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sabotabbyI read a lot of books this year. I don't think I'll break 70 but I got close. I was going to write about the best ones yesterday, but work happened so I didn't, and I'm glad, because the one I just finished absolutely deserves a place on the list of the best things I've read this year.
Severance by Ling Ma.
A mysterious new illness emerges in an industrial Chinese city, devastating the country and rapidly making its way over to the rest of the world, where people's reluctance to take the epidemic seriously allows it to run rampant. This is familiar enough except the book was written in 2018 and set in 2011.
This is hands-down one of the best works of apocalyptic fiction I've ever read. It gets so much right (although, weirdly, not the anti-Chinese racism, which doesn't really factor in here), and captures the chilling horror of slowly realizing that the thing people are talking about is on your doorstep and about to change your life. I related hard to the protagonist, Candace, an aspiring photographer in a soul-sucking job publishing speciality Bibles who is one of the last people to leave New York. Shen Fever, which overtakes major cities and kills just under 300,000 Americans before they stop counting (ha. ha. ha.) is horrific and poetic; a disease that makes people repeat familiar motions and routines, over and over again, until their bodies fall apart.
While this book is a zombie apocalypse of sorts, it's more important because it's an examination of late-stage capitalism's toxic relationship with work. Basically, it's Marx's theory of alienation of labour, but it's such a compelling, beautifully written story that despite it being recommended to me because of that, I pretty much didn't notice that was what she was doing. It'd make for a great paired reading with David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs as well.
I'm going to quote from it, which I don't usually do, because this passage just hit so close to home. Candace and her ex-boyfriend are caught in a hurricane near the beginning of the pandemic, and take refuge in the restaurant they used to go to:
My other favourites, I've already written about, but they include:
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: A beautiful modern fairy tale about a boy who misses his chance at going through a portal into another world, and then gets another one. I loved it for its language, its lack of concern about structure, and its gorgeous imagery.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Moreno-Garcia captures everything I love about the Gothic romance genre while attacking white supremacy and patriarchy, with a complex, difficult protagonist whom I adored.
Love After the End, edited by Joshua Whitehead: An excellent collection of queer post-apocalyptic short stories by Indigenous authors. They're all gold.
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente: Eurovision in space by way of Douglas Adams. Need I say more?
The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole: A no-punches-pulled examination of anti-Black racism in Canada, told by one of the best journalists writing today.
Rebellious Mourning The Collective Work of Grief, edited by Cindy Milstein: A collection of essays on the political and sociological dimensions of grief and loss.
Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall: Beautifully written and accessible, this looks at how mainstream feminism has failed Black women, and what we can do about it.
A Mind Spread Out On the Ground by Alicia Elliott: Elliot's memoir/essay collection looks at mental illness, generational trauma, and Indigeneity, and it's a must-read.
And my favourite book of the year, to absolutely no one's surprise, is N.K. Jemisin's heartfelt, lyrical, and flawless magical realism love letter to New York, The City We Became. Loved it on every possible level.
Severance by Ling Ma.
A mysterious new illness emerges in an industrial Chinese city, devastating the country and rapidly making its way over to the rest of the world, where people's reluctance to take the epidemic seriously allows it to run rampant. This is familiar enough except the book was written in 2018 and set in 2011.
This is hands-down one of the best works of apocalyptic fiction I've ever read. It gets so much right (although, weirdly, not the anti-Chinese racism, which doesn't really factor in here), and captures the chilling horror of slowly realizing that the thing people are talking about is on your doorstep and about to change your life. I related hard to the protagonist, Candace, an aspiring photographer in a soul-sucking job publishing speciality Bibles who is one of the last people to leave New York. Shen Fever, which overtakes major cities and kills just under 300,000 Americans before they stop counting (ha. ha. ha.) is horrific and poetic; a disease that makes people repeat familiar motions and routines, over and over again, until their bodies fall apart.
While this book is a zombie apocalypse of sorts, it's more important because it's an examination of late-stage capitalism's toxic relationship with work. Basically, it's Marx's theory of alienation of labour, but it's such a compelling, beautifully written story that despite it being recommended to me because of that, I pretty much didn't notice that was what she was doing. It'd make for a great paired reading with David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs as well.
I'm going to quote from it, which I don't usually do, because this passage just hit so close to home. Candace and her ex-boyfriend are caught in a hurricane near the beginning of the pandemic, and take refuge in the restaurant they used to go to:
“I was like everyone else. We all hoped the storm would knock things over, fuck things up enough but not too much. We hoped the damage was bad enough to cancel work the next morning but not so bad that we couldn’t go to brunch instead.Anyway, this is me. Candace is me. This book made me cry.
Brunch? he echoed skeptically.
Okay, maybe not brunch, I conceded. If not brunch, then something else.
A day off meant we could do things we’d always meant to do. Like go to the Botanical Garden, the Frick Collection, or something. Read some fiction. Leisure, the problem with the modern condition was the dearth of leisure. And finally, it took a force of nature to interrupt our routines. We just wanted to hit the reset button. We just wanted to feel flush with time to do things of no quantifiable value, our hopeful side pursuits like writing or drawing or something, something other than what we did for money. Like learn to be a better photographer. And even if we didn’t get around to it on that day, our free day, maybe it was enough just to feel the possibility that we could if we wanted to, which is another way of saying that we wanted to feel young, though many of us were that if nothing else.”
My other favourites, I've already written about, but they include:
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: A beautiful modern fairy tale about a boy who misses his chance at going through a portal into another world, and then gets another one. I loved it for its language, its lack of concern about structure, and its gorgeous imagery.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Moreno-Garcia captures everything I love about the Gothic romance genre while attacking white supremacy and patriarchy, with a complex, difficult protagonist whom I adored.
Love After the End, edited by Joshua Whitehead: An excellent collection of queer post-apocalyptic short stories by Indigenous authors. They're all gold.
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente: Eurovision in space by way of Douglas Adams. Need I say more?
The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole: A no-punches-pulled examination of anti-Black racism in Canada, told by one of the best journalists writing today.
Rebellious Mourning The Collective Work of Grief, edited by Cindy Milstein: A collection of essays on the political and sociological dimensions of grief and loss.
Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall: Beautifully written and accessible, this looks at how mainstream feminism has failed Black women, and what we can do about it.
A Mind Spread Out On the Ground by Alicia Elliott: Elliot's memoir/essay collection looks at mental illness, generational trauma, and Indigeneity, and it's a must-read.
And my favourite book of the year, to absolutely no one's surprise, is N.K. Jemisin's heartfelt, lyrical, and flawless magical realism love letter to New York, The City We Became. Loved it on every possible level.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-30 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-30 05:20 pm (UTC)*
Date: 2020-12-30 08:12 pm (UTC)Re: *
Date: 2020-12-30 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-30 08:29 pm (UTC)THE FEELS!
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Date: 2020-12-30 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-31 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-31 03:23 am (UTC)Also did you send me a card? I got a super lovely card from someone in BC and couldn't read the signature on it. :)
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Date: 2020-12-31 03:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-31 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-31 03:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-31 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-01 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-01 05:31 pm (UTC)