26. Severance by Ling Ma

This book was a total surprise. The first time I heard about it, I assumed it was the inspiration for the TV show Severance. It isn't, but it's every bit as gripping and satisfying. It captures the quiet beginning of the end in a full-blown epidemic world; imagine COVID-19, but with a brutal mortality rate.One of the most eerie things about this book is that it was released in 2018, well before the pandemic, and the parallels between this imagined universe and the world we actually lived through are chilling.What I loved most was the intimacy of it: we follow one character, her interior life, her behaviors, as everything around her unravels. The book never reaches for some grand, profound meaning about humanity at the end. It stays on one woman, dealing with catastrophe in her own way. I didn't see myself in her, didn't even fully identify with her, but I found myself rooting for her anyway, the way you'd cheer on and support a friend.And the story was steady, unhurried, almost meditative. I enjoyed reading it.