Finished Severance by Ling Ma.
On the surface, it’s the story of a first-generation immigrant—except it’s so much more. It follows her navigating a global pandemic that traps the “fevered” in endless, mindless behavioral loops, suspended between the living and the dead.
Severance was an effortless, compelling read. Ma weaves two parallel threads with precision: the quiet alienation of the immigrant experience and the surreal dread of apocalyptic survival. Written in 2018, it reads like an A24 screenplay—weird, provocative, chaotic, and deeply rooted in contemporary Asian-American themes.
This book genuinely shifted my perspective on contemporary American fiction. I might find myself leaning more into millennial and Gen-Z voices over classic sci-fi in the coming years.
Sorry, PKD.