Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

57 reviews

berodatheelf's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

A rich dystopian novel that focuses on several characters pre and post pandemic that is lyrically written. It was an interesting deep dive into the psyche of humans and humanity itself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Death, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Medical content, Child death, Grief, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: Rape and Blood

parfait52's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

It took me several months to get through this book, which is saying something because it's fairly short. Every time I picked it up, I was interested enough. Once I put it down, though, I didn't feel the need to pick it back up. This book doesn't really have a plot so much as it has a story. And once you figure out how the story is forming and the author is doing, it's very easy to know where it's going to go. At times, I found the writing to be beautiful and profound. I found the concept fascinating, but the execution was stifling at points. There were several parts of the book that I personally found very boring and wanted to get past immediately. Overall, not a bad read. There are just books I've enjoyed more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Stalking, Gun violence, and Blood

Minor: Pregnancy, Child death, Alcoholism, Drug use, Rape, and Sexual assault

bookboi56's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

2.5

I really wanted to enjoy this book, having heard good things about it for a long while. But whilst the premise is very interesting, and the opening chapters are very intriguing given their close resemblance to the COVID-19 outbreak, I found the rest of the story a trudge to get through. 

Maybe 20% of the book unfolds with the present characters in mind. The rest constantly flips back and forth between any one of about 12 characters all vaguely related to each other at greater and greater tangents, whilst moving from present to past in short fitful chapters.

As someone who is not great with names, having only a quick description for each person is not sufficient to keep up with a dozen similarly traumatised apocalypse survivors. This may be an effect of listening to the book rather than reading it. But for the last 2 thirds I found myself just going along and trying to enjoy what I was hearing with no context as to who anyone was. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, Grief, Violence, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

reggiethebird's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

I very much preferred this to Sea of Tranquility. Those first 30 or so pages are a tough read, and hit a little too close to home (the toilet paper line got me [ I'm very glad I read this after covid]), but the rest is nicer. Jumps around the timeline a ton, but once you know to expect it it works beautifully.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Gaslighting, Violence, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Rape

mari_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

I made the mistake of/ had the fortune to read this book while on a 24hr travel day in 2023 - just three years after our world was changed totally by the pandemic. I had chills for the whole read while on the plane. It’s incredible to read so much of how I’ve felt about the past few years on a page. It was like historical fiction of our present challenges, though obviously COVID didn’t take our society as close to the edge as in the book. I highly recommend for anyone who wants a poetic, challenging reading of society in decay. Lots of trigger warnings for  many dark themes. At the end I was left feeling a deep sense of gratitude for how our world met our pandemic moment despite how deeply flawed, and the miracles of our modern technology. This is not for people who don’t like Shakespeare, this was probably maximum Shakespeare for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Blood, Kidnapping, Slavery, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and War

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Child abuse

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Genocide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Blood, Rape, and Sexual content

kananineko's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Mental illness, Rape, and War

astridrv's review against another edition

Exquisite writing, a real page turner, neatly done. The author successfully made me marvel at the wonderful improbability of our lives. And the theme of fame and what remains of the narrative of our lives was a smart choice too. A well executed book that was a delight to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Death, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Suicide, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual assault