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

reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Read: January 4, 2024
 Title: Station Eleven 

Genre:  Science Fiction / Dystopia 

Rating: 4/5
 Review: 

To be honest there isn’t much I can say that is bad about this book. 

Emily St. John Mandel has a talent for writing that I haven’t seen in quite some time. Her transitions, imagery, voice, pacing… it’s all breathtaking. She could write a dictionary and I doubt I’d be able to pull my gaze away. Granted this is the only book of hers I have read but if this is parr for the course I am not disappointed. 

That being said, there were many points in which the supporting characters became a bit blurred, this name or that blending with another until I wasn’t sure who was who. Still, even with this issue it never took away from the story and the characters in question never affected the story enough to really call for such unique-ness. The important supporting characters were always distinct enough that it didn’t matter. 

The only other true flaw I could find in this novel was an anti-climatic ending that left me wanting. 

Still, this is a unique dystopia that caught me off guard. While there is nothing too unique in the setting the feel of the entire story places a haze of sincerity and empathy that you don’t find often in post-apocalyptic stories. St. John Mandel manages to provide a study in humanity, exploring a devastated world while studying family, the human condition, passion, sanity, home, and grief. It’s a strange mix of concepts that really leaves the reader questioning what it means to be human and how we need those around us. 

I am curious as to how I might of reviewed this book before the COVID 19 pandemic but can appreciate how it has become even more impactful since the outbreak. 

Station Eleven is simply a beautiful work that I will be recommending for years to come. 

 

 

QUOTES: 

“No one ever thinks they’re awful, even people who really actually are. It’s some sort of survival mechanism.” 

"She was thinking about the way she’d always taken for granted that the world had certain people in it, either central to her days or unseen and infrequently thought of. How without any one of these people the world is a subtly but unmistakably altered place, the dial turned just one or two degrees.” 

 

TW: Death, Violence, Murder, Suicide, Gun Violence, Religious bigotry, Rape, Adult/Minor relationship, Pandemic / Epidemic, Grief, Terminal illness, Medical Content, Kidnapping, Death of a parent, child death, blood, injury / injury detail, infidelity, confinement, abandonment, animal death, mental illness, pedophilia, pregnancy, emotional abuse, gaslighting, cursing, misogyny, sexual violence, suicidal thoughts, toxic relationships, trafficking, child abuse, gore, physical abuse, stalking, suicide attempt, alcohol, ableism, panic attacks / disorders,