Station Eleven

Now that I’ve finally read it, I can say that the popularity of Station Eleven makes total sense to me, even though I wouldn’t personally rank it as a huge stand-out. It gives off that nice, literary-esque feel (fragmented timelines, recurring symbolic objects, hidden links between strangers) while still being completely accessible to a general audience.

Overall, it was pleasant to read, and I enjoyed experiencing a dystopian novel that was focused more on the arts and culture (hopeful?) aspect of the apocalypse. I think this is like dystopian novel number six for me so far, this year alone.

I’m rating this above average mostly because there were certain scenes I really appreciated: The opening scene with Arthur performing Shakespeare and Kristin’s encounter with Jeevan was well done. The introduction of the chaos between the Traveling Symphony characters was clever and endearing. I also enjoyed the section detailing the post-pandemic deterioration of the airport.

On the other hand, larger plot elements seem to just kind of rise and then putter out without leaving much of an impact, like most everything about The Prophet as a character, for example. I didn’t love that so many of the connections between the characters felt forced and overly coincidental. And importantly, I kept wanting so much more when it came to this whole Station Eleven graphic novel that is supposed to be at the center of everything. Ultimately it ended up feeling rather anti-climactic to me.

Book author: Emily St. John Mandel