More of a mood piece than a straight up thriller, this 1974 film contains one of my favorite sequences: That of an after-hours work party held in Harry’s industrial loft office, following a security convention of fellow wiretappers and investigators for hire. Torn between doing his job and intervening, he begins to suspect that he himself is being surveilled. “The Conversation” follows Harry Caul, a wiretapper who suspects that one of his recordings, of a conversation between an unaware couple, may be used in a murder plot.

The author shared more details about three of them, and how they informed her novel, below. When writing “Severance,” author Ling Ma drew inspiration from various sources, including several films. ( From the publisher.Our December 2020 pick for Now Read This, the PBS NewsHour’s book club with The New York Times, is Ling Ma’s “Severance.” Become a member of the Now Read This book club by joining our Facebook group, or by signing up to our newsletter. Most important, it’s a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit.Ī send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma’s Severance is a moving family story, a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale, and a hilarious, deadpan satire. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.Ĭandace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though.Įnter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob.

Her bosses enlist her as part of a dwindling skeleton crew with a big end-date payoff. So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. She’s content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she’s had her fill of uncertainty. Maybe it’s the end of the world, but not for Candace Chen, a millennial, first-generation American and office drone meandering her way into adulthood in Ling Ma’s offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire, Severance.Ĭandace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine.

Severance ling ma