story though, is the discussions on capitalism as a system and the comments on contemporary society.
I also really liked reading about our characters, in particular our main character. The chapters alternate between being set in the present, after the fever has infected almost everyone, and being set in the past, both the main characters recent past and her life before she moved to New York. We get to know her immigrant background and her parents and I really liked that.
Now, although this is a post apocalyptic book, I don't think it's very typical of the genre; it's quite literary and it focuses more on characters and discussions on different themes more than any action. A lot of what's in the story feels especially poignant given our current times, so it probably made more of an impact on me than if I had read it a year ago.
I didn't love the ending of this book, but otherwise this was a very interesting and thought provoking read.
You can read more about it on Goodreads
