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Review of ‘Severance’

The fevered victims of Ling Ma’s astounding debut novel aren’t exactly zombies. As their bodies fall apart, they’re not bumbling about the ruined world or trying to kill you. Instead, they enact and re-enact the rituals of their former day-to-day lives. Retail workers fold shirts in empty stores. Old women laugh at the television and…

Behind the Book by Ling Ma

Ling Ma shares a closer look at the creation of her debut novel, an end-of-the-world tale that transforms the mundane into a creeping horror. It’s the story of a millennial daughter of Chinese immigrants who watches as nearly everyone around her falls prey to a spreading fever that leaves its victims in a zombielike state, repeating the day-to-day tasks of their former lives.

Featuring ‘Severance’

Book Clubs: May 2019
Sheila Heti’s brave, unflinching novel Motherhood tells the story of one woman’s indecision about having children.

Featuring ‘Severance’

The Hold List: Genre refreshers

These five books are like an early summer plunge, each having transformed a well-loved genre into something totally surprising, gasp-worthy and deeply refreshing.


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