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bibliomania_express 's review for:
Station Eleven
by Emily St. John Mandel
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel is a sad and terrifying book about the collapse of society from a fast-spreading pandemic - and what remains twenty years later. But it's also a stpry about interconnected lives, the small moments that do and don't define us, and the unknowable.
I've owned this book since December 2018, but I hadn't gotten around to reading it before March 2020. And then I couldn't bring myself to. I wonder, having read it now, what my experience of the pandemic would have been if I had. On one hand, this story explores a total society collapse due to a swift and extremely deadly virus, so much worse than we experienced. So maybe that would have been comforting. But I don't think so. I found the chapters of the collapse extremely stressful, and actually had a pandemic nightmare. Mandel does an amazingly vivid job of depicting the range of human reactions to such a virulent outbreak.
Moving away from that, I found this book's exploration of public perception, legacy, physical media, and community fascinating. The Travelling Symphony continues to perform Shakespeare, while Kirsten finds comfort in sci-fi through memories of Star Trek and the comic Station Eleven. There's celebrity magazines, newspapers, and other physical items and media that speak to the world we have.
I enjoyed how the point-of-view narrators lives circled around each other, although I do wish some connections were made on-page in the "present day". I had particular hopes for two of the characters.
Too much of this book felt heartbreakingly real in a way I have to give Mandel props for.
I've owned this book since December 2018, but I hadn't gotten around to reading it before March 2020. And then I couldn't bring myself to. I wonder, having read it now, what my experience of the pandemic would have been if I had. On one hand, this story explores a total society collapse due to a swift and extremely deadly virus, so much worse than we experienced. So maybe that would have been comforting. But I don't think so. I found the chapters of the collapse extremely stressful, and actually had a pandemic nightmare. Mandel does an amazingly vivid job of depicting the range of human reactions to such a virulent outbreak.
Moving away from that, I found this book's exploration of public perception, legacy, physical media, and community fascinating. The Travelling Symphony continues to perform Shakespeare, while Kirsten finds comfort in sci-fi through memories of Star Trek and the comic Station Eleven. There's celebrity magazines, newspapers, and other physical items and media that speak to the world we have.
I enjoyed how the point-of-view narrators lives circled around each other, although I do wish some connections were made on-page in the "present day". I had particular hopes for two of the characters.
Too much of this book felt heartbreakingly real in a way I have to give Mandel props for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual violence