Severance

What does a cog in a machine do when an apocalypse strikes?

Severance follows Candace Chen, a young professional and daughter to Chinese immigrants. Candace facilitates the mass production of Bibles, soliciting suppliers with the lowest labor costs, often based in China.

With both herself and others, Candace glosses over the exploitation necessary to make her employer the most money. She rests as easy as she can in the knowledge that she's just doing her job. And do her job she does, diligently, even as the world crumbles around her.

Ma chronicles Chen's response to a global health epidemic by weaving together the more distant past (childhood memories), the more recent past (the time between the beginnings of the outbreak and when Candace left New York), and time after being found by a small group of fellow survivors led by a man I hate, who is named Bob.

This narrative structure worked really well. Ma forms a protagonist who initially appears vacant, almost absurdly lacking in emotional depth and attachment to any other characters. But you develop a firm grasp on who Candace is, even if the why remains more elusive and metaphoric. A character like Candace blurs the line between pre- and post-apocalypse.

Ma holds no punches. She makes fevered mean many things. This might only make sense to me, but at points Severance reminded me of the movie Sorry to Bother You. In any case, I'll be thinking about this book for a while.