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Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Literary fiction

Station Eleven

by Emily St. John Mandel

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Quick take

This book is rich, deep, beautiful, and terrifying. Beautiful in its flowing, intelligent prose that draws the reader in so deeply that when I looked up from a page, I half expected Mandel's world to be the one surrounding me. Terrifying in its closeness because there is nothing about this book that seems unrealistic or too far of a reach when you step away from it and examine the world around you.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, 400

    400+ pages

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Teen

    Teens

  • Illustrated icon, Underdog

    Underdog

Why I love it

In Emily St. John Mandel's riveting novel Station Eleven, the global population is decimated by a virus known as the Georgia Flu. 95–99% of humanity is wiped out, almost overnight. Those who caught the virus were dead within twenty-four hours. Entire countries flicker, then blink out of existence. Those who remain are left waiting for help and begin to wander aimlessly when none arrives, hoping that someone who can make any kind of sense out of the madness is waiting farther down the road.

The novel follows the lives of several loosely connected survivors. When we meet them, the central characters are all attending or participating in a production of King Lear in Toronto on the night the pandemic starts. Kirsten is a child actress waiting in the wings, Arthur the star of the show'¦until he drops dead of a stroke mid-monologue. Jeevan, an EMT, rushes on stage in an unsuccessful attempt to save his life. The book splits from there, and we follow these characters and those surrounding them back and forth across the years'”sometimes experiencing the present along with them, sometimes retrospectively gazing at the past.

It is in these moments and portraits of individual lives that Mandel shines. In a new world where no one can count on their next sunrise, Mandel reflects on what makes us human, what we use to define ourselves when there is nothing left. She answers these big questions by moving the reader through time, giving equal importance to Kirsten’s struggle to survive the dangerous new road fifteen years after the virus as she does to Arthur’s life as a celebrity in the many years prior, weaving it all together to show that global devastation cannot overpower the strength of human action, love, pain, and hope.

At its core, the book holds and follows the Traveling Symphony'”a group of actors and musicians who wander along a set route between various encampments, the closest thing to towns and cities it seems this fractured new world will ever be able to achieve. The troupe members bring classical music and battered copies of Shakespeare’s plays with them, traveling under a banner that reads 'œbecause survival is insufficient' as they attempt to spread what beauty remains.

This book is rich, deep, beautiful, and terrifying. Beautiful in its flowing, intelligent prose that draws the reader in so deeply that when I looked up from a page, I half expected Mandel’s world to be the one surrounding me. Terrifying in its closeness because there is nothing about this book that seems unrealistic or too far of a reach when you step away from it and examine the world around you.

If nine out of ten people that you know were gone when you woke up tomorrow, if your cell phone stopped working, if your car ran out of gas, if all flights were grounded and all infrastructure crumbled, what would you do? Mandel answers that question for you by taking you on the road, carrying you along with those who choose to stay at the first settlement they encounter out of fear and with those who press on out of a need for this to not be the final, unsatisfying answer. Some choose to hold onto every possible vestige of the life they knew before along with those who block out all memories from the years surrounding the outbreak. Prophets heralding a new judged earth attempt to have their way with and subdue anyone who will listen. Men, women, and children seek love, comfort, and safety wherever they can find it. Wouldn’t you do the same?

Mandel’s breathtaking, yet attainable and effortless prose evoked every feeling I’ve ever had about humanity. All at once, she made me realize the duality and cohabitation of triviality and significance in every choice, word, and moment of human life. Mandel’s novel is sweeping and dramatic. It renders nothing insignificant but fits it all into the larger scheme'”the elusive grand plan that boils down to this: life is not promised, so make yours a good one.

'œI stood looking over my damaged home and tried to forget the sweetness of life on Earth.'

'œDo you remember when we were young and gorgeous? Clark wanted to ask. Do you remember when everything seemed limitless?'

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View all
Intermezzo
The Book of George
Real Americans
Dirty Diana
Wellness
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
The God of the Woods
Same As It Ever Was
Annie Bot
Bear
Mercury
True Biz
Family Happiness
The Husbands
The Lady Waiting
The Other Valley
Hard by a Great Forest
Good Material
The Bullet Swallower
Happy All the Time
Rental House
Alice Sadie Celine
Let Us Descend
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Shark Heart
Homeseeking
Transcendent Kingdom
Hello Beautiful
Dominicana
What's Mine and Yours
The Unsettled
Ask Again, Yes
Vladimir
Infinite Country
The Prophets
Normal People
The Verifiers
Salvage the Bones
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
I Have Some Questions for You
Black Buck
The History of Love
Age of Vice
Paper Names
The Light Pirate
The Secret History
The Kite Runner
Memorial
The Half Moon
Happiness Falls
The Gifted School
The Death of Vivek Oji
The Knockout Queen
Little Monsters
Yerba Buena
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Free Food for Millionaires
A Burning
The Mothers
The Water Dancer
Small Country
The Sympathizer
Fleishman Is in Trouble
Lot
An American Marriage
The Animators
The Mars Room
Exit West
White Fur
Woman No. 17
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Eat Only When You're Hungry
Rainbirds
A Ladder to the Sky
Golden Child
The Goldfinch
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P
& Sons
The Association of Small Bombs
Lolly Willowes
All Grown Up
Marlena
Signal Fires
Someday, Maybe
Woman of Light
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