Severance by Ling Ma
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would like to say this is mostly just a light satire on capitalist ethics amid some barely perceived end-of-the-world zombie-ish apocalypse in the still-beating heart of everyday routine and habit.

Indeed, it is almost entirely about the short-sighted and carefully constructed world-view that is so much our very modern selves that refuse to notice that the world has, in point of fact, come to an end.

Don't let the fact that everyone else keeps going to work fool you. Don't imagine, for just a moment, that it might be time to quit. You have a good job, after all. Or even if it isn't GOOD, it's still a job, and you know that you still need it... if only for your peace of mind. Of continuity. Of routine.

It's very, very good to have routine. People may not fight for the thrill of chaos, you know, but they will ALWAYS fight to protect their routines.


For all that this book reminded me of Lit-SF, of Station Eleven in style and immense focus on everyday life, I wanted to like it more. Maybe my personal complaint is that the worldbuilding and the SFnal aspects were just barely there in the background.

In point of fact, this was really just a slightly disguised New Adult Contemporary coming of age. Good if that's all you're looking for, but I wanted something with some more teeth.

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