Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Station Eleven

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.

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owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

"He woke to quiet voices. This had been happening more and more lately, this nodding off unexpectedly, and it left him with an unsettled intimation of rehearsal. You fall asleep for short periods and then for longer periods and then forever."

Compellingly written prose with a well-developed cast of characters. Whilst I wish Kristen's storyline had more events within it, I really liked the book and I think it is both hopeful and unsentimental about humanity, in a way that I suspect might be altered in the TV adaptation.

This book has a lot to say about art and community-building and the role these will play in coming crises. It felt resonant with ecological anxieties about climate change and social anxieties in the age of COVID-19. Some of the passages about process and industrialisation felt a tad oversimplified and neoliberal - surely an Amazon delivery driver or a factory worker making snowglobes has complex, nuanced feelings about their labour and their lives that goes beyond gratitude for a job - but everything else was thoughtful, interesting, well-paced and moving. I loved Kirsten and Miranda. What wonderful characters.

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lemonflower's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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ksheaffs's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Station 11 is my favorite kind of book, where somehow the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s subtle while you’re actively reading it but sinks in once you’ve set it down and leaves you with the feeling that you’ve just experienced something really special. In a word, it’s dazzling.

If you’re looking for a suspenseful Walking Dead esq post apocalyptic novel and nothing else, Station 11 might disappoint. Yes this plot is present but is it more a device to examine the characters and how they rebuild their identities after a catastrophic event draws a line between the world they know and a world they can’t begin to imagine. The switching pov and multiple timelines unravel a complex web of a select group of people all connected through one man. Pick this book up for its beautiful prose, its vibrant characters, its atmospheric quality, and its unpacking of the the question, “if survival is insufficient, what does it take to thrive?”

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lauhiggs's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective medium-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

2.75

Station Eleven is set in a post-apocalyptic Canada and America. A virus has swept through the world, taking people’s lives at an alarming rate. The world starts shutting down, electricity goes, phone signal goes. It swaps between pre and post pandemic life. Following a cast of characters who’s lives dramatically change from the life they once knew.

I raced through the beginning of this book. I loved the sections about Arthur and Miranda’s relationship. Miranda, an introverted artist who just wants to create. She doesn’t care if her work is seen it sold by anyone but herself. Arthur is your typical “successful actor”, several relationships with multiple wives, lots of money, lavish lifestyle. The parts I liked the most of this book were the parts before the pandemic.

The book also focuses on a travelling Shakespearean theatre group, navigating their new world and bringing plays and music they love to audiences all over Canada and America. I think these sections of the book could’ve been a lot more compelling. It felt like nothing was happening then something happened and it was wrapped up too quickly.

This book was hugely out of my comfort zone, so maybe it just wasn’t for me.

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amiereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Overall a really solid post-apocalyptic book. It’s focused on character development and change as well as the tension of holding onto the past or moving into the future and the divisions it causes. I enjoyed the timeline shifts and weaving of station eleven throughout. There was some unique locations for survival I haven’t seen before, ie the airport, plus the traveling symphony. I wish Jeevan’s was a little more interconnected with the future timeline. The prophet could have been flushed out more and I felt his storyline conclusion was a bit anticlimactic.

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esgilbert's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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maddiebusick's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful tense 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

3.75

I liked it overall, I wish the ending was stronger for the characters in year 20. It felt really tense and suspenseful for most of the book but the final scene with the prophet just didn’t do it for me for whatever reason, I think maybe it was slightly rushed.

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