Reviews

Das Licht der letzten Tage by Emily St. John Mandel

amydkreads's review against another edition

5.0

In Station Eleven three people become connected through one evening’s unsettling events in a Toronto theatre: a Hollywood actor playing King Lear, an EMT in the audience and a child actress watching from backstage. As the evening continues a pandemic spreads that ends up killing most of the population. The story picks up 15 years later and the now grown actress is part of Travelling Symphony, a troupe that performs Shakespeare for scattered communities of survivors. This vividly told survival story spans decades and moves back and forth in time to show how strange twists of fate connect the three main characters. People who consider themselves Hollywood devotees, comic book fans, cult junkies or disaster tourists would enjoy this inventive and exciting post-apocalyptic fiction.

cruffine11's review against another edition

3.0

Loved the writing/characters, just generally felt the rest was lacking a bit. Seriously enjoyable and will be reading more of her

bjayfogg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

sarsh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

3.25

mle667's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

Dystopian but not trauma-porn. 

sydinreallife's review against another edition

5.0

I chose this book for the 2018 Week 11 (Work of Literary Fiction) challenge, and wow did I enjoy this book! It's been on my TBR since 2015, but I somehow just now got around to it. I listened to it on audiobook, and I think that is what helped me get through the tough parts. The jumping around was confusing at first, but I eventually got used to it.

The dystopian future that Mandel presents is eerily plausible, and I had to remind myself several times that the Georgia Flu doesn't actually exist.

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in dystopians, and I enjoyed the musical elements as well.

bookwormlizy's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

ess_bee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad slow-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

4.5

thereadandseek's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.0

sierrathepixie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I really liked this it felt unique from other like dystopian novels. I enjoyed it though like it was just nice to get lost in the different storylines. I read this in 2 days and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn’t watch the show so I didn’t know what I expected the story to really be about but like idk it just excited me and was also sad but engaging.

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Content Warnings

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