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pacifickat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
*Long Review Ahead...Reader Be Warned*
This book sits between genres: a mix of end-of-the-world sci-fi, literary fiction, and an odd collection of character-driven stories around a few pivotal events, told and re-told from a variety of perspectives. This is a book of frame narratives, questioning which stories and moments define other stories and moments in meaningful ways. It is structured more like a network of coral making up a reef rather than a linear A-to-B journey.
A lot of disappointed reviewers seemed to want this book to be more than it was, the plot to follow a traditional post-apocalyptic road narrative, with characters fighting for survival in a dystopian landscape punctuated by violent encounters. However, Mandel seems to resist these expected devices, focusing instead on how humans are connected across time and space, nature and technology, and generations. The pandemic in this story demarcates a divide between past and present, a clear before and after. But, is existence more than our perceived notion of time and oir relationship to pivotal moments in history? Does a web of interconnectivity carry through all existence even when we cannot perceive it, even when the world seemingly ends? What is this reality we’re living in? Is it patterned beforehand, or only when looked at it in retrospect, like a forest ecosystem growing organically together? Can meaning and beauty miraculously arise out of mundanity and messiness? Is being briefly and beautifully alive and part of a cosmic whole enough of a miracle in itself? Do we make stories, or do the stories make us? What exists because of us, and what exists outside of us?
It’s complicated.This story dodges traditional plot structure, and instead provides nonchronological glimpses of the lives of individuals trying to find the answer to what can make existence sufficient, whether it be love, career, art, travel, memory, playing a part, rescuing others, religious fanaticism, joining a cause, controlling a narrative, collecting objects, or collecting stories. I will outline a couple major themes I found compelling, but I think this book by nature opens up a Pandora’s box of possibly reader takeaways.
A lot of disappointed reviewers seemed to want this book to be more than it was, the plot to follow a traditional post-apocalyptic road narrative, with characters fighting for survival in a dystopian landscape punctuated by violent encounters. However, Mandel seems to resist these expected devices, focusing instead on how humans are connected across time and space, nature and technology, and generations. The pandemic in this story demarcates a divide between past and present, a clear before and after. But, is existence more than our perceived notion of time and oir relationship to pivotal moments in history? Does a web of interconnectivity carry through all existence even when we cannot perceive it, even when the world seemingly ends? What is this reality we’re living in? Is it patterned beforehand, or only when looked at it in retrospect, like a forest ecosystem growing organically together? Can meaning and beauty miraculously arise out of mundanity and messiness? Is being briefly and beautifully alive and part of a cosmic whole enough of a miracle in itself? Do we make stories, or do the stories make us? What exists because of us, and what exists outside of us?
It’s complicated.
1. “Survival is insufficient” but existence is beautiful, sometimes breathtakingly so.
The interwoven storylines are occasionally punctuated by rhapsodic descriptions of moonlight on water, flowers and trees, slant sunlight, an impossibly blue sky, a paperweight that looks like trapped storm clouds, an illustration of the undersea. Likewise, technological wonders such as the internet, air travel, electric lights, refrigeration, television, and worldwide shipping networks go underappreciated before the flu, yet supply curious wonder in a post-pandemic world filled with the artifacts of their once-existence. Generally, it is these non-human elements which supply miraculous beauty and wonder in spite of the mundanity and distraction of human life, the messiness of human behavior, the horror of human violence.
2. There is an interconnected, overlapping web of individuals and events across time and realities – linking pre-pandemic lives to the post-pandemic world, and a graphic novel storyline that bleeds into both.
Everything is interconnected, the natural world and human-operated technologies, yet these marvelous (and tenuous) webs exist under the radar of most. The reader has the privilege to be the one who can see how everything touches, even as those living within the connections are unable to perceive them, except on rare occasions when the curtain of awareness is drawn upward.
This seeming magic encircles and envelops conscious existence, but goes unnoticed by the humans navigating the complexities of the pre-pandemic modern world, or fighting to survive in post-pandemic reality. A repeated element of looking upward to the sky when faced with death carries throughout, perhaps searching for sufficient meaning or beauty when survival is not guaranteed and everything finally falls still. Is this akin to the sublime moment the actress dissolves into Titania on stage, her stained wedding gown becoming the adornment of a magical fairy queen?
This seeming magic encircles and envelops conscious existence, but goes unnoticed by the humans navigating the complexities of the pre-pandemic modern world, or fighting to survive in post-pandemic reality. A repeated element of looking upward to the sky when faced with death carries throughout, perhaps searching for sufficient meaning or beauty when survival is not guaranteed and everything finally falls still. Is this akin to the sublime moment the actress dissolves into Titania on stage, her stained wedding gown becoming the adornment of a magical fairy queen?
3. The idea that “everything happens for a reason” is not the same as “everything is connected" or "the miracle of existence somehow adds up to more than the sum of its parts.”
One idea impoverishes, the other gives way to impossible wonder. One seeks to explain individual experiences, the other accepts the impossibility of grasping all the strands, and revels in the piece of reality we get to live within, and sometimes consciously perceive. The idea that “everything happens for a reason” runs against the grain of this story. This assumption leads to a mother-son combo having excuses for regrettable behaviors, an inability to cope with present realities, benign and malicious expressions of naivete, disconnection from others due to a sense of being “chosen” or set apart from the rest for a separate purpose, and a disturbing god complex. It’s self-important, it’s controlling, and ultimately it flies in the face of the interconnectedness and beauty the reader glimpses through the cracks in each narrative.
4. Suggestions of alternate realities and universes.
A conversation about physics and a multiverse, a few mentions of ghosts and the dead following the living, and a nonlinear storyline seem to suggest that time is not as concrete as the reader and the characters might assume. What do these mean in terms of possibilities? How much are we unable to perceive? Is the web that connects existence unbound by time? Is any of this ultimately knowable? I hope her other related novels tap into this a bit more.
I'm giving this one 4 stars because I am genuinely still thinking about it and probably will continue to mull over the story for quite a while. One star down because at points the story did drag and could be a bit frustrating (where are my troupe of actors and why am I hearing about this dead actor and his ex-wives again?). All in all, a solid read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Grief, Murder, and Gun violence
Moderate: Infidelity, Pedophilia, Violence, and Child death
Minor: Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, and Alcoholism
stellaperlic's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
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
5.0
I love this book so much! Mandel always writes these eerie stories with so much character insight, interesting plot points, and hopeful/insightful endings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Child abuse
spineofthesaurus's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Medical content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Car accident, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence
miller8d's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Absolutely loved the storytelling technique, world-building, and flow of descriptive language.
Note: I pictured Richard Ayoade as Jeevan, Jesse Plemons as August, Con O’Neill as Dieter, Andrew Garfield as Sayid, Andre Michaan very faintly as Clark, and a wishy-washy mix of Tom Hiddleston/Brian Cox as Arthur.
Note: I pictured Richard Ayoade as Jeevan, Jesse Plemons as August, Con O’Neill as Dieter, Andrew Garfield as Sayid, Andre Michaan very faintly as Clark, and a wishy-washy mix of Tom Hiddleston/Brian Cox as Arthur.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Kidnapping, Trafficking, and War
Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Religious bigotry, Violence, Pedophilia, Slavery, Genocide, Gun violence, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Child death, Death of parent, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
I added lots of content warnings for this book, but as a pretty sensitive person, I can honestly say I didn’t find this book upsetting— moreso realistic in an apocalyptic context. It touches on many serious topics but it does so in a justified and non-shocking way.vita_ayala's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I didn't realize this was a book about a pandemic until I started it (I didn't read the synopsis), and I almoat put it down. So glad I didn't!
Bittersweet, sometimes amusing, always melancholy and comtemplative, this book does an incredible job of distilling the emotion and humanity behind Shakespeare's work and presenting it in a contemporary, compelling way. (It isn I think obviously, a take on King Lear.) A little like disguising healthy but odd tasting food with spices and sauces.
I wish the comic from inside the book was a thing I could read!
Bittersweet, sometimes amusing, always melancholy and comtemplative, this book does an incredible job of distilling the emotion and humanity behind Shakespeare's work and presenting it in a contemporary, compelling way. (It isn I think obviously, a take on King Lear.) A little like disguising healthy but odd tasting food with spices and sauces.
I wish the comic from inside the book was a thing I could read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
It does end up veing hopeful in the end!ashlightgrayson's review against another edition
dark
reflective
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
4.0
This story was unconventional and felt like a sci-fi speculative fiction mostly. It's crazy reading this post COVID-19 since it hits so close to home. The main premise is the exploration of various character's lives after a pandemic decimates about 99% of the human population. It's crazy seeing how much people's lives change when there is no one to run the internet, airplanes, news channels, etc. It also explores how extreme situations can push people to believe in things they may have never believed in otherwise. I think at the time this book was published it would have probably been a bit crazier to think that people would join a cult in response to a pandemic. However, after seeing the way so many people responded to the idea of a vaccine for a pandemic that was killing thousands of people post-2020, the pipeline isn't that hard to fall into, clearly .
Arthur, the character that dies in the beginning, is the most recurring. Although, as you keep reading the book you realize that the story is not about one single character, but more of a slow analysis of human nature through the experience of many different people both pre/post pandemic. This isn't a book I would recommend for everyone. If you want something plot heavy and super engaging, this may not be for you. I think it's a story that required patience and appreciation for the themes explored. Otherwise, you may find it boring because not much happens for a while until everything comes to a head as you learn more about each of the characters explored. It was a very interesting exploration of humanity and I think it worked well as a break from more fast paced stories.
Arthur, the character that dies in the beginning, is the most recurring. Although, as you keep reading the book you realize that the story is not about one single character, but more of a slow analysis of human nature through the experience of many different people both pre/post pandemic. This isn't a book I would recommend for everyone. If you want something plot heavy and super engaging, this may not be for you. I think it's a story that required patience and appreciation for the themes explored. Otherwise, you may find it boring because not much happens for a while until everything comes to a head as you learn more about each of the characters explored. It was a very interesting exploration of humanity and I think it worked well as a break from more fast paced stories.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Death
Minor: Death of parent
undecidedpersonality's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Grief, Gun violence, and Medical content
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Pedophilia, and Body horror
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Alcohol, Drug use, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content
billyjepma's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"First we only want to be seen, but once we're seen, that's not enough anymore. After that, we want to be remembered."
Emily St. John Mandel taps into something sublime with Station Eleven, something that manages to speak to a particular moment in time while also capturing something universally timeless about living. The narrative and its characters may not have always resonated with me, but Mandel's beautiful writing and thematics quickly and repeatedly struck a nerve with me.
I usually latch onto the characters in a story, so while I liked the casts Mandel shifts between, I never felt as invested in them as I wanted. For example, I kept waiting for the story to peel back layers on specific characters or ideologies in the "present-day" sections, but those insights never really came. After all of the rich character development and exploration of the "flashback" stories—which, while familiar, are written with aching honesty and vulnerability—the present-day sections felt somewhat lacking.
That's not what's going to stick with me, though. The stories of lonely people discovering and fighting for their found families, the enduring hope they create together, the capacity for art and conviction to be what saves our souls in the end—that's what I'll remember about Station Eleven. I don't think the book even says anything profoundly original, but the unique angles it uses to approach those familiar ideas and genres make them feel new. Or, if not new, then timely and maybe even necessary.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Grief, and Medical content
Moderate: Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Death of parent, Torture, Suicide, Abandonment, Child death, and Vomit
whirl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? No
4.0
The description of the start of the pandemic are a bit too spot on now that there has been a pandemic.. although it really highlights how lucky we’ve been that covid-19 was much less deadly!
The book has a nice pace, and just ambles through the lives of various survivors loosely connected to each other before the pandemic hits
The book has a nice pace, and just ambles through the lives of various survivors loosely connected to each other before the pandemic hits
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Ableism, Kidnapping, and Violence
Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
While the book describes a post apocalyptic world which is clearly more lawless and violent, it doesn’t go into unnecessarily detailed descriptions and is more about what happens to people’s minds and personality to live in such a worldvanessanalmeida's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence