Reviews

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

caleugh's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

rach_reads1's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

margots926's review against another edition

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4.0

I haven’t used the app in sooo long so I’m rapid firing my experiences. This book was pretty good a fast read

carter84's review against another edition

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4.0

This is a difficult book to describe and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that every synopsis you can find it’s very vague.
I think Emily St. John Mandel is absolutely incredible at creating an atmosphere and at conjuring a cast of interesting characters hence why I gave Station Eleven 4 stars, but people that are looking for plot driven books or more “traditional” post apocalyptic stories should stay far away from this.

ovenbird_reads's review against another edition

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4.0

compelling. a lot is familiar from other post apocalyptic fiction but the centrality of the arts is a new twist.

dingusdaemonicus's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.0

roboxa's review against another edition

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5.0

Originally posted on Roberta's Literary Ramblings

Overall Impression: One of the best books I've read in some time, and definitely one of the best post-apocalyptic books I've ever read.

Recommended For: Fans of post-apocalyptic literature and just fiction in general. Also fans of character-driven stories.

Emily St. John Mandel's post-apocalyptic tale is one of the most human of its genre, focusing more on the lives of its characters before and after the disease that decimated the Earth's population, rather than the actual event itself. Mandel takes us on a journey that demonstrates the human ability to love, hate, forgive, and ultimately, endure in an unforgiving world.

This story isn't plot driven, like so many other books that examine this same subject, but rather character-driven. This, in my opinion, can be even more all-consuming than a fast-paced plot as long as the characters are written well. Station Eleven is an example of that kind of book.

I had pretty much had my fill of post-apocalyptic books, and pretty much won't read them anymore unless they are recommended to me. One of my grad school instructors raved about this book, so I decided to give it try, and I'm so happy I did. The take on the post-apocalyptic genre was refreshing, mainly because it focuses more on the aftermath of the event (in this case a disease) as well giving us enough information into the past lives of some of these characters that makes us feel the underlying fear that many of us carry—this could be us one day.

Much like what World War Z did with zombies, Station Eleven is a book that focuses on the consequences of the decisions that were made when the event actually happens. There is barely even a description of what occurs, which is fine since it's a flu like virus that spreads and that's all you really need to know, and because of this, Mandel is able to focus on the psychological consequences for its survivors, and how this affects the type of societal structures that are formed.

I also have to say that the use of the comic book "Station Eleven" was very well done. "Station Eleven" is the last comic book that Kirsten receives from the ageing actor who dies in the beginning of the book. Kirsten has managed to keep this comic through all of the trials she has faced growing up in this post-apocalyptic and often dangerous world, and she considers it her most prized possession.Throughout the narrative, sections are interspersed about the woman who wrote the comic and her life while she wrote it, thus giving us a reason to feel a connection to this work along with Kirsten. Granted, it is for different reasons that we end up feeling this connection, but the connection is made nonetheless and that is more than most books do. So many times, we will read about characters who have an object they feel highly attached to, but something is lost when we aren't able to feel the same connection. In the case of Station Eleven, both the reader and the character feel a connection to this central object which gives this book a whole layer that other books lack. Am I saying that this should occur with every coveted object that a character has, no. I'm just saying that it is interesting to see it done, and see it done so well.

This is a stunning accomplishment that is a must-read for any literary fiction or post-apocalyptic fiction fan. I'm looking forward to reading more work from Emily St. John Mandel.

lysmar's review against another edition

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

4.5

noz021's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

magdub's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

3.0