It is weirdly uncomfortable to read a book that predicts the end of the world and find yourself nodding along because the main character is just trying to figure out her office's dental insurance. That’s the magic—if you want to call it that—of Severance by Ling Ma. Published in 2018, it’s a novel that people can't seem to stop talking about because it feels less like "science fiction" and more like a mirror held up to our own cubicle-dwelling faces.
Candace Chen is our protagonist. She’s a millennial living in New York City, working for a publishing company that coordinates the production of Bibles in China. It's a soul-crushing job, honestly. Then Shen Fever hits. It’s a fungal infection from China that turns people into "the fevered"—zombies who aren't interested in eating brains, but are instead stuck in a loop of their former routines. They set the table. They fold clothes. They turn the pages of books they’ll never finish.
Basically, they’re us, just without the heartbeat.
Why Severance by Ling Ma Hits Differently Post-2020
You can’t talk about this book without acknowledging the elephant in the room. When the real-world pandemic hit, sales for Severance by Ling Ma spiked. It was eerie. Ma didn't just write a book about a virus; she wrote about the psychological inertia that keeps us tethered to our desks even when the world is literally falling apart outside.
Candace stays at her job. Long after her coworkers flee, long after the subway stops running, she keeps showing up to the office. Why? Because the company offered her a big fat bonus to stay until the end. It’s a scathing critique of late-stage capitalism. We’ve all been there, right? That feeling that even if a meteor was heading for Earth, we’d probably still get an email asking if the Q3 reports are ready.
The Horror of Routine
The "zombies" in this book are heartbreaking. In most horror movies, monsters are scary because they want to kill you. In Ma's world, they’re scary because they are us at our most mundane. One character's mother just keeps setting the table for a dinner that will never happen until her fingers literally wear down to the bone.
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It’s a metaphor that hits like a ton of bricks. Ma is asking: Are we already dead if all we do is consume and produce? Candace’s insistence on staying in New York as it empties out isn't necessarily heroism. It's habit. It’s a refusal to imagine a life outside of the structures she’s always known.
The Immigrant Experience and the "Global" in Globalization
One thing people often overlook when diving into Severance by Ling Ma is the deep thread of the immigrant narrative. Candace is a first-generation American. Her memories of her parents moving from Fuzhou to Salt Lake City are some of the most moving parts of the book.
She’s caught between her parents' dreams of stability and the hollow reality of her corporate life. Her work involves overseeing the manufacturing of "Gemstone Bibles" in factories in China where the workers are getting sick from the lead paint. The irony isn't subtle. Candace is a cog in a machine that exploits the very place she came from to produce religious texts for a Western audience that doesn't really care.
- The book moves between three timelines:
- The "Before" (Candace's childhood and early career)
- The "During" (The collapse of New York City)
- The "After" (Candace traveling with a group of survivors led by a guy named Bob)
Bob is a piece of work. He’s a former IT manager who treats the apocalypse like a corporate retreat. He’s obsessed with rules and "the brand" of their new society. He represents the way power structures just recreate themselves, even when the world is a blank slate.
Nostalgia as a Lethal Disease
In the world of Severance by Ling Ma, nostalgia is essentially what kills you. Shen Fever targets the part of the brain linked to memory and habit. The fevered aren't just mindless; they are trapped in the past.
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There's a scene where Candace and the survivors go "stalking"—which is basically looting houses for supplies. They find families who have "fevered" in their own living rooms. It's voyeuristic and gross, but Candace realizes that her own attachment to her routine is just a different version of the same sickness.
If you’re someone who hoards old concert tickets or can’t stop scrolling through photos of an ex, this book will make you feel seen in the worst way possible. It suggests that our inability to let go of the "way things were" is the very thing that prevents us from surviving the future.
The Ending That Everyone Argues About
No spoilers here, but the ending of Severance by Ling Ma is polarizing. Some people find it hopeful; others think it’s devastating. What’s clear is that Ma refuses to give us a "Hollywood" ending. There is no cure. There is no government rescue. There is only the choice to keep moving or to stay stuck.
The prose is clinical. It’s detached. Ma writes with a dry wit that makes the horrifying stuff feel weirdly funny. Like when Candace worries about her skin-care routine while people are dying in the streets. It’s that specific brand of millennial nihilism that feels incredibly authentic.
How to Actually Apply the Lessons of Severance
Look, it’s a novel, not a self-help book. But if you’ve read it, you probably walked away feeling like you need to change your life.
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First, take a look at your "rituals." Are you doing things because they matter, or because you’re a fevered person setting a table for a ghost? Most of us are addicted to our routines. We check Slack at 9 PM because we’ve been conditioned to believe that the "office" is more real than our own living rooms.
Second, think about your "stuff." Candace’s job is literally to create more stuff. The book makes a strong case for the fact that we are drowning in objects that don't mean anything. When the world ends, all those designer bags and tech gadgets are just trash.
Real-World Actions After Reading:
- Audit your "Automated" Life: Spend one day noticing how many things you do purely out of habit. Do you actually want that morning latte, or are you just "fevered"?
- Evaluate Your Labor: Candace’s realization that her job was meaningless came too late. Ask yourself if your work adds value to your life, or if you’re just waiting for a "bonus" to justify your unhappiness.
- Reconnect with the Physical: In the book, the survivors have to learn how to actually do things—cook, clean, travel—without the grid. Try learning one manual skill that doesn't involve a screen. It’s the best hedge against the feeling of being a "cog."
Severance by Ling Ma is a masterpiece because it doesn't pretend that the apocalypse will be exciting. It tells us that the end of the world will be boring, corporate, and filled with middle managers trying to enforce a dress code. It’s a wake-up call to start living before the fever sets in.
If you haven't read it yet, go get a copy. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself looking at your office cubicle with a new sense of dread.