Severance

Published in 2018, Severance is the debut novel by author Ling Ma. An immigrant family saga wrapped in a darkly humorous apocalypse narrative, Severance tells the story of Candace Chen, a passionless young office worker. In the aftermath of an apocalypse caused by Shen Fever, a disease which turns its victims into nostalgia-driven zombies, Candace must find meaning outside of the work routine which has defined her adult life. Along the way, aspects of capitalism, over-consumption, and the insidious rituals of working life are satirized.

Plot Summary

Severance begins in the days and weeks after “the End,” a pseudo-apocalypse brought on in 2011 by the spread of a new disease called Shen Fever. Originating in Shenzhen, China, Shen Fever turns its victims into zombie-like husks who mindlessly repeat parts of their daily routines until they waste away.

In chapters which jump back and forth through time, survivor Candace Chen narrates her story. She has teamed up with a group of other survivors, fellow white-collar workers led by former I.T. professional Bob Reamer. Bob is leading them to Needling, Illinois, heading for “the Facility,” a mysterious building he co-owns and plans to use as a haven. A fanatical born-again Christian, Bob keeps the others under his thumb through intimidation tactics and appeals to faith. He leads the group on regular “stalks” to gather supplies from the homes of fever victims, killing any living victims he encounters. Within the group, Candace befriends fellow survivors Ashley, Janelle, and Evan. One day, she joins them on a secret stalk of Ashley’s childhood home. Ashley contracts Shen Fever while trying on her old dresses, leading Candace to realize that the fever is triggered by nostalgia. Upon finding out about the group’s transgression, Bob enters Ashley’s home, where he shoots both Ashley and the healthy Janelle.

As the narrative reaches into the past, Candace’s history is slowly revealed. The child of two first-generation immigrants to the US, she was born in Fuzhou, China. Her parents moved to the US when she was four to pursue better financial opportunities but found themselves poor and socially isolated. At the age of six Candace joined them, only to find that her mother Ruifang had become a strict disciplinarian bent on turning Candace into a model American. Her father Zhigang worked tirelessly to provide the family a better life, succeeding at moving them into the upper middle class before dying in a car accident. Four years later, Ruifang died of early-onset Alzheimer’s, leaving Candace with a small inheritance and an estranged relationship to her Chinese identity.

Candace went to college for photography, but before the apocalypse she works at a book-printing company called Spectra, where she oversees the production of various editions of the Bible. One of her duties is helping clients outsource labor to the cheapest manufacturers. She is dating freelance writer Jonathan, a committed anti-consumerist who breaks up with her because he wants to leave New York for good. Soon after, she discovers that she is pregnant with his baby.

Without any community ties, Candace fills her life with routines and rituals, the most important of which are her repetitive workdays. As more employees leave Spectra due to the spread of Shen Fever, Candace signs a high-value contract agreeing to remain on-premises until November. She robotically repeats her work routine even after there is no work left to be done, and it’s only the termination of her contract which prompts her to try to leave the city, whereupon she’s found and taken in by the group of survivors.

In the present, Evan reveals the news of Candace’s pregnancy to Bob. Bob believes that her baby is a miracle, and that Candace must be “kept safe” through imprisonment at the Facility, which turns out to be an abandoned mall from Bob’s childhood. Shut up alone in a L’Occitane store, Candace is visited by visions of Ruifang, who encourages her to save herself and her unborn child while she has the chance. Certain that her baby will be a girl, Candace names her Luna. A month after arrival at the Facility, Evan is found dead under strange circumstances.

With her mother’s continued encouragement, Candace manages to convince Bob to restore her walking privileges. One night, she crosses paths with him on his own nightly walk and discovers that he has succumbed to his nostalgia and caught Shen Fever. She steals his car keys and escape to Chicago. On the way, Candace reflects on the fact that she has spent her whole life wandering, searching for a sense of belonging that will always elude her. She decides to stay in Chicago to raise Luna so that her daughter will have a place to definitively call home.