I'll be honest, I feel a little dumb knowing you're reading this review. I mean, I appreciate it - but, I feel like there are more accomplished book reviewers that you could be reading right now (ones that don't use the term "book reviewers" for example.) It's just that this book hasn't been out for very long and a lot of major media outlets and really smart people have reviewed it in recent weeks. If you stumbled upon my review, know that. And, know that I'll do my best.
I actually ordered this book because I had listened to and read some of those smart people reviews. There was something about this book I was drawn to. I wasn't wrong; it appealed to me on a number of levels and it's coming back in waves a week after I've finished.
Severance is about a young woman at the beginning - and, the middle - of the end. The end of her relationships, the end of her young adulthood and, quite possibly, the end of the world. The daughter of now-dead Chinese immigrants, Candace is trying to make her way in NYC, worn down a bit by the pace of life and trying desperately to make her parents proud. She's so busy doing the "right thing: in life and in work that she seems oblivious to the fact an epidemic is wiping out the world's population. Even as her office closes and the city clears out, she goes on. She goes on, in fact, until it's almost too late.
The novel bounces back and forth between life before the end and life in the midst of it. It has shades of zombies without letting that genre define it. It's a book about family and the expectations on immigrant children, but that genre doesn't define it either. Overall, it's simply a story with strong characters, powerful plot and unexpected developments that keep you engaged.
Someone out there has written a smarter reflection on this, but that's all I want to give you. I want you to experience life the way Candace does, as she continues to strive for higher expectations, even as the world disintegrates around her.
