Books by Ling Ma
“It’s a brilliant book, the one on this list that I most strongly recommend to people trying to take their mind off the news.” Read more...
The Best Books to Read in Quarantine
Jenny Davidson, Literary Scholar
Ling Ma’s satire of corporate culture sees Candace, a Chinese-American employee of a bible publishing corporation, agree to stay on in the company’s Manhattan headquarters long after the other staff have fled an outbreak of a fungal infection that leaves victims braindead automatons—in return for an enormous bonus. Of course, by the time the payment appears in her account dollars have little relevance in a broken economy and she must take her chances with a cult-like gang who eke out a living in a derelict shopping mall. Outside, victims of the virus mindlessly reenact their most mundane daily routines ad infinitum. Columbia professor Jenny Davidson recommended it to us back when we were looking for books to read in quarantine: “[Severance] is about the intersection of immigration and global capitalism in modern cities, and the breakdown of human communication and meaningful human contacts that occur as a consequence.”
From our article Books like Station Eleven
Interviews where books by Ling Ma were recommended
The Best Books to Read in Quarantine, recommended by Jenny Davidson
Times of disease and pestilence have much to tell us about the human condition. Jenny Davidson, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, suggests some of the best books to read if you’re self-isolating or in quarantine.
