Book reviews

Severance

Ling Ma

Ling Ma’s debut is a satirical look at capitalism in the modern world, focusing on banality amidst an apocalypse. Shen Fever has taken over the world, leaving the infected unconsciously going through their daily routines, until their bodies eventually decompose. Few people manage to avoid the sickness, and Candace Chen is one of them. The last person left in New York, she too refuses to deviate from her usual habits, even while the city is slowly shutting down around her. Eventually Candace joins a group of survivors heading out of the city. In Severance, the dying world becomes quiet instead of violent. But what underpins it all is the feeling that it could so easily be our real-life future. 10/10

Still Lives

Maria Hummel

Already a hit in the US (it was featured in Reese Witherspoon’s book club), Still Lives by Maria Hummel glides along, like a car slipping through LA – at times halting in traffic, at others, as slick and glossily as a Hollywood movie. Struggling art gallery Roque has landed the latest work of artist Kim Lord, whose new exhibit, Still Lives, explores the portrayal of female American murder victims, from Nicole Brown Simpson to the Black Dahlia and Bonnie Lee Bakley. At the launch party though, Lord fails to arrive. Then Maggie’s ex is arrested on suspicion of the painter’s presumed murder, and Maggie decides to investigate. The twist is not as shocking as the quotes on the jacket would have you believe, but it’s certainly an intriguing, and often disturbing, read. 7/10

Becoming

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama – wife to Barack, mother to Malia and Sasha, first African-American First Lady, lawyer, role model – shares a glimpse into her life, the one behind the facade of the White House. It starts with her upbringing, how her parents were set on ‘raising adults, not children’, her earliest realisations that race could make you conspicuous and what her education meant to her. Later she opens up about having her daughters through IVF, suffering miscarriage, undergoing marriage counselling with Barack, and the strains of living within the ever-turning political sphere. It’s not what you’d call a scintillating read – don’t expect bombshell after political bombshell. Instead, it’s full of grace, sincerity and understanding. 8/10