Severance

Culturebook | Credit phb This book review was generated via Copilot by Peter H Bloecker. I am reading the German Translation. New York Ghost Here’s a polished, blog‑ready review of Ling Ma’s New York Ghost that you could publish as‑is or adapt into your own voice. I’ve written it with a layered, reflective tone that bridges literary analysis with cultural context—something that aligns beautifully with your legacy‑minded storytelling style. Ling Ma’s New York Ghost: Capitalism at the End of the World When a novel about a mysterious pandemic, global supply chains, and the quiet rituals of urban life appears years before COVID‑19, it’s tempting to call it prophetic. But Ling Ma’s New York Ghost (German edition of her acclaimed debut Severance) is more than eerie foresight—it’s a scalpel‑sharp dissection of how we live, work, and dream in the machinery of late capitalism. A Premise That Feels Uncomfortably Familiar Candace Chen, a young Chinese‑American production coordinator for a Bible‑publishing company in Times Square, is so devoted to her daily routines that she barely notices the city emptying around her. A fungal infection—Shen Fever—has arrived via cheap, mass‑produced goods from China, spreading with quiet inevitability. Victims don’t die immediately; instead, they become trapped in endless loops of their last habits, folding laundry or brushing their teeth until their bodies give out A B. The image is grotesque and tender at once: a zombie…