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caprivoyant's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
Was it perfect? Probably not. But it was everything I needed it to be and more. ❤️🩹
Graphic: Medical content, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Misogyny, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, and Pregnancy
+ a scene with bugs (maggots) + a cult/high-demand-group dynamicsamcanuel's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Pregnancy, Violence, Gun violence, and Medical content
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: Vomit
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Dementia, Medical content, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Death, Confinement, Grief, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Car accident
josi1911's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The ending was such a letdown and the themes the book tried to tackle weren't fleshed out enough. How did the Fever transmit? It can't only be fungal, or at least it seemed to have to do with routine, nostalgia and remembering. But I can only say those keywords, because the story lacked fulfillment/tying up the loose ends and like I already said delving deeper into the social criticism it started.
The Author has sometimes beautiful prose with a minimalist but hard hitting tendency and some of the scenes (especially the gruesome ones) felt all too real. So it's sad that that wasn't utilized more to really make strong points regarding the mentioned themes.
Graphic: Murder, Medical content, Gaslighting, Drug use, Gun violence, Gore, Violence, Pregnancy, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicide and Vomit
kyeruhh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Grief, Medical content, and Suicide
mraddd's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Pregnancy
dreamdoughnut's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death
Minor: Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Confinement, and Medical content
nyssbomb's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Gore, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Car accident
wretchen's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Murder, Pregnancy, and Violence
Moderate: Medical content and Sexual content
annreadsabook's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The main reason I liked this book, though, is that despite being in large part about a pandemic, it is not a science fiction novel. I enjoyed it for two specific reasons:
1) Its examination of memory, routine, and connectedness to places and loved ones. The pandemic in Severance is a fever that results in victims mindlessly repeating familiar routines in familiar places ad infinitum until they fully succumb to the disease. This is smartly paralleled with the protagonist's revisiting of her past in Fujian, her relationship to her parents, and her experience as an immigrant and daughter of immigrants. Additionally, while Candace sees countless fever victims carry out their repeated tasks, the unfevered Candace herself is not much different from them, as she sequesters herself in her office to continue the same job day in and day out, even as a pandemic ravages NYC.
2) Its underlying discussion of myopic materialism and grind culture. Candace, the protagonist, is so caught up in her desire to further her career and achieve personal success (in pursuit of the "American Dream") that the pandemic that eventually clears out her office barely phases her. I was reminded of how corporate work in COVID times carried on as usual despite often seeming insignificant compared to hundreds of thousands of deaths.
The only reason I'm not giving this a full 5 stars is because I honestly felt the ending left something to be desired, as it felt rather abrupt (I got to the last page and was confused as to where the rest of the book was!). While I do like long books, I rarely feel that books should actively be made longer, but with Severance, I feel that having maybe 50 additional pages to better wrap up the loose ends would've been nice.
Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide