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beaniedorman's review against another edition
Thanking every star in the sky I read this AFTER 2020
aayyashley's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
enzopilarta's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Vast yet intimate. Dystopian yet human. Bleak yet hopeful. Emily St. John Mandel to the core.
turidt's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
scytmo's review against another edition
5.0
Station Eleven is an poignant, moving and very human post-apocalyptic story told both before and after a devastating flu virus sweeps the world.
It’s an ensemble piece, with no one main character - it is told from the perspectives of a number of people, whose stories interweave before and in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, and then follows their stories many years later. At the beginning of the book, it isn’t clear what the purpose is of telling each person’s story - but the ways in which each character touches the lives of the others emerges organically as the the narrative artfully moves between each time and place.
According to the book blurb, the story revolves around a Hollywood actor who slumps over and dies during a production of King Lear, and 15 years later with “a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.” While these things do happen, they are just the thread that binds together the various stories, rather than being the story itself.
As the pandemic started to take hold, the descriptions of the gradual collapse of civilisation are evocatively told and quite eery to read, given that it was written before COVID. The hope that people had that it would all be over soon, and that civilisation would return, are tragic and moving.
Thankfully, this is not a gritty story of survival in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. The difficulties that the survivors must have gone through are hinted at, but the story moves forward to several years after the collapse of civilisation, where the survivors’ lives have reached some sense of stability. The story does follow the “nomadic group of actors” mentioned in the blurb, and this is an elegant way for the story to move between various settlements, showing how people have coped in their own ways.
At heart, this is a story of humanity and hope. As the various threads come together towards the end of the book, the thought that human community, endeavour, perseverance, and ingenuity will endure is ultimately an optimistic one.
It’s an ensemble piece, with no one main character - it is told from the perspectives of a number of people, whose stories interweave before and in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, and then follows their stories many years later. At the beginning of the book, it isn’t clear what the purpose is of telling each person’s story - but the ways in which each character touches the lives of the others emerges organically as the the narrative artfully moves between each time and place.
According to the book blurb, the story revolves around a Hollywood actor who slumps over and dies during a production of King Lear, and 15 years later with “a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.” While these things do happen, they are just the thread that binds together the various stories, rather than being the story itself.
As the pandemic started to take hold, the descriptions of the gradual collapse of civilisation are evocatively told and quite eery to read, given that it was written before COVID. The hope that people had that it would all be over soon, and that civilisation would return, are tragic and moving.
Thankfully, this is not a gritty story of survival in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. The difficulties that the survivors must have gone through are hinted at, but the story moves forward to several years after the collapse of civilisation, where the survivors’ lives have reached some sense of stability. The story does follow the “nomadic group of actors” mentioned in the blurb, and this is an elegant way for the story to move between various settlements, showing how people have coped in their own ways.
At heart, this is a story of humanity and hope. As the various threads come together towards the end of the book, the thought that human community, endeavour, perseverance, and ingenuity will endure is ultimately an optimistic one.
ashmaiden's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
ajayw14's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
slvstrlpz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
hollidayreadswithme's review against another edition
4.0
Check out my blog at www.readingreckless.wordpress.com for more reviews and bookish content.
Wow! That was not what I was expecting at all.
Station Eleven popped up as something to read that had a smattering of Shakespeare in it. Something to read for a challenge and move on.
It was so much more than I could have imagined. Mandel uses a comic book to pepper and provide a framework for the metaphors throughout the book.
This book is about a multitude of people, and shifts back and forth between times before and after the Georgia Flu. Mandel doesn’t mince words or go on without purpose. Every part felt deliberate and beautiful. She paired the visualization of utter despair and the myriad of emotions reflected in the actions of our collective characters.
Unlike other end of the world scenarios, Mandel departs from the otherworldly supernatural causes for our destruction and turns it inward and makes it as innocuous as the flu we, as a population, get every year. That is much more real and terrifying than some mythological creatures, undead or otherwise.
What always strikes me as odd is that there are never bicycles in these kinds of stories. But back to the review.
Not a whole lot of diversity in this book especially confusing when planes from all over the world were landing in the seven cities airport. We read about a French woman who is close to Clark and that’s about it.
Other than that, it’s a great story beautifully told. Even though our world now is the before, the way she wraps nostalgia up and packages it for the after, makes me have more appreciation for the present, the circuitry that powers this device I’m typing on now. The ability to reach anyone with phone across the country or the world. To have antibiotics and doctors and food whenever, to connect with people, to read late into the night with electric light.
4 stars.
Wow! That was not what I was expecting at all.
Station Eleven popped up as something to read that had a smattering of Shakespeare in it. Something to read for a challenge and move on.
It was so much more than I could have imagined. Mandel uses a comic book to pepper and provide a framework for the metaphors throughout the book.
This book is about a multitude of people, and shifts back and forth between times before and after the Georgia Flu. Mandel doesn’t mince words or go on without purpose. Every part felt deliberate and beautiful. She paired the visualization of utter despair and the myriad of emotions reflected in the actions of our collective characters.
Unlike other end of the world scenarios, Mandel departs from the otherworldly supernatural causes for our destruction and turns it inward and makes it as innocuous as the flu we, as a population, get every year. That is much more real and terrifying than some mythological creatures, undead or otherwise.
What always strikes me as odd is that there are never bicycles in these kinds of stories. But back to the review.
Not a whole lot of diversity in this book especially confusing when planes from all over the world were landing in the seven cities airport. We read about a French woman who is close to Clark and that’s about it.
Other than that, it’s a great story beautifully told. Even though our world now is the before, the way she wraps nostalgia up and packages it for the after, makes me have more appreciation for the present, the circuitry that powers this device I’m typing on now. The ability to reach anyone with phone across the country or the world. To have antibiotics and doctors and food whenever, to connect with people, to read late into the night with electric light.
4 stars.
tadster20's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0