Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

42 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective 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? No

3.0

Title: Station Eleven
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." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Murder, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Blood, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Ableism, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

birchjilguero's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Violence

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

stripedstone's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

sidhe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Violence and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

This book deals graphically with the impact of a global pandemic so you may not feel up to it in the current context.

eleanorvancestan's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

My favourite book of the year and one of my favourites ever. If i could rate this any higher I would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Grief, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Death

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Sexual assault

the whole book centers around a deadly pandemic and the societal collapse that followed. Could hit close to home after Covid 19

wreathedinviolets's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Grief, Kidnapping, and Violence

luckyonesoph'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Stunning. Absolutely stunning. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Gun violence, and Sexual assault

sbsreads's review against another edition

hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Though this book is marketed as dystopian at first, it takes a reflective and emotional look into the aftermath of an apocalypse with fascinating glimpses into life before and how it affects those who survived. It was very different from most dystopian that I’ve read before and I loved the reflective nature of it!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

This book is centered in an apocalyptic pandemic so it may be triggering.

whirl's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0

The description of the start of the pandemic are a bit too spot on now that there has been a pandemic.. although it really highlights how lucky we’ve been that covid-19 was much less deadly!

The book has a nice pace, and just ambles through the lives of various survivors loosely connected to each other before the pandemic hits

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Kidnapping, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

While the book describes a post apocalyptic world which is clearly more lawless and violent, it doesn’t go into unnecessarily detailed descriptions and is more about what happens to people’s minds and personality to live in such a world

emhunsber's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Blood, Murder, Death, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Drug use, Infidelity, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Death of parent, Child death, and Alcohol