Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

94 reviews

mouse42's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I know I’m late to the party, but I really enjoyed this book. It gave me a different perspective on life and how humans cope with difficult situations. The interwoven stories of the characters was beautifully done. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Religious bigotry, Blood, Confinement, Gun violence, Murder, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

irisestacansado's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Sexual violence and Domestic abuse

nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent, Addiction, Stalking, Rape, and Pedophilia

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Pedophilia, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Medical content

Minor: Rape, Suicide, Child death, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking

whatathymeitwas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Alcohol, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Animal death, Mental illness, Drug use, Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual content

sbsreads's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Though this book is marketed as dystopian at first, it takes a reflective and emotional look into the aftermath of an apocalypse with fascinating glimpses into life before and how it affects those who survived. It was very different from most dystopian that I’ve read before and I loved the reflective nature of it!!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

This book is centered in an apocalyptic pandemic so it may be triggering.

bookishplantmom's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I was curious about this book after reading How High We Go in The Dark - I had heard they were similar. And in some ways they are but in many they are quite different. This is also a pandemic story told in a series of vignettes from a range of characters lives across a period of time. Somehow this story feels particularly surreal despite it being closer to reality than HHWGITD. It reminded me more of Butler’s Parable of The Sower actually. It isn’t nearly as good in my opinion but it does take an unflinching look at some of the worst parts of humanity while also thinking through the meaning of community and civilization. The writing was not particularly impactful to me but I did enjoy how the various vignettes fit together. None of the characters stood out to me or clicked for me. Reading this I found myself reflecting a lot about how things *actually* are going two years into a pandemic vs how the author imagined it might go. A fascinating experience reading this now.  

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Terminal illness

billyjepma's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"First we only want to be seen, but once we're seen, that's not enough anymore. After that, we want to be remembered."

Emily St. John Mandel taps into something sublime with Station Eleven, something that manages to speak to a particular moment in time while also capturing something universally timeless about living. The narrative and its characters may not have always resonated with me, but Mandel's beautiful writing and thematics quickly and repeatedly struck a nerve with me.

I usually latch onto the characters in a story, so while I liked the casts Mandel shifts between, I never felt as invested in them as I wanted. For example, I kept waiting for the story to peel back layers on specific characters or ideologies in the "present-day" sections, but those insights never really came. After all of the rich character development and exploration of the "flashback" stories—which, while familiar, are written with aching honesty and vulnerability—the present-day sections felt somewhat lacking.

That's not what's going to stick with me, though. The stories of lonely people discovering and fighting for their found families, the enduring hope they create together, the capacity for art and conviction to be what saves our souls in the end—that's what I'll remember about Station Eleven. I don't think the book even says anything profoundly original, but the unique angles it uses to approach those familiar ideas and genres make them feel new. Or, if not new, then timely and maybe even necessary.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Death of parent, Torture, Suicide, Abandonment, Child death, and Vomit

liliaweber's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The threads of different lives are woven together across different eras - in a non-chronological arrangement of chapters that somehow flows beautifully, rhythmically, like a song.

This book is basically a meditation on a quote from Star Trek, which is a mantra often repeated by the characters themselves: "survival is insufficient." It's about why the human need to create art and tell stories is worth braving the danger of an unpredictable post-apocalyptic world. It's also about the choice to let go of what we've lost vs the drive to rebuild it, or how to balance both. I ugly cried more than once.

Three of the main characters are sympathetic, compelling, interesting. If there's any flaw in this book it's that the one character that glues the others together - the first character mentioned in the opening line - is self-centered, boring to read about, and doesn't grow. Defeating the villain is only a small sliver of the story; the main goals of the main characters are to survive a post-apocalyptic world, to uncover missing truth, and to create something worth surviving for.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Trafficking

Murder, killing out of self-defense, and death from natural causes are depicted with some detail and are central to the story. The main villain of the story intends to traffick ("marry") a child but she escapes before he can. Suicide, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence are mentioned, but with very few details.

whirl's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The description of the start of the pandemic are a bit too spot on now that there has been a pandemic.. although it really highlights how lucky we’ve been that covid-19 was much less deadly!

The book has a nice pace, and just ambles through the lives of various survivors loosely connected to each other before the pandemic hits

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Kidnapping, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

While the book describes a post apocalyptic world which is clearly more lawless and violent, it doesn’t go into unnecessarily detailed descriptions and is more about what happens to people’s minds and personality to live in such a world