Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

199 reviews

pipercurda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

poignantly eerie after having lived through an actual pandemic. i could read a series of ten more of these. some of the best as-you-go world-building i’ve read in a while. devoured in 36 hours. 

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grace_en's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense 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? Yes

5.0


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maddie_can_read's review against another edition

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

5.0

I remember watching the TV show for a few episodes a few years ago so it's interesting seeing what I remember/ what they changed.

I really enjoy the structure of the book, where you follow characters over time and space.
And the fact that you don't necessarily know at the beginning which characters you are going to follow. Like it's so interesting going back in time to a character that we already know is dead and learn more about them, their hopes and dreams, their impact on others and then see their death from a totally different perspective. Very humanizing. Loved the "twist" of knowing who the prophet was and the parallels between his trauma and Kristen's trauma
. Also really enjoy the writing style. I like the feeling of not knowing where the author is taking you.

Loved all the Canadian and especially the Toronto references!

I have a difficult time visualizing some books but thought this book was written in a way that really facilitated visualizing what was happening, being familiar with Toronto also probably helped though.

I also enjoyed the tone of the book, it felt neither overly optimistic or pessimistic in imagining a post-apocalyptic world. 

One minor critique is that some of the side characters were difficult to distinguish between.
Specifically, Kristen's traveling symphony friends


I also kind of wished we had seen the reunion between Kristen and Jevin and if they 'd figure out how they knew each other

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sandysmith's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

So hard to decide where to start with the review of this one, published in 2014, the book explores a dystopia world of those who survive a flu that kills 99.6% of the population within 3/4 hours of contracting the virus. So within 20 years young people are unable to know a time when there was electricity, mobile phones, air travel the internet, cars and so forth and how different people react to this change. The book does hop around different times and different characters, of which there are many, my favourites being Kirsten a child actress, who was 8 when the flu hit. There is a travelling symphony that she d part of, which goes from town to town, in a circuit, giving shows of music with their orchestra or plays, including Shakespeare. On their wagons is the slogan, "Survival is inefficient." From Star Trek Voyager. For me, parts of the book were slow, and I enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first, although it was a bit of a disappointing ending. But boy, does this book make you think and appreciate all of the things we have. I'm just glad I read this now and not when the global pandemic was at its peak. Interesting, thought-provoking, and well written.

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pagesfromhome's review

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challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I picked this book for my book club this month and even though I had read it before, I feel like I had a totally different experience reading it this time.

St. John Mandel does an incredible job of spanning time and characters to build a world that feels realistic and haunting at the same time. Although, I found some characters less “necessary” to the story than others, I rarely regretted the moments spent with them on the page.

I love how she toyed with the timeline of the events in the book and teased growth and hope in the perfect amount throughout the story. I’d been avoiding pandemic/dystopian fiction for a long time (for a pretty obvious reason) but I’m grateful that I dove back in with this one.

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mega_mikko's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Took me a while to finish - but this was a very good read. Made me think a lot of civilization - the value we place on things; celebrity, hierarchy, money - and how art transcends all of these things. Hits very close to home as we currently navigate COVID-19, but it's made me more appreciative of what we do have.

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jerwoodson's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0


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rmkg's review against another edition

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reflective
My kind of book--a tapestry of characters, a sprinkling of sci-fi, reflections on how we use art to make meaning in our lives. Really lovely stuff. Left me very grateful for modern conveniences.

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fedorasommora's review against another edition

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

2.5

The writing was meh. The story was interesting enough to keep me reading, but I’ve DNFed better books. 

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joseph_fertitta's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-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? Yes

3.25


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