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Severance : A Novel by Ling Ma (2018, Hardcover)
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Brenham Book Company (484)
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Severance: A Novel
- Buy It NowSeverance: A Novel
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherFarrar, Straus & Giroux
ISBN-100374261598
ISBN-139780374261597
eBay Product ID (ePID)239574471
Product Key Features
Book TitleSeverance : a Novel
Number of Pages304 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2018
TopicDystopian, Satire, Literary
GenreFiction
AuthorLing Ma
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1 in
Item Weight14.8 Oz
Item Length8.4 in
Item Width5.7 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2017-038340
Reviews"In a breathtaking mash-up of now and just a hair beyond now, Ling Ma's apocalypse glistens with terror, humor, anger, and humanity. I promise, you will not be able to stop reading this ingeniously constructed and electrifyingly harrowing book." --Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark "As a look into where our overconsumption might lead us, Ling Ma's Severance rings terrifyingly true. More than that, it's a moving meditation on home, belonging, and life itself--all rendered in cool yet affecting prose that's too good not to keep reading." --Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin "Ling Ma has given us a terrifyingly plausible vision of our collective future, one in which our comforts have become pathology and our habits death--and, in her protagonist, a hero who doesn't know if she should be seeking salvation or oblivion. And yet, somehow, Severance could easily be the funniest book of the year. It's a brilliant, deadpan novel of survival, in this world and in the precarious world to come." --J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River, "In a breathtaking mash-up of now and just a hair beyond now, Ling Ma's apocalypse glistens with terror, humor, anger, and humanity. I promise, you will not be able to stop reading this ingeniously constructed and electrifyingly harrowing book." --Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark "Ling Ma has given us a terrifyingly plausible vision of our collective future, one in which our comforts have become pathology and our habits death--and, in her protagonist, a hero who doesn't know if she should be seeking salvation or oblivion. And yet, somehow, Severance could easily be the funniest book of the year. It's a brilliant, deadpan novel of survival, in this world and in the precarious world to come." --J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River, One of Southern Living's Best New Books of Summer 2018 A Library Journal Debut With Credentials An April Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2018 A BookBub Laugh-Out-Loud Book of 2018 "A smart, searing exposé on the perils of consumerism, Google overload, and millennial malaise . . . an already established audience will be eager to discover this work." -- Library Journal "In a breathtaking mash-up of now and just a hair beyond now, Ling Ma's apocalypse glistens with terror, humor, anger, and humanity. I promise, you will not be able to stop reading this ingeniously constructed and electrifyingly harrowing book." --Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark "As a look into where our overconsumption might lead us, Ling Ma's Severance rings terrifyingly true. More than that, it's a moving meditation on home, belonging, and life itself--all rendered in cool yet affecting prose that's too good not to keep reading." --Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin "My autocorrect keeps putting 'King' Ma instead of Ling Ma, but maybe that's on the mark: she totally rules. Severance is like nothing else around: a witty workplace novel and a terrifying plague yarn, an immigrant story and a sort of homecoming, full of Chinese whispers and New York ghosts." --Ed Park, author of Personal Days "Ling Ma has given us a terrifyingly plausible vision of our collective future, one in which our comforts have become pathology and our habits death--and, in her protagonist, a hero who doesn't know if she should be seeking salvation or oblivion. And yet, somehow, Severance could easily be the funniest book of the year. It's a brilliant, deadpan novel of survival, in this world and in the precarious world to come." --J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River, "In a breathtaking mash-up of now and just a hair beyond now, Ling Ma's apocalypse glistens with terror, humor, anger, and humanity. I promise, you will not be able to stop reading this ingeniously constructed and electrifyingly harrowing book." --Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark "As a look into where our overconsumption might lead us, Ling Ma's Severance rings terrifyingly true. More than that, it's a moving meditation on home, belonging, and life itself--all rendered in cool yet affecting prose that's too good not to keep reading." --Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin "My autocorrect keeps putting 'King' Ma instead of Ling Ma, but maybe that's on the mark: she totally rules. Severance is like nothing else around: a witty workplace novel and a terrifying plague yarn, an immigrant story and a sort of homecoming, full of Chinese whispers and New York ghosts." --Ed Park, author of Personal Days "Ling Ma has given us a terrifyingly plausible vision of our collective future, one in which our comforts have become pathology and our habits death--and, in her protagonist, a hero who doesn't know if she should be seeking salvation or oblivion. And yet, somehow, Severance could easily be the funniest book of the year. It's a brilliant, deadpan novel of survival, in this world and in the precarious world to come." --J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River, One of Southern Living's Best New Books of Summer 2018 A Library Journal Debut With Credentials An April Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2018 A BookBub Laugh-Out-Loud Book of 2018 "A biting indictment of late-stage capitalism and a chilling vision of what comes after . . . [Ma] offers lovely meditations on memory and the immigrant experience. Smart, funny, humane, and superbly well-written." -- Kirkus , starred review "A smart, searing exposé on the perils of consumerism, Google overload, and millennial malaise . . . an already established audience will be eager to discover this work." -- Library Journal "In a breathtaking mash-up of now and just a hair beyond now, Ling Ma's apocalypse glistens with terror, humor, anger, and humanity. I promise, you will not be able to stop reading this ingeniously constructed and electrifyingly harrowing book." --Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark "As a look into where our overconsumption might lead us, Ling Ma's Severance rings terrifyingly true. More than that, it's a moving meditation on home, belonging, and life itself--all rendered in cool yet affecting prose that's too good not to keep reading." --Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin "My autocorrect keeps putting 'King' Ma instead of Ling Ma, but maybe that's on the mark: she totally rules. Severance is like nothing else around: a witty workplace novel and a terrifying plague yarn, an immigrant story and a sort of homecoming, full of Chinese whispers and New York ghosts." --Ed Park, author of Personal Days "Ling Ma has given us a terrifyingly plausible vision of our collective future, one in which our comforts have become pathology and our habits death--and, in her protagonist, a hero who doesn't know if she should be seeking salvation or oblivion. And yet, somehow, Severance could easily be the funniest book of the year. It's a brilliant, deadpan novel of survival, in this world and in the precarious world to come." --J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River, A Southern Living Best New Book of Summer 2018 A Buzzfeed Summer Reading Pick A Nylon Best Book of Summer 2018 A Vulture Best Book of the Summer A Chicago Magazine Summer Reading Pick A Library Journal Debut With Credentials An April Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2018 A BookBub Laugh-Out-Loud Book of 2018 "Ma's language does so much in this book, and its precision, its purposeful specificity, implicates an entire generation. But what is most remarkable is the gentleness with which Ma describes those working within the capital-S System. What does it mean if a person finds true comfort working as a 'cog' in a system they disagree with? Is that comfort any less real?" -- Buzzfeed "A biting indictment of late-stage capitalism and a chilling vision of what comes after . . . [Ma] offers lovely meditations on memory and the immigrant experience. Smart, funny, humane, and superbly well-written." -- Kirkus , starred review "Truly engrossing . . . Ma's extraordinary debut marks a notable creative jump by playing on the apocalyptic fears many people share today." -- Booklist , starred review "In this shrewd postapocalpytic debut, Ma imagines the end times in the world of late capitalism, marked by comforting, debilitating effects of nostalgia on its characters . . . The novel's strength lies in Ma's accomplished handling of the walking dead conceit to reflect on what constitutes the good life. This is a clever and dextrous debut." -- Publishers Weekly "A smart, searing exposé on the perils of consumerism, Google overload, and millennial malaise . . . an already established audience will be eager to discover this work." -- Library Journal "In a breathtaking mash-up of now and just a hair beyond now, Ling Ma's apocalypse glistens with terror, humor, anger, and humanity. I promise, you will not be able to stop reading this ingeniously constructed and electrifyingly harrowing book." --Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark "As a look into where our overconsumption might lead us, Ling Ma's Severance rings terrifyingly true. More than that, it's a moving meditation on home, belonging, and life itself--all rendered in cool yet affecting prose that's too good not to keep reading." --Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin "My autocorrect keeps putting 'King' Ma instead of Ling Ma, but maybe that's on the mark: she totally rules. Severance is like nothing else around: a witty workplace novel and a terrifying plague yarn, an immigrant story and a sort of homecoming, full of Chinese whispers and New York ghosts." --Ed Park, author of Personal Days "Ling Ma has given us a terrifyingly plausible vision of our collective future, one in which our comforts have become pathology and our habits death--and, in her protagonist, a hero who doesn't know if she should be seeking salvation or oblivion. And yet, somehow, Severance could easily be the funniest book of the year. It's a brilliant, deadpan novel of survival, in this world and in the precarious world to come." --J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River, One of Southern Living's Best New Books of Summer 2018 One of Buzzfeed 's Exciting New Books to Add to Your Summer Reading List A Library Journal Debut With Credentials An April Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2018 A BookBub Laugh-Out-Loud Book of 2018 "Ma's language does so much in this book, and its precision, its purposeful specificity, implicates an entire generation. But what is most remarkable is the gentleness with which Ma describes those working within the capital-S System. What does it mean if a person finds true comfort working as a 'cog' in a system they disagree with? Is that comfort any less real?" -- Buzzfeed "A biting indictment of late-stage capitalism and a chilling vision of what comes after . . . [Ma] offers lovely meditations on memory and the immigrant experience. Smart, funny, humane, and superbly well-written." -- Kirkus , starred review "A smart, searing exposé on the perils of consumerism, Google overload, and millennial malaise . . . an already established audience will be eager to discover this work." -- Library Journal "In a breathtaking mash-up of now and just a hair beyond now, Ling Ma's apocalypse glistens with terror, humor, anger, and humanity. I promise, you will not be able to stop reading this ingeniously constructed and electrifyingly harrowing book." --Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark "As a look into where our overconsumption might lead us, Ling Ma's Severance rings terrifyingly true. More than that, it's a moving meditation on home, belonging, and life itself--all rendered in cool yet affecting prose that's too good not to keep reading." --Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin "My autocorrect keeps putting 'King' Ma instead of Ling Ma, but maybe that's on the mark: she totally rules. Severance is like nothing else around: a witty workplace novel and a terrifying plague yarn, an immigrant story and a sort of homecoming, full of Chinese whispers and New York ghosts." --Ed Park, author of Personal Days "Ling Ma has given us a terrifyingly plausible vision of our collective future, one in which our comforts have become pathology and our habits death--and, in her protagonist, a hero who doesn't know if she should be seeking salvation or oblivion. And yet, somehow, Severance could easily be the funniest book of the year. It's a brilliant, deadpan novel of survival, in this world and in the precarious world to come." --J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River, A Southern Living Best New Book of Summer 2018 A Buzzfeed Summer Reading Pick A Nylon Best Book of Summer 2018 A Vulture Best Book of the Summer A Chicago Magazine Summer Reading Pick A Library Journal Debut With Credentials An April Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2018 A BookBub Laugh-Out-Loud Book of 2018 "A satirical spin on the end times--kind of like The Office meets The Leftovers." - Estelle Tang , Elle "A counter-history . . . Ma''s writing about the jargon of globalized capitalism has a mix of humor and pathos that reminded me a little of Infinite Jest and a little of George Saunders; it produced a sense of estrangement from my cosmetics, my clothes, and my iPhone." -- Emily Witt, The New Yorker "Ma''s language does so much in this book, and its precision, its purposeful specificity, implicates an entire generation. But what is most remarkable is the gentleness with which Ma describes those working within the capital-S System. What does it mean if a person finds true comfort working as a ''cog'' in a system they disagree with? Is that comfort any less real?" -- Buzzfeed "A biting indictment of late-stage capitalism and a chilling vision of what comes after . . . [Ma] knows her craft, and it shows. [Her protagonist] is a wonderful mix of vulnerability, wry humor, and steely strength.... Ma also offers lovely meditations on memory and the immigrant experience. Smart, funny, humane, and superbly well-written." -- Kirkus , starred review "Embracing the genre but somehow transcending it, Ma creates a truly engrossing and believable anti-utopian world. Ma''s extraordinary debut marks a notable creative jump by playing on the apocalyptic fears many people share today." -- Booklist , starred review "In this shrewd postapocalpytic debut, Ma imagines the end times in the world of late capitalism, marked by comforting, debilitating effects of nostalgia on its characters . . . The novel''s strength lies in Ma''s accomplished handling of the walking dead conceit to reflect on what constitutes the good life. This is a clever and dextrous debut." -- Publishers Weekly "A smart, searing exposé on the perils of consumerism, Google overload, and millennial malaise . . . an already established audience will be eager to discover this work." -- Library Journal "In a breathtaking mash-up of now and just a hair beyond now, Ling Ma''s apocalypse glistens with terror, humor, anger, and humanity. I promise, you will not be able to stop reading this ingeniously constructed and electrifyingly harrowing book." --Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark "As a look into where our overconsumption might lead us, Ling Ma''s Severance rings terrifyingly true. More than that, it''s a moving meditation on home, belonging, and life itself--all rendered in cool yet affecting prose that''s too good not to keep reading." --Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin "My autocorrect keeps putting ''King'' Ma instead of Ling Ma, but maybe that''s on the mark: she totally rules. Severance is like nothing else around: a witty workplace novel and a terrifying plague yarn, an immigrant story and a sort of homecoming, full of Chinese whispers and New York ghosts." --Ed Park, author of Personal Days "Ling Ma has given us a terrifyingly plausible vision of our collective future, one in which our comforts have become pathology and our habits death--and, in her protagonist, a hero who doesn''t know if she should be seeking salvation or oblivion. And yet, somehow, Severance could easily be the funniest book of the year. It''s a brilliant, deadpan novel of survival, in this world and in the precarious world to come." --J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River, "A smart, searing exposé on the perils of consumerism, Google overload, and millennial malaise . . . an already established audience will be eager to discover this work." -- Library Journal "In a breathtaking mash-up of now and just a hair beyond now, Ling Ma's apocalypse glistens with terror, humor, anger, and humanity. I promise, you will not be able to stop reading this ingeniously constructed and electrifyingly harrowing book." --Samantha Hunt, author of The Dark Dark "As a look into where our overconsumption might lead us, Ling Ma's Severance rings terrifyingly true. More than that, it's a moving meditation on home, belonging, and life itself--all rendered in cool yet affecting prose that's too good not to keep reading." --Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin "My autocorrect keeps putting 'King' Ma instead of Ling Ma, but maybe that's on the mark: she totally rules. Severance is like nothing else around: a witty workplace novel and a terrifying plague yarn, an immigrant story and a sort of homecoming, full of Chinese whispers and New York ghosts." --Ed Park, author of Personal Days "Ling Ma has given us a terrifyingly plausible vision of our collective future, one in which our comforts have become pathology and our habits death--and, in her protagonist, a hero who doesn't know if she should be seeking salvation or oblivion. And yet, somehow, Severance could easily be the funniest book of the year. It's a brilliant, deadpan novel of survival, in this world and in the precarious world to come." --J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River
SynopsisWinner of the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award * Winner of the Kirkus Prize for Fiction * Winner of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award * Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel * A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 * An Indie Next Selection NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: NPR * The New Yorker ("Books We Loved") * Elle * M arie Claire * Amazon Editors * The Paris Review (Staff Favorites) * Refinery29 * Bustle * Buzzfeed * BookPage * Bookish * Mental Floss * Chicago Review of Books * HuffPost * Electric Literature * A.V. Club * Jezebel * Vulture * Literary Hub * Flavorwire "A fierce debut from a writer with seemingly boundless imagination. . . A stunning, audacious book with a fresh take on both office politics and what the apocalypse might bring." -- Michael Schaub, NPR.org Maybe it's the end of the world, but not for Candace Chen, a millennial, first-generation American and office drone meandering her way into adulthood in Ling Ma's offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire, Severance . Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she's had her fill of uncertainty. She's content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend. So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies cease operations. The subways screech to a halt. Her bosses enlist her as part of a dwindling skeleton crew with a big end-date payoff. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost. Candace won't be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They're traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers? A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma's Severance is a moving family story, a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale, and a hilarious, deadpan satire. Most important, it's a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive., Maybe it's the end of the world, but not for Candace Chen, a millennial, first-generation American and office drone meandering her way into adulthood in Ling Ma's offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire, Severance . "A stunning, audacious book with a fresh take on both office politics and what the apocalypse might bring." -- Michael Schaub, NPR.org "A satirical spin on the end times-- kind of like The Office meets The Leftovers." -- Estelle Tang, Elle NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: NPR * The New Yorker ("Books We Loved") * Elle * M arie Claire * Amazon Editors * The Paris Review (Staff Favorites) * Refinery29 * Bustle * Buzzfeed * BookPage * Bookish * Mental Floss * Chicago Review of Books * HuffPost * Electric Literature * A.V. Club * Jezebel * Vulture * Literary Hub * Flavorwire Winner of the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award * Winner of the Kirkus Prize for Fiction * Winner of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award * Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel * A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 * An Indie Next Selection Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she's had her fill of uncertainty. She's content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend. So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies cease operations. The subways screech to a halt. Her bosses enlist her as part of a dwindling skeleton crew with a big end-date payoff. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost. Candace won't be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They're traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers? A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma's Severance is a moving family story, a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale, and a hilarious, deadpan satire. Most important, it's a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive.
LC Classification NumberPS3613.A14S49 2018
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- 18 Nov, 2020
timely!
Good writing.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 08 Oct, 2019
Good condition
Item is accurate to descriptions!Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
