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Graphic: Death, Violence
Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic
It's a look at an ensemble of characters who have in one way or another, for the main ones, have a link to this one actor in the book, and how their lives intersect and connect thanks to this person they have in common.
It makes you think of the butterfly effect, really, the unknown effects we have on people we meet for a short or long time. And this, set in a pre+during a society collapse.
Something I didn't expect is that half the book is flashbacks, context for all the connections to make sense to us. It's not written in chronological order, you get pieces of context as you go, even up to the end. So it's quite cool to figure out where the links are as the story progresses and you go back and forth in time.
It's a soft and realistic look at what a collapse could be like. It's about community, people being there for each other, and also not. Loss in big and small ways. It's very very rich in detail in these characters' lives so you feel for each of them.
I went in for the pandemic content, was confused as to why we were spending so much time on one guy at the beginning, then started to understand as the book made its direction clearer. I wasn't disappointed, in the end.
It's the kind of book that's a little heartbreaking, but in a soft way. In a "we've lived through painful times, but we're still here, and there still exists beauty in the world somehow. People to hold on to, memories to share and cherish, and the future to meet, and make."
It's truly a beautiful story about humans in relationship to each other. A little gem.
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Grief
Minor: Rape
I like this book because it goes into depth about the characters relationships with one another. The characters change throughout the book because a lot of friendships and relationships often do not last, for many reasons. For me 1984 is similar to this because of the dystopian fiction, but it differs because Station Eleven jumps back and fourth, and it has different timelines. The one piece of symbolism that stuck through the whole book with me was the cloudy paperweight, I always thought it resembled the setting of the book because of the flu that spread. The point of this book shows survival between life and death. The take away message is that there is a chance of survival. A trigger warning may be useful before the protagonists death, because they died from a heart attack. I recommend this book if you like a novel that jumps around a lot, because there are quite a lot of storylines. My favourite part of this book was the dinner party. " There are ten guests here tonight, an intimate evening to celebrate both the anniversary and the opening weekend figures." The dinner party was full of drama thats why I liked it. A part of the book I didn't enjoy was the story of the Traveling Symphony I felt that it was very slow paced and kind of unnecessary. "There were moments around campfires when someone would say something invigorating about the importance of art, and everyone would find it easier to sleep that night." This shows basically what the Traveling Symphony would be doing and I just think that this storyline is unimportant to the book, we don't need to know about their campfire stories.
Graphic: Cursing, Death
And it was a really satisfying ending too! I think this one is going to stay with me, and I'll be ruminating on it for a long time. I may even bump it up from 4.5 to 5 stars if it really sticks.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Infidelity, Pedophilia, Kidnapping
Moderate: Death, Murder
Minor: Rape, Suicide
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol
Minor: Sexual assault
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic
However! About halfway through I did start to really dig my teeth into it. As with a lot of the books I've read recently, once things started to fall into place and I started to see the connections, I got a lot more interested.
The concept is certainly interesting, the characters were fine, I just wanted...more.
I wish it had been two books. One about "the before" and one about "the after," but I understand that you can't predict success and if you aren't sure you'll get a second book deal, you might as well put both stories in one.
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic