Station Eleven

by Emily St. John Mandel

Paperback, 352 pages

Published April 10, 2017 by Harper Perennial.

ISBN:: 978-1-4434-3487-4

(217 reviews)

The international publishing sensation now available in paperback: an audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame and ambition, set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse

One snowy night, a famous Hollywood actor dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor’s early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theatre troupe known as the Travelling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor’s first wife, his oldest friend and a young actress with the Travelling Symphony caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet. Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the …

The international publishing sensation now available in paperback: an audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame and ambition, set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse

6 editions

Stephanie Jane reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

That aeroplane!!

4 stars

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel is a different type of dystopian novel to those I have read previously. We jump around through time beginning on the night where a flu pandemic takes hold in America, moving forward up to twenty years after 99% of the world's human population has been wiped out, and moving back to well before the disaster primarily through the life of a Hollywood actor, Arthur, and his wives.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the chillingly realistic pandemic scenes describing the initial panics, blocked highways and overcrowded hospitals (and that aeroplane). The restarting timeline as civilisation begins to collapse was an effective device with elements such as the internet vanishing after so many days, electric lights going out forever, gasoline becoming unusable after Year Five - did you know that gasoline has a shelf life? The idea of survivors just walking and walking resonated particularly well …

I was less impressed by pre-pandemic scenes, especially Arthur's pampered life and the time dedicated to describing the dystopian comics created by his first wife, Miranda. I understand their inclusion but didn't feel that they warranted so much attention. There is also excessive repetition in Station Eleven which got irritating in the latter half of the book and I felt that tighter editing could have been beneficial.

AvonVilla@ramblingreaders.org reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

A superb novel

5 stars

I have read many post-apocalypse novels, and this is one of the best. Where it differs from the others is that it includes a lot of contemplative ideas about memory and loss, about what we value in our lives. There are parallel narratives from before and after the apocalypse. The "disaster porn" element of it, where you imagine what it would be like to be one of the survivors, is superbly done. But the accounts of the everyday life of the characters beforehand are also compelling . Emily is just a great writer, she has that way with words that creates an internal voice you just can't stop listening to.

Like Margaret Attwood and Kazuo Ishiguro, this author is one of those writers who denies they are SF authors. I am an unashamed genre tribalist - conventions, cosplay, the lot. But it doesn't matter in the end. This is just a great book. Also, I have to admit the non-genre focus really sets this book apart. I think Emily does it better than Kazuo Ishiguro.

schmavery reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Review of 'Station Eleven' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It wasn’t bad, just wasn’t really what i was expecting and I’m probably not “literary” enough for it xD

Duncan Stevenson-Price 📚 reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Gripping Read

5 stars

This was recommended to me and I went in knowing very little about it.

I found it to be a really gripping novel; hard to put down. I was really excited to see how the characters lives intersected and how they handled the trauma of the devastating pandemic.

The book tells the story of the characters at various stages of their lives ranging from many years before the pandemic, to around 20 years after. This gives a really interesting perspective on the characters, and keeps the pace of the book fast and interesting.

Highly recommended!

egreiner reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Was a fun book

4 stars

tv show was less good, but still fun

morpheo reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Magnificent!

5 stars

This is a magnificent bloody book! I plowed through it like I were a teenager again; all in one go, the whole book in one sitting. (:

ATMmachine reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Masterful writing

5 stars

The plot of this book is not only interesting but one that lets you think. The writing is superb and it is an overall beautiful book.

perfischer reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Review of 'Station Eleven' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Wonderful.

David Bremner reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Suspenseful, Meditative, Apocalyptic

5 stars

I wasn't sure I wanted to read (listen to) a book with the premise "What if COVID19, but much much worse",. but I'm glad I did.

The best speculative fiction is often a vehicle for commentary on contemporary life, and this book definitely is that, both on big themes, and perhaps more interestingly on the quirks and foibles of life in the 21st century.

The characters are nicely drawn and interesting. In a strange feat, I am now a fan of a fictional comic book series that I have only heard someone describe.

There was enough suspense and plot to keep me interested, without indulging in an excess of action. There some slightly implausible coincidences, but they don't drive the plot, but serve more like decoration.

Courts reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Review of 'Station Eleven' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I liked the book well enough, so I decided to go for 4 stars, it really drew me in most of the time.

I was on the verge of giving three because a couple of things bothered me. First, it might be a minor issue to others, but it irked me to no end: What's with the myth of being able to accurately kill someone by throwing a knife? This Hollywood trope is just not true, and is used repeatedly during the book. That's just sloppy research.

Also, it bothered me that the author called the disease the "Georgia Flu". To be fair to her, I guess the real pandemic and Trump's "Wuhan flu" are to be blamed for my feelings here, something the author could not have known at the time this book was written.

peoplelikedogs reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

It was fine

3 stars

Listened to this on audiobook, which it was pretty good for. I wasn't expecting much and therefore it met my expectations. I liked the structure of weaving together all the different storylines, it was decently well written. After a while I started getting annoyed at how useless everyone was after their tech stopped functioning, it's not like ALL knowledge disappears and suddenly people are like "huh, wow, I simply cannot fathom HOW airplanes worked?" idk.

gabe. reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Review of 'Station Eleven' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I really enjoyed the storytelling of this book, the characters and the ways their lives intersected with each others in unexpected ways. The fact that the main driver is a global pandemic hits a bit close to home, but I still really enjoyed reading this, I couldn't put it down.

satyajit reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Review of 'Station Eleven' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

You know those what-if stories that keep you up in the middle of the night? This book is one such story.

Those who read this before March 2020, count yourselves lucky.

geirertzgaard reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Review of 'Station Eleven' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Svært vakker og velskrevet dystopi, er det mulig? Får noen av de samme fornemmelsene som fra de bøkene jeg har lest som gjorde mest inntrykk de siste årene: Robinsons Aurora, Powers Overstory og McCarthys The Road.
Anbefales sterkt for de spesielt interesserte og for de som burde vært det.

Béladozer reviewed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Review of 'Station Eleven' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

A really great imagining of sweeping pandemic and complete societal collapse bogged down by too many side stories of half-formed characters and convenient contrived coincidences that detract from what could have been a fantastic piece of post-apocalyptic fiction.