10 Books Like Severance To Make You Want To Avoid The Office Forever
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Loading... - Josephine Monet
- 14 Apr 2022
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Ben Stiller’s new series on Apple TV+, Severance, has been a fly-under-the-radar sleeper hit that just released its season finale. If you haven’t watched it, Severance initially poses a simple question: would you agree to a procedure that would “sever” your work life from your personal life? Because that’s exactly what Mark Scout did after the loss of his wife. There’s something appealing, after all, about surrendering the hours you spend at work to another version of yourself that has no memory of whatever grief or unhappiness you’re trying to escape.
Except that’s not quite how it works. Mark doesn’t realize this at first, because his regular self and his work self (his “outie” and his “innie”) have little knowledge of each other. Mark knows he works at Lumon, but he doesn’t know what he does at Lumon. He knows he has coworkers, but he doesn’t know who they are. He goes into the elevator, the severance protocol is activated, and he “awakens” back in the elevator when the work day is finished.
The Mark inside Lumon only knows…work. He doesn’t sleep: his outie sleeps. He is activated and deactivated in the elevator, and knows nothing of his outie self or his personal life. It is forbidden to take any messages outside of the basement floor they work on. If they make mistakes, they are sent to the “break room” for remediation. The only reading material they’re allowed is the employee handbook, which reads like a cult worship scripture devoted to Lumon’s founder. The workers are infantilized and given silly little prizes for making quota doing work that none of them understand.
Severance slowly unravels the mystery of why the severance procedure was established in the first place, how far a reach Lumon really has, and what secrets Mark and his coworkers will uncover about the company and about themselves. It is a fascinating, darkly funny, and deeply unsettling look at corporate office culture and values, as well as how workers are treated and viewed by the companies that consider them “family.”
The tone and exploration of this show aligns perfectly with a number of books that fall in the corporate horror, thriller, sci-fi, and dark comedy categories. These books also question the use of company loyalty tactics, the sheer monotony of doing repetitive work that appears to have very little meaning, and the unease that grows when one realizes just how pervasive a company’s hold has on you, your life, and even your own values.
Here are ten books like Severance to keep you satiated until season two.
10 BOOKS LIKE SEVERANCE
THE CORPORATION BY J.F. GONZALEZ
“Welcome to the corporate financial family.” Michelle Dowling is ready for that welcome, because she’s been waiting for a job like this her whole life: a high five figure salary. Great benefits and perks. She’s ready to work herself to the bone to keep this new financial consultant job. What Michelle didn’t understand, though, is how far a reach her new company has — a reach that extends into her personal life and beyond.
COMPANY BY MAX BARRY
Stephen Jones has started his new job at Zephyr Holdings, and he already has a few questions. Why are the sales reps using self-help books as their manuals? Why does the receptionist make twice as much as anyone else to do very little? Where is the CEO? What do they actually do? Stephen is struck with a desperate need to know, and despite his coworker’s warnings, does his own digging into his new company’s bizarre company policies — only to uncover a darkness he wasn’t expecting.
ALL HER LITTLE SECRETS BY WANDA M. MORRIS
Ellice Littlejohn has a great job as a corporate attorney in Atlanta, and a great relationship with her boss (with side benefits). All of that comes screeching to a halt when she finds her boss and sometimes lover dead in his office from a gunshot to the head. Ellice cannot get involved with this because she has secrets of her own, but people are already beginning to gossip, and she, the company’s lone Black attorney, is promoted to take her white boss’s job. Ellice has to uncover the truth, and discovers the secretive underbelly of her company in the process. If you want books like Severance but with a murder mystery angle, this will be a perfect fit. Read More...
