Scan barcode
A review by katykelly
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
5.0
Very powerful and moving all-round account of a global apocalypse that resets human civilisation. And it all revolves around one man, who dies in the first chapter (no spoilers - it's on the synopsis). Arthur Leander dies of a heart attack mid-performance of King Lear, the very night that the Georgia Flu begins its terrifyingly-fast sweep of destruction around the globe, leaving pockets of isolated survivors to fend for themselves in a society with no law, no government and no method of communication.
We see snippets of the first few days of the Flu through the book, alongside scenes following people all connected to Leander - the movie star's ex-wives, actors he knew, his friends and employees. We see the early days of humanity trying to survive, still hopeful that order will yet come out of chaos and power will be restored. We see the world twenty years after and how life has settled down into something new. I found it impossible to stop thinking about, to feel glad each time I closed the book that this wasn't the world we live in. But that it could so easily become it.
Scenes where batteries run out, planes stop flying, the news stops broadcasting, were all heavily poignant. I liked the back-and-forth nature of the book, and especially liked the fact that we see the pandemic and its aftermath over such a large timeframe, and we learn small pieces of detail here and there, from various people.
They are a good varied bunch as well. A child actress now part of a Travelling Symphony, an ex-wife who drew comic books that she never published, the paramedic who attempts to save Arthur's life on stage, the lawyer who is stranded at an airport in the resulting shutdown.
There is so much to admire here, I loved how relationship were key to the story, as indeed if society collapsed they would have to be. The stripping back of technology for simpler methods of living, the sourcing of food, the markedly different ways small villages cope (some incredibly frightening), it struck home for me.
Quite a vision, and one I would love to see transferred into film. Well worth a look if you enjoy apocalyptic, intelligent fiction.
We see snippets of the first few days of the Flu through the book, alongside scenes following people all connected to Leander - the movie star's ex-wives, actors he knew, his friends and employees. We see the early days of humanity trying to survive, still hopeful that order will yet come out of chaos and power will be restored. We see the world twenty years after and how life has settled down into something new. I found it impossible to stop thinking about, to feel glad each time I closed the book that this wasn't the world we live in. But that it could so easily become it.
Scenes where batteries run out, planes stop flying, the news stops broadcasting, were all heavily poignant. I liked the back-and-forth nature of the book, and especially liked the fact that we see the pandemic and its aftermath over such a large timeframe, and we learn small pieces of detail here and there, from various people.
They are a good varied bunch as well. A child actress now part of a Travelling Symphony, an ex-wife who drew comic books that she never published, the paramedic who attempts to save Arthur's life on stage, the lawyer who is stranded at an airport in the resulting shutdown.
There is so much to admire here, I loved how relationship were key to the story, as indeed if society collapsed they would have to be. The stripping back of technology for simpler methods of living, the sourcing of food, the markedly different ways small villages cope (some incredibly frightening), it struck home for me.
Quite a vision, and one I would love to see transferred into film. Well worth a look if you enjoy apocalyptic, intelligent fiction.