Earlier this year I was having lunch with a colleague and chatting about books. I was reading Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me at the time and she was reading Severance. I don't remember where, but I had heard something about Severance right around that time, and my colleague said it was really good and offered to loan it to me when she finished it. Fast forward six weeks or so, and this colleague and I found ourselves on the same flight to Las Vegas for a conference. After we landed, we were comparing notes and found that we had both finished our books on the flight over. We agreed to swap books so we would have something to read on the flight home. I asked what she was reading and it was Severance. "Weren't you reading that months ago?" I asked. Between our January lunch and now, she had gone on vacation and decided Severance wasn't the vacation read she needed and it had taken some time to get back to. And then when she did go back to it, she said it was very strange. It was very strange to read right now. Having read it myself now, I understand.
Severance, which is about a young woman who is among a small group of survivors of a pandemic fungal infection, described scenes early in the outbreak that were eerily similar to what we are seeing and hearing today. It was actually rather harrowing to read this last week, as my company cancelled all work travel and implemented a self-quarantine policy for people who've traveled to certain areas. I cancelled personal travel to Italy the day before starting this book and scheduled a trip to Spain in its place. In the lead up to my vacation, I've been checking the CDC website regularly, washing my hands furiously, and am so over-attuned to how I feel I don't even know what feeling well feels like. So, this was maybe not the moment to read Severance. (When I mentioned to my therapist on Wednesday that I was reading a post-apocalyptic book about a deadly fever, she said, "You're reading this why?" All I could tell her was that I would be done in a day or two.) I will say, there was a reason I kept reading it: It's good. But maybe give it a year or so.
