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A review by etinney
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
3.0
2.5 stars
Small spoilers ahead but they are mostly tropes.
Was this a good idea to read this during an actual pandemic (and living in one of the countries that is handling it the worst) and while studying for my doctoral candidacy exam? Probably not. However, I don't think my thoughts would change too much if I read this at a better time.
I think the author just tried to do too much here with not enough time to develop all the stories? Is it a contemporary about an actor who is an a-hole to the women in his life? Sort of. Is it a post-apocalyptic novel about survival on the road? Sort of. Is it a literary fiction novel about death and leaving a legacy? Again, sort of. With the multiple storylines comes way too many characters to root for. I would have preferred a novel that perhaps followed just Kirsten or just Clark and see their storylines fleshed out. Everyone's stories connecting through Arthur was frustrating because the connections were tenuous, and he was a misogynistic character who got a thirty second redemption arc at the end. Because of this, we are told certain things about the characters but are not given chances to really see that. For example, Kirsten suffers from the "she is a strong female lead, just trust me" trope*.
The story overall had an interesting premise, and I appreciate what it was trying to do. However, I just feel like the structure didn't allow for full exploration of the characters or the themes.
Very minor, but there were just some plot things that didn't really make sense. For example, where tf did they get cows at the airport? Why was rape very casually mentioned and then never spoken about again? Also, it's not a great look that the only queer character (which is very casually mentioned) has his partner die and he ends up alone. Why are the races of two minor characters mentioned off-handedly just so that the book can be #diverse?
Also this is petty and personal but I'm docking points for casually mentioning a sort-of theory of crime (Broken Windows - not really a theory, but whatever) when I'm trying to read this book as a relaxing way to get away from studying for my criminology and criminal justice doctoral exam.
*I may have made this up but you all know what I'm talking about.
Small spoilers ahead but they are mostly tropes.
Was this a good idea to read this during an actual pandemic (and living in one of the countries that is handling it the worst) and while studying for my doctoral candidacy exam? Probably not. However, I don't think my thoughts would change too much if I read this at a better time.
I think the author just tried to do too much here with not enough time to develop all the stories? Is it a contemporary about an actor who is an a-hole to the women in his life? Sort of. Is it a post-apocalyptic novel about survival on the road? Sort of. Is it a literary fiction novel about death and leaving a legacy? Again, sort of. With the multiple storylines comes way too many characters to root for. I would have preferred a novel that perhaps followed just Kirsten or just Clark and see their storylines fleshed out. Everyone's stories connecting through Arthur was frustrating because the connections were tenuous, and he was a misogynistic character who got a thirty second redemption arc at the end. Because of this, we are told certain things about the characters but are not given chances to really see that. For example, Kirsten suffers from the "she is a strong female lead, just trust me" trope*.
The story overall had an interesting premise, and I appreciate what it was trying to do. However, I just feel like the structure didn't allow for full exploration of the characters or the themes.
Very minor, but there were just some plot things that didn't really make sense. For example, where tf did they get cows at the airport? Why was rape very casually mentioned and then never spoken about again? Also, it's not a great look that the only queer character (which is very casually mentioned) has his partner die and he ends up alone. Why are the races of two minor characters mentioned off-handedly just so that the book can be #diverse?
Also this is petty and personal but I'm docking points for casually mentioning a sort-of theory of crime (Broken Windows - not really a theory, but whatever) when I'm trying to read this book as a relaxing way to get away from studying for my criminology and criminal justice doctoral exam.
*I may have made this up but you all know what I'm talking about.