Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

95 reviews

angieleal15's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Suicide

ksheaffs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-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

5.0

Station 11 is my favorite kind of book, where somehow the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s subtle while you’re actively reading it but sinks in once you’ve set it down and leaves you with the feeling that you’ve just experienced something really special. In a word, it’s dazzling.

If you’re looking for a suspenseful Walking Dead esq post apocalyptic novel and nothing else, Station 11 might disappoint. Yes this plot is present but is it more a device to examine the characters and how they rebuild their identities after a catastrophic event draws a line between the world they know and a world they can’t begin to imagine. The switching pov and multiple timelines unravel a complex web of a select group of people all connected through one man. Pick this book up for its beautiful prose, its vibrant characters, its atmospheric quality, and its unpacking of the the question, “if survival is insufficient, what does it take to thrive?”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, Murder, and Abandonment

realalexmartin's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

Reading this book after being in a pandemic for two years is one way to rehash trauma!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

A content warning about the Pandemic. This is the crux of the novel, so it’s inescapable and all encompassing. The current pandemic can feel the same, so I would exercise caution as to not traumatise yourself because the past two years have already traumatised you enough.

braynard's review against another edition

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

5.0

This book was initially recommended to me by a professor who wanted to include it in our tragedy class, but cut it for time. And let me tell you, this book was not the easiest thing to read in 2022. The writing style and story were beautiful, but the content hit a bit close to home.

Emily St. John Mandel's writing style in this book is succinct yet elegant. She keeps it simple, but this never detracts from the emotions of the story. If anything, the reserved quality makes you feel the emotions more. I don't often cry over books, but one scene had me sobbing with only a few sentences and an implication. 

She handles the multiple plot lines with just as much grace. The stories of Arthur, Kirsten (a traveling actress who was only a kid when the pandemic began), Jeevan (a former paparazzo who tries to save Arthur's life), Miranda (Arthur's ex-wife and comic artist), and Clark (Arthur's old friend) are beautifully woven together to create a rich narrative.

And while I have seen some reviews upset that not of the plot lines and characters came together in the end, I think that its the mark of a mature narrative. Realistically, the chances of all of them meeting in the end is unlikely, and part of the beauty of this book is the harsh realism.

This book tackles a lot of hard questions. What is the point of art in crisis? How do we survive? Why do we survive? What do we know when everything we have known is gone? While COVID-19 is not as bad as the Georgian Flu, these questions still resonate for us, especially those of us who lost people or have been permanently affected by the virus.

This book can be a hard read for people, but I would definitely recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Suicide and Kidnapping

jenbosen's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Rape, Suicide, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

grimviolins's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Rape

lianne_rooney's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, and Kidnapping

amandabcook's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

kitty03's review against another edition

adventurous reflective sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, and Grief

alexeireads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

BIG content warning for pandemic. If you have been having a hard time dealing with grief or other mental health issues related to the COVID pandemic, be careful with this book. In my opinion, it actually helped me cope with the past several months because the last third of the book becomes more focused on hope and human survival and is actually very uplifting. But there are definitely some sections that made me close the book and go "nope. can't read about this, way too real." It was worth it, though.