Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

121 reviews

vivvs's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

liked the premise, wish the main plot had a little more oomph

i found myself wishing for a bigger conclusion about the prophet storyline. i liked the ending and what mandel decided to include in the dialogue and what she left unwritten

but writing was good and interesting format 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

tremayna's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Medical content, and Death of parent

Written before the 2020 pandemic, this book about a fictional global viral event was disorienting to read in the year 2023, so closely following the eerily parallel events that came to pass in real life. Much of the real life pandemic is still in progress; its effects continue to leave their mark; the process of compartmentalizing memories of things surreal and too big to process without a biweekly therapy plan is still happening. Picking up this book jolted me back into the thick of pandemic thinking, creating a literal sense of disorientation where I was looking around me wondering how people could be sitting so close, maskless, touching everything without thought, when I hadn't seen the world that way in at least a year and a half. For that reason alone, I have to commend the writing. And at the same time, the author's delicate touch and the many moments of human normalcy, in both pre-event and post-event scenes, prevented the complete despair that could have pervaded this story. I felt St John Mandel balanced total devastation with enough possibility to keep the reader believing in the likelihood of meaningful survival without overdoing it and allowing the story to devolve into purely a feel good fantasy.

My one remaining frustration by the end was how little of Jeevan's growth we got to see. It was thankfully alluded to in enough detail to let the reader form a picture. But as the first point of view character, he was the one that had my investment from the start, and I slightly resented Arthur's story for edging it out, especially since Jeevan's story could also have neatly covered Tyler and Elizabeth's character development.

kananineko's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Mental illness, Rape, Alcohol, and War

cortneyhehe's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

A thoughtful reflection on a disease-driven apocalypse. I have always been interested in the moments and days right when the end comes, rather than "we were happy and fine" and then "20 years later". This novel includes a great distribution of events before, during, and after the collapse of civilization. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, and Violence

While the apocalypse is caused by a pandemic, there are no graphic details of the illness and death by it. When described it is in more general terms of flu-like symptoms and delirium. I tagged religious bigotry as graphic because there is a violent cult with "we are the light, you are the darkness" type of mentality, "we are saved/chosen because we survived the plague." The cult references the Christian book of Revelations but otherwise there is no explicit uses of Christianity to oppress/kill others, just out of context quotes. The minor child abuse tag is due to mention of child brides, though there is no graphic descriptions of it.

astridrv's review against another edition

Exquisite writing, a real page turner, neatly done. The author successfully made me marvel at the wonderful improbability of our lives. And the theme of fame and what remains of the narrative of our lives was a smart choice too. A well executed book that was a delight to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

bookswithbethx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Car accident, and Pregnancy

arborapollonis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

analenegrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

I'd known of the HBO show but I hadn't ever watched it, and I'm glad I haven't. This book is so engaging, beautiful, and made me think so much about what makes humanity. 

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

musicalpopcorn's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense 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? No

4.5

When a plague strikes the world, the people who survive are left to survive as best they can.

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. 

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Content Warnings

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