Severence

Severance by Ling Ma
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Things I loved about this book: the genre mashing--it was horror, apocalyptic, magical realism, action, literature; the contemplation on routine--the same symptom of illness, the relentless empty performance of routine, was in other circumstances the saving grace for others, how they cope with loss, fear, find hope and faith; the originality--thought provoking, relevant, entertaining.
Things I did not like: the genre mashing--yes, the same thing I loved, yet the tones of different chapters were so radically different sometimes I got whip-lash, and there were times I felt if it was one genre it would be more impactful; some copy-editing issues were distracting--use of "violently aggressive air-conditioning" for example was used at least 3 times--when you have a great phrase like that, it gets noticed so only use it once, not every other chapter. So yes, I liked it so much, I had to get nit-picky with it.

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The variations were what got to me.

What you do every day matters, she'd say, before hanging up.

And finally, it took a force of nature to interrupt our routines.

To despise someone is intimate by default.

I understand that he feels under a tremendous amount of pressure, relieved only by the act of doing one simple, mind-clearing thing, over and over.