Ling Ma

Born 1983

From Sanming, Fujian, People's Republic of China · Nationality: United States · Writes fiction

Quotes

“Chicago is the most American of American cities.”
Severance, p. 5
“Blythe liked to say the only things you can really do in Hong Kong are shop and eat. It is a city that distills life down to its bare essentials.”
Severance, Chapter 8
“Just because you’re adequately good at something doesn’t mean that’s what you should do.”
Severance, Chapter 24
“The larger party always wins. It can’t see you, but it can crush you.”
Severance, Chapter 11

Books by Ling Ma in the order they were published, from Severance (2018) to Bliss Montage (2022).

Emily St. John MandelAlso writes literary fiction about a pandemic and its aftermath, with attention to ordinary people and social breakdown, as in Station Eleven.
Chang-rae LeeWrites about Asian-American identity, assimilation and the pressures of work and family, as in Native Speaker.
Kazuo IshiguroWrites restrained, first-person narrators in quietly unsettling near-future or altered settings, as in Never Let Me Go.
Ha JinWrites about Chinese immigrant life in the United States, with a focus on displacement and the cost of building a life abroad, as in Waiting.