Severance

Severance by Ling Ma, 291 pages

When Shen Fever hits, Candace Chen is middle management, serving as the liaison between publishers and book manufacturers in China. She has no relatives in the U.S. (and only distant ones in China), she's just broken up with her boyfriend of five years, she has no place to go. So she keeps going to work. Even when everyone else in New York City leaves (or has become fevered), she keeps going to the office. Eventually, the lifestyle becomes unsustainable and Candace finally leaves town, hooking up with a small band of survivors heading west to "The Facility" where they can live safely in the long-term.

Bouncing back and forth in time from before and after the pandemic, this post-apocalyptic novel is a study in routine, in humanity, in solitude, and in self-sufficiency. This was an odd book, and I'll be musing on it for some time to come. I'd recommend it for fans of Station Eleven and The Dog Stars.