Severance

This was not a revolutionary novel by any means, but I really appreciated how Ling Ma incorporated a lot of social issues created by capitalism throughout this book. She touches on immigration, worker's rights, outsourcing jobs, etc. It hit a little close to home at times "post-Covid" and honestly I was surprised to see that it was written before that. This is one of those books that you only see things from Candace's perspective, so as she's dealing with things or escaping scenarios, you don't get well-rounded endings for everything. Things happen, and the story moves on along with her life. If you don't llike loose ends, probably not one that I would recommend.

I was a bit disappointed. Having read in the past year or so both Zone One (which I liked a lot) and Station Eleven (which I loved), I felt that this book - another post-apocalyptic novel with lots of insightful flashbacks to "normal" life - paled in comparison to those. I did appreciate the forceful writing, and I thought aspects of it were very well done (for example, the parts focused on the publishing industry, the production contractors in China, and the NY Ghost blog).

“Someone once said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism. We can now revise that and witness the attempt to imagine capitalism by way of imagining the end of the world.” (Fredric Jameson)

I read this book in 2021, which no doubt coloured my intrepretation of it, but it's left a lasting impression. A really biting portrayal of modern "knowledge work", and the increasing absurdity of Candace's life as the wheels gradually fall off her world...