You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
bookswithbethx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
analenegrace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It's simultaneously an easy read because of how well-written it is, but also so hard to read in a post-2020 world where COVID fundamentally changed so many things. So much of the book was familiar; Mandel has a keen understanding of how we as a society react to things. Some of the standouts include a dedication to theater and the arts, a dedication to preservation, and relying on religion to the point of madness. All of these things were seen in our pandemic as well as in this book.
I cannot recommend it enough, and I will probably be thinking about it for a long time after reading.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
lili_geek's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: Rape and Suicide
musicalpopcorn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I quite enjoyed this book. Emily St John Mandel is fast becoming my favourite author. I like the way she weaves her stories and ties things together with neat but emotional little bows. I quite liked how this was a little different than a standard post-apocalyptic book in that it was based more on relationships and less on the nitty-gritty of survival. I also liked how there was a lot of speculation about how people would reminisce and find different memories of technology to fixate on.
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Abandonment, and Alcohol
kelly_e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Author: Emily St. John Mandel
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 3.00
Pub Date: September 9, 2014
T H R E E • W O R D S
Evocative • Ambitious • Eerie
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.
Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Despite hearing (and reading) so many glowing reviews from my bookish community for Station Eleven, I had no plan to pick it up... until it landed on the 2023 Canada Reads shortlist. Since 2021, I've made a point of reading as many books from the longlist as possible, with a particular focus on the five shortlisted titles. And so, despite knowing this wasn't likely to be my cup of tea, I borrowed a digital copy from my library.
I'll start by saying, I truly appreciated the dystopian Canadian content. Emily St. John Mandel has carefully constructed a realistic (eerily so) and reflective tale of post-apocalyptic survival. And of course, it's incredibly well written. While I know the ambiguous ending has been a point of contention between readers, for me it actually seemed the most fitting.
Despite that, I just wasn't a fan of the story or the structure. It's told in three different timelines from several points of view, and I definitely liked certain section a lot more than others. At times, I found myself disappointed to reach the end of a chapter only to find out I'd be ripped from what was happening in that storyline. Additionally, the plot just held very little interest for me. I'll admit coming out of a pandemic was probably not the right time to read this book, and it's quite possible the past three years impacted my reading experience.
I completely understand why so many readers love Emily St. John Mandel's descriptive and poetic writing style, yet Station Eleven was not a book for me. I don't think it's surprising it landed on this years Canada Reads list, as it definitely stimulates thought and discussion. I am looking forward to seeing how it'll fair on the panel, but in my opinion it doesn't necessarily fit the theme of shifting one's perspective.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Emily St. John Mandel enthusiasts
• readers looking for pandemic fiction
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"What I mean to say is, the more you remember, the more you've lost."
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
juliahendrickson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape and War
Adult/minor relationship warning is partially for a couple who met when one was a minor. Ableism warning is for the trope of a disabled character dying as part of an abled character's story. Colonisation warning is just in case, for discussion of Israel in a normalized light.whatathymeitwas's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Pregnancy
owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Compellingly written prose with a well-developed cast of characters. Whilst I wish Kristen's storyline had more events within it, I really liked the book and I think it is both hopeful and unsentimental about humanity, in a way that I suspect might be altered in the TV adaptation.
This book has a lot to say about art and community-building and the role these will play in coming crises. It felt resonant with ecological anxieties about climate change and social anxieties in the age of COVID-19. Some of the passages about process and industrialisation felt a tad oversimplified and neoliberal - surely an Amazon delivery driver or a factory worker making snowglobes has complex, nuanced feelings about their labour and their lives that goes beyond gratitude for a job - but everything else was thoughtful, interesting, well-paced and moving. I loved Kirsten and Miranda. What wonderful characters.
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
glacialis's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, and Terminal illness
Minor: Suicide