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Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

35 reviews

owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • 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

"He woke to quiet voices. This had been happening more and more lately, this nodding off unexpectedly, and it left him with an unsettled intimation of rehearsal. You fall asleep for short periods and then for longer periods and then forever."

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.

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glacialis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.0


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angieleal15's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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jessica_is_reading's review against another edition

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

4.25


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lianne_rooney's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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kallan's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25


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wildflowerragdoll's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don't know what will stop me loving this book. Fair warning it may cause anxiety symptoms as it deals with topics of being alone, death, global apocalypse, cults and the harmful effects of organized religion. But I love its commentary on humanity and the prospect of something good coming out of chaos.

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alexeireads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

finished reading on august 26, 2021

i almost gave up on this book last year because i couldnt handle reading a book about a pandemic while i was living through one, but i finally picked it up again a week or two ago and im so fucking glad i did. instead of painfully reminding me that im currently living in a world ravaged by a pandemic, this book made me fall in love with the world; with humanity, with the compassion and serendipity and continuous need to *live* that exists in all of us—“because survival is insufficient.” what a beautiful, beautiful book.

 

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wordswoods's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was a ride. 
Station Eleven follows various people throughout the unraveling and aftermath of a worldwide pandemic. We also get flashbacks to their earlier lives. 
Written before the Covid-19 pandemic, some of the things that happen are all too realistic: stocking up on supplies like water, air traffic halting, people not being warned in time but mostly, people knowing about it but thinking it's probably not so bad and continuing their normal lives. 

The big difference, though, is that this pandemic's death rate is estimated to be around 99%. Air traffic never starts back up again and eventually, all power networks, electricity and the internet cease to be. A new kind of survival society unfolds. 

We follow different storylines in the past and present and learn why they are intertwined along the way. 

This novel is a tale of a pandemic gone wrong, a view into a post apocalyptic society, but also a reflection about which things really matter and why. 

You will not be disappointed. And I'm not going on a plane anytime soon. 

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alayamorning's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • 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

4.5


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