Reviews with content warning for Death - Station Eleven

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Reviews tagging 'Death'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

444 reviews

amberelizabeth7's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Mainly reviewing to preserve the quote I’d bookmarked but have to return the library book!

This was a recommendation and while slightly slow to get into, turned out magnificently and I already kind of want to reread for stuff I likely missed.

I would say defo check trigger warnings, and don’t read if it’s too soon to read vividly your worst fears for how the recent pandemic could’ve gone….

“I’m talking about these people who’ve ended up in one life instead of another and they are just so disappointed. Do you know what I mean? They’ve done what’s expected of them they want to do something different but that’s impossible now, there’s a mortgage, kids, whatever, they’re trapped. Dan’s like that.” …. “….high functioning sleepwalkers, essentially” … “… I think people like him think work is supposed to be drudgery punctuated by very occasional moments of happiness, but when I say happiness, I mostly mean distraction. You know what I mean?”

Content Warnings

pipn_t's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Really good book, highly recommend. Very atmospheric, the disaster was believable. The characters were all interesting and I enjoyed the way the story was put together. I loved that a group of actors and musicians featured as main characters.

Content Warnings

leahgustafson's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

I had been meaning to read this one for a while now but have held off because I wasn’t sure if it was too soon for a “pandemic book.” I am glad I didn’t read it in 2020 as originally planned. In the beginning I did have BIG COVID flashbacks, but those quickly went away as the book takes a completely different turn.

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It was interesting to me how much I loved this book since it is so different from my usual 5 star reads. This is an absolutely beautiful exploration of humanity and the human experience. I was left with a greater appreciation for life in general, and I found myself looking at the mundane parts of my days differently.

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Emily St. John Mandel’s writing is absolutely stunning. I especially appreciated her beautifully detailed descriptions of the small routines and habits of the characters’ lives. I did enjoy how the characters were loosely connected and didn’t mind that there wasn’t a deep dive into any one character. Usually I’m all about characters and their development, but the way this story is structured, it speaks to the human experience as a whole rather than any one individual’s experience.

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My inner English Major gushed over the Shakespeare tie ins. I also loved how the mantra, “Survival is insufficient” (from Star Trek Voyager) is woven throughout the story. This line sums up the central message of the story as well as leaves the reader with something to reflect on in their own lives.

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This is one that everyone needs to read at some point! It’s a quick but thought-provoking read. Yes, it is about a global pandemic so make sure you’re in a good place for that.

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Check out what I'm reading next on Instagram @LeahsLitReview!

Content Warnings

jdhauk's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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: Yes

Content Warnings

seforaflorian's review against another edition

2.0

inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

vivvs's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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

Content Warnings

tremayna's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic

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

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Medical content, 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.