Review – Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction / Post- Apocalyptic
Length: 354 pages
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: September 9, 2014
ASIN: B00J1IQUYM
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

“An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days following civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

It is fifteen years after a flu pandemic wiped out most of the world’s population. Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony, a small troupe moving over the gutted landscape, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. But when they arrive in the outpost of St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave. Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the disaster brought everyone here, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty, telling a story about the relationships that sustain us.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from my library.

Thoughts: This was an intriguing and thought-provoking read that wandered between different characters and past and present. As with most post-apocalyptic books the ending feels a bit unfinished but that is the nature of this sort of story. Prior to reading this, I read Mandel’s “The Sea of Tranquility” (loved it) and “The Glass Hotel” (liked it). Mandel’s writing is very wandering and can feel a bit slow, but I enjoy how all the different threads come together in the end. This story very much continues with that sort of feel.

The story starts at a production of King Lear; the lead actor (Arthur) collapses and a paramedic in the audience (Jeevan) tries to save him. Meanwhile, a young girl actress (Kirsten) watches from the side as the old man she saw as a friend passes. At this moment, none of them realize that even though the moment seems traumatic, tomorrow will be worse. Tomorrow, the whole world will start to break. As the decades pass, these people find they have more touchpoints than they realized and that Arthur’s actions while he lived created waves that echo even decades into a broken society’s future.

This story rambles. We hear from many different characters in many different time periods (before the pandemic, shortly after the pandemic, decades after the pandemic). The story does tend to focus on Kirsten, the young child action from “before” times, and a traveling actor in “after” times. However, we also visit Arthur’s ex-wives, friends, and the paramedic who tried to save him.

This story gives a lot of food for thought. You see first hand how one man’s (Arthur’s) off the cuff decisions have rippled many decades out. This is an interesting thought, that everything we do as people day to day affects others in ways we will never fully realize. The story also explores how quiet an apocalypse can be. There are no ravaging zombies and no massive wars, just the vast majority of humans dying and the few that are left trying to stay alive and sane. Of course, this also looks at survival and how humans are very good at that. Future generations don’t even know what they are missing but just move forward with a new normal.

While this is a lot of food for thought and beautifully written, it has some issues as well. The character viewpoints are very dispersed and the time period you are reading about jumps around willy-nilly. This means you really have to concentrate to read this, and that story feels fractured at points. There are also portions of the story that feel slow and don’t make a lot of sense (until later in the story).

I enjoyed how all the character threads came together in the end. Mandel is very good at taking a complex story with many threads and weaving them together in a masterful way. However, this also tends to make the story feel somewhat contrived and the ending a bit forced.

Mandel has a unique writing style that is always beautiful, thoughtful, and masterful. However, it is not a comfortable read; it takes effort to get through, makes you question things, and can put you through the emotional wringer. I don’t read Mandel often, but do pick up a book by her every year or so because I do really value her stories.

My Summary (4/5): Overall this was masterfully written and thought-provoking. It is a story you have to be patient with. You jump between many characters and time periods and have to trust the process. Parts of this feel a bit slow and leave you wondering “what is the point here?” but you have to stick with it to see how everything weaves together. This takes effort to read, but it is effort that is worth it. While I don’t read Mandel often (the stories are bit intense for me), I do plan to continue reading her. I usually read one of her books couple every years or so. I would recommend for everyone but only if you are in the mood to put in the effort.