A review by bloomerism
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

 Rating: 4.75

But these thoughts broke apart in his head and were replaced by strange fragments: This is my soul and the world unwinding, this is my heart in the still winter air.

I don't really know how to talk about this book without giving away what should be discovered on its own, so I won't. The only way I can describe it is by relaying this text exchange that happened between me and my friend Amanda (who will probably read this, hi Amanda!) when I was 91% through with the book:

Me: Humanity is a spiderweb and I feel like a fly stuck in it
Amanda: You're the fly and the spider and the web!!!!!

That's really how this book feels. I almost gave it 4 stars because after it was over, I had a feeling that I originally thought was mild unsatisfaction at a story unfinished. After sitting with the feeling for a little while, I realized that it was actually the knowledge that the story continues past what the reader can see. The characters are continuing their journey over the horizon of where the book ends, meandering in and out of each other's lives in a new awakening world.

I knew this was a story about art and the immortality of the artist. What I didn't know was that this is also a story about collections. Fellow enjoyers of knick-knacks and trinkets will understand this. A comic book. A paperweight. The everyday objects, trademarks of an ordinary life lived, things that don't have monetary value but are heavy with the memories of their journey. Yesterday I looked through my trinket box and found a little metal collapsible cup that my mom used when she was in the Girl Scouts. It's been sitting in my trinket box for years and I've never used it, because the last time it was used, my mother was a child.

This isn't really a book review anymore (sorry for getting philosophical) but I just wanted to impress the fact that this is a book that made me glad to be a human living among fellow humans. Survival is insufficient. You are the fly and the spider and the web.

A fragment for my friend--
If your soul left this earth I would follow and find you
Silent, my starship suspended in night