So, I have a theory that Candace was immune to the fever because she was getting exposed to it in small doses through the Bible shipments that came from Shenzen. What do you think? Also I thought the post-apocalyptic group joining hands to sing some prayer to the tune of New Slang was evocative in a very creepy way. I sort of wanted it to explore and the group and its beliefs more. But I get that that wasn’t the point. Also I love your use of that Metropolis image!!! I feel that, every Monday
I think that's an interesting idea about Candace being immune. I thought that those 8 or so who were left had to have some kind of immunity, but then that turned out not to be the case. I did want to know more about the mechanics of the Shen Fever beyond 'spores.' But I think this would be less of an issue if I read this book in the before times. I also agree on the creepy prayers. There were many references to the afterlife and the commodification of religion (the bedazzled Bibles, for example) and it would have been interesting to explore that more. Also how employment is a form of religion, where our blind faith is expected but in return we get indifference from higher powers.
Oh right! The leader succumbs but it's because he's back in a place he knew. That whole part of it reminded me of this season of South Park from a couple years ago when everyone in the town was getting drunk on "MemberBerries" (They were berries that would say "'Member lunchables? 'member Garbage Pail Kids?' And then they'd slip in regressive right wing "traditional" values. People would get drunk on member berry wine to take the edge off... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJoQJKTc3nM ) Just touches on this idea that memory and nostalgia have a comforting but deadening effect in a way? Anyways you make a great point about work as a form of religion. That part of it seemed spookily realistic - her getting this deal to see her work through to the end, and then that payday being of no value at all once it arrives.
Yes, that was such an important moment for Candace when the money come through. It's a form of consensus, and when everyone's dead money is irrelevant. I watched The Road this weekend and the man & boy pass money laying around a few times and I was reminded of this. I think your point is good also about nostalgia. I would have liked to see this more fleshed out in the story. Characters do become fevered in nostalgic moments, so is that the trigger for the disease? Like everyone is asymptomatic until confronted with a childhood memory? That would be even more terrifying and could have been cool for the book to explore more.
I agree - i was fascinated by the idea of nostalgia being a catalyst for the fever... I had wondered if any of this was supposed to say anything Alzheimers? But that's a half-formed thought I haven't completed ha. Or just the dumbing down of all of us in modern times by always looking backward... And what did it mean that Candace never experienced nostalgia through the course of the book, even though she is recounting her past. Is it just that she wasn't in the surroundings of her past that would've given her the fever, or is it because there was nothing pleasurable about her memories?! Maybe it was just chance. Like, if she'd been back in the place where she was with her mom as a child, when her mom was happy, perhaps there she would've been fevered.
I like where this is going! Fascinating to think about. Maybe because her childhood was in flux that she is immune to being fevered? But what about when she finds the boyfriend's retainer in her medicine cabinet and freshens it up and puts it back? Was that nostalgia? So maybe it's tied to place + memory and not just memory, like you suggest. I wish we could ask the author!
Yes, I agree. I tried my best to evaluate the book in its merits, but contemplating two pandemics was too much for me. It might be cool, though, to return to it in a few years. And thank YOU for all you do!
I read this in October 2019 and loved it and my timing feels particularly insane now. By the time our pandemic hit, my brain was (obviously) somewhere completely different and I had forgotten how similar the pandemic of this novel actually was until reading this review. Needless to say, I'm so glad I read it when I did. I'm in the middle of Mary Shelley's The Last Man right now, which is also about a pandemic that pretty much wipes out humanity, but the 19th-century-ness of it makes it much more palatable.
Thanks, Ana! I wish I had read it back then. It would have been interesting to then come back to it now given all that we know about pandemics. I wonder what Ling Ma thinks about the book these days, too.
I've definitely pushed this up on my stack! I've owned it since pre-pandemic and am kicking myself for not having read it sooner...but I'm excited to come back and read some spoiler-y things! I am averting my eyes but can't wait to come back later!
SPOILER THREAD: If you've read this book and want to discuss it, reply to this thread!
So, I have a theory that Candace was immune to the fever because she was getting exposed to it in small doses through the Bible shipments that came from Shenzen. What do you think? Also I thought the post-apocalyptic group joining hands to sing some prayer to the tune of New Slang was evocative in a very creepy way. I sort of wanted it to explore and the group and its beliefs more. But I get that that wasn’t the point. Also I love your use of that Metropolis image!!! I feel that, every Monday
I think that's an interesting idea about Candace being immune. I thought that those 8 or so who were left had to have some kind of immunity, but then that turned out not to be the case. I did want to know more about the mechanics of the Shen Fever beyond 'spores.' But I think this would be less of an issue if I read this book in the before times. I also agree on the creepy prayers. There were many references to the afterlife and the commodification of religion (the bedazzled Bibles, for example) and it would have been interesting to explore that more. Also how employment is a form of religion, where our blind faith is expected but in return we get indifference from higher powers.
Oh right! The leader succumbs but it's because he's back in a place he knew. That whole part of it reminded me of this season of South Park from a couple years ago when everyone in the town was getting drunk on "MemberBerries" (They were berries that would say "'Member lunchables? 'member Garbage Pail Kids?' And then they'd slip in regressive right wing "traditional" values. People would get drunk on member berry wine to take the edge off... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJoQJKTc3nM ) Just touches on this idea that memory and nostalgia have a comforting but deadening effect in a way? Anyways you make a great point about work as a form of religion. That part of it seemed spookily realistic - her getting this deal to see her work through to the end, and then that payday being of no value at all once it arrives.
Yes, that was such an important moment for Candace when the money come through. It's a form of consensus, and when everyone's dead money is irrelevant. I watched The Road this weekend and the man & boy pass money laying around a few times and I was reminded of this. I think your point is good also about nostalgia. I would have liked to see this more fleshed out in the story. Characters do become fevered in nostalgic moments, so is that the trigger for the disease? Like everyone is asymptomatic until confronted with a childhood memory? That would be even more terrifying and could have been cool for the book to explore more.
I agree - i was fascinated by the idea of nostalgia being a catalyst for the fever... I had wondered if any of this was supposed to say anything Alzheimers? But that's a half-formed thought I haven't completed ha. Or just the dumbing down of all of us in modern times by always looking backward... And what did it mean that Candace never experienced nostalgia through the course of the book, even though she is recounting her past. Is it just that she wasn't in the surroundings of her past that would've given her the fever, or is it because there was nothing pleasurable about her memories?! Maybe it was just chance. Like, if she'd been back in the place where she was with her mom as a child, when her mom was happy, perhaps there she would've been fevered.
I like where this is going! Fascinating to think about. Maybe because her childhood was in flux that she is immune to being fevered? But what about when she finds the boyfriend's retainer in her medicine cabinet and freshens it up and puts it back? Was that nostalgia? So maybe it's tied to place + memory and not just memory, like you suggest. I wish we could ask the author!
I really wish I read this before the pandemic instead of the summer of 2020. It would have been such a different experience.
Thanks for the shout outs and for being you.
Yes, I agree. I tried my best to evaluate the book in its merits, but contemplating two pandemics was too much for me. It might be cool, though, to return to it in a few years. And thank YOU for all you do!
I read this in October 2019 and loved it and my timing feels particularly insane now. By the time our pandemic hit, my brain was (obviously) somewhere completely different and I had forgotten how similar the pandemic of this novel actually was until reading this review. Needless to say, I'm so glad I read it when I did. I'm in the middle of Mary Shelley's The Last Man right now, which is also about a pandemic that pretty much wipes out humanity, but the 19th-century-ness of it makes it much more palatable.
Thanks, Ana! I wish I had read it back then. It would have been interesting to then come back to it now given all that we know about pandemics. I wonder what Ling Ma thinks about the book these days, too.
Well this review made me scoot this book up on my reading list. Maybe a three-year pandemic anniversary read to shatter me.
It's definitely a book that will help with that!
I've definitely pushed this up on my stack! I've owned it since pre-pandemic and am kicking myself for not having read it sooner...but I'm excited to come back and read some spoiler-y things! I am averting my eyes but can't wait to come back later!
Great! Can't wait to get your thoughts on it!