Severance

A Novel

By: Ling Ma

Narrated by: Nancy Wu

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Maybe it’s the end of the world, but not for Candace Chen, a millennial, first-generation American and office drone meandering her way into adulthood in Ling Ma’s offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire, Severance.

Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she’s had her fill of uncertainty. She’s content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend.

So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies cease operations. The subways screech to a halt. Her bosses enlist her as part of a dwindling skeleton crew with a big end-date payoff. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.

Candace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?

A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma’s Severance is a moving family story, a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale, and a hilarious, deadpan satire. Most important, it’s a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive.

©2018 Ling Ma (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Narrator Nancy Wu delivers an outstanding performance of this cheeky satirical novel...Listeners will be entertained by the world building; cast of amusing, eccentric characters; and bizarre charm of the aloof heroine." (AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award Winner)

A surprising novel, excellent narration

I throughly enjoyed the story, at times it shocked me with the changes in tone, odd descriptors that contributed to a general feeling of uneasiness throughly the book (which works well for a novel about the disintegration of society due to a virus). Nancy Wu’s narration fit well with the tone of the story, and I really felt that she was Candace. No spoilers, but the ending was particularly good. Not predictable, but it felt like an ending that made sense and fit with the characters personalities and the general plot of the novel. It didn’t feel inevitable, it felt like it belonged.

One of the best

This is a beautifully crafted and haunting end-of-the-world tale that weaves the disparate yet entangled realities of life in urban USA and factory-city China together into a captivating and satirical critique of contemporary society. It takes a bit to get used to the Millennial-like, detached tone of the narrator before you realize that it is perfect for the story. The book has left me thinking for days. Ling Ma is an excellent writer and I look forward to her next book.

Melancholy at its finest

Thoroughly enjoyed this book and the narration. It is a bit robotic which was jarring at first, but it fit the tone of the book so well once you got used to it. I felt so sad for our protagonist the entire way through, it was a beautiful story of despair.

Quite good except the vey end

Interesting non-gory zombie story. Hard to like the characters tho maybe their coldness was part of the meaning. Did like it and listened all the way through. Felt like the ending was a cop out.

Fantastic narration

Wonderful narrator she inhabits the character so convincingly. It’s hard to pace fiction well on audiobook and this one is perfect.

Unsatisfying ending

The whole story was good but the ending was very unsatisfying. It would’ve been better if she was settled.

My new favorite book!?

This book is as good as it gets, I don't know what more a person could want, I just keep backspacing what I write because fancy adjectives will only cheapen my true love for this novel, see for yourself. Books don't get any better than this.

Lovingly paired future & past, in odd raspy voices

In this apocalyptic novels with out-of-order flashbacks to the days before society's breakdown, future and past pair nicely: I think the way you're supposed to pretend wine pairs nicely with your food.

A little unnecessary (and literal) "as you know Bob" and some inconsistency between what technical details are explains vs. which are not, and which violence is detailed and which is conveniently censored.

It's a good technically thought-out apocalyptic book.

The thing I really just couldn't handle was Nancy Wu's voice for all the male characters. Kind of a gratey, raspy mixture of lifeguard bro and Batman parody. It's not fun to listen to, and in many instances I feel it brought a tone to their lines that wasn't supposed to be there. A couple instances where tone or sarcasm felt invented on female characters too.

But! Wu did bring a loving warmth to the Chinese characters as they expressed love and dismay though a cultural divide (a big part of the book) and as they pronounced—sometimes struggling to pronounce—English phrases and names. I thought that was a lovely audible addition to the story.

Is there a sequel?

Good story but the ending was a little unsatisfactory for me. I would like to know how the main character fares
past where the story ends.

Just OK

I was surprised to know that this was written before COVID. I liked the story but was disappointed in the end - it just left you hanging. The narration was very good.