This was the second pick of my book club. The member that picked us warned that it was a sad read but I was not prepared for the emotional impact this book would have upon me for days after finishing.
The deep sense of melancholy that pervades the book is especially appropriate after having personally witnessed a worldwide pandemic. The longing for a world that no longer exists and all the beauty of what was is entrenched in every sentence of this lovely book.
>!The plot of the books revolves around Arthur Leander, an actor performing King Lear who dies the night the Georgia Flu reaches North America. He acts as the spoke on a wheel and all the other story lines spout from him and their experiences surrounding him. The connections made are somewhat obvious but no less effective. The majority of the book is set 20 years after the Flu has ravaged the world but there are lots of flashbacks to before the disaster. The first two wives of Leander feature prominently while the third is used more as a narrative tool. In fact, the book derives it's name from a comic series that Arthur's first wife is working on throughout the novel. A graphic novel that depicts a man made planet capable of space travel; those who live on Station Eleven live in perpetual twilight caused by damage to the planet when they escaped through a wormhole. There is an entire subset of people who live under the waters, waiting for the day when they might return to the light of earth. Upon reading this book, my only disappointment was that the comic didn't actually exist.!<
>!References can be a tricky thing to do well in a book, as witnessed by Ready Player One but this book handles them excessively well, I thought. There are minor references to other pieces of literature, Shakespeare and of course, Star Trek. The sense of nostalgia that she creates using these well known relics of the past inspire the sense of deep longing and utter sadness. For surely, a world without Star Trek is one that I would not wish to live in.!<
Overall, I quite enjoyed the sense of hopelessness that starts the book and the sense of hope that one feels at the end. Maybe not a happy ending, but one that inspires the imagination to dare to dream that people could rebuild all that had been lost, if only one piece at a time.
Survival is insufficient.
hiding and disguising herself as a (very talented) author.
“i remember damage.” for me, like so many of you, has both rung with and haunted me since the beginning of the series.
three words.
why has this line, like so many others from the fictitious and unreleased (to us and in our world) graphic novel, station eleven, stuck like it has?
and then it dawned on me:
it’s poetry. it has cadence. it’s more than just the words it’s transmitted to us as.
but instead of a book of poetry, it’s scattered throughout a comic we can’t access directly, and can only glimpse through characters’ interactions with it in another medium (which, only makes it all the more intriguing).
and don’t misunderstand me, mandel is an author. crazy talented. and an artist. and, and, and.
but she’s also a poet on top of and alongside these, which is both hidden and obscured from us (or, at least not broadcasted), and is unlike so many of her contemporaries.
(and props to the show runners and writers, too. i’ve not enjoyed the source material, yet. but it’s really easy to botch up source material, instead of improve or transparently pass it on.)
obviously, there are so many more components to this show, its interweaving storylines and timelines, how seemingly all characters are connected to this one or that one, flawless casting, gorgeous cinematography, and on, and on.
it can’t all be captured by “poetry,” but it’s there, covering everything.
... and it was fucking amazing.
What do you recommend I read next?
I've read Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel so far, and loved both, especially the latter.
The way she writes reminds me so much of Kurt Vonnegut
- the books are mainly about characters - the setting is a side point, even if it is the future or post-apocalypse as in Station Eleven
- all of her characters are the victim of circumstance. There are no villains.
- the story keeps jumping around in time and switching characters, never trying to create tension about what is to happen, even giving away future events intentionally and focussing more on how other characters, their relationsships and circumstances outside of their control shape their destinies
It also amazes me how every single of the many characters she introduces in her novels is instantly interesting and compelling. In other books I always find the introduction of new characters halfway through the story tedious, since I'm already emotionally invested with the prior characters and want to continue their story - but in Mandel's books every single character she introduces, even if barely have anything to do with the plot, is just instantly relatable. Within a few sentences she creates realistic human beings that you instantly care about.
Did anyone here read her early novels? Are they equally good?
I read Station Eleven a few months ago and have been dying for similar books. Any suggestions? Sorry if this has already been posted, I'm new to this subreddit.
I recently read the Glass Hotel and Station Eleven and enjoyed both immensely. I love how she weaves her stories together. Looking for recs on authors with a similar style/vibe.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
“WHAT WAS LOST IN THE COLLAPSE: almost everything, almost everyone, but there is still such beauty. Twilight in the altered world, a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a parking lot in the mysteriously named town of St. Deborah by the Water, Lake Michigan shining a half mile away.”
It’s not often that I bite on a hyped favorite of the bookish community and end up with a story that’s so much greater than I’d been told. An experience that smolders in my mind occupying the gaps between cognitive processes, where it burns leaving additional layers of the story I hadn’t considered before. That’s my experience with Station 11.
This is a book about societies collapse after a flue-like pandemic. We get to see the candid moments before the event. And we watch as it consumes the world stripping away order and civility.
This happens early on and what we are left with is a tale of survivors. Their vulnerabilities and their struggle to obtain some baseline of normalcy. And there is a play on timelines as we waffle back and forth between pre and post pandemic. Pre- there is a young artist who is creating a graphic novel that seems to be an outlet for her anxieties, but is actually much more relevant. Post- we follow a group of actors and musicians who roam the wasteland putting on Shakespearean plays.
This synopsis might sound a bit random or discombobulated but it is actually a brilliantly devised allegory used to explore humanity and two of the main catalysts for its survival. Art and myth. We a subtly introduced to the power of art and it’s purpose in a successful community. And once we are fully immersed in this new setting with all of its dangerous pitfalls we begin to see the shaping of myth and the power it wields.
This is a much more complex and rewarding novel than it might seem on the surface. It’s a perfect choice for a buddy read or book club selection. Best served with a side of discussion :)
5⭐️
I currently am enrolled in community college and had to take an introduction to fiction writing class and the novel I chose for the assignment was Station Eleven. I didn’t think I would really like the book due to it not peaking my interest in the synopsis or what I had read about it however I was very pleasantly surprised!
The book had great character development and there’s something about reading a dystopian future book after a catastrophic event during an actual pandemic that really puts things into perspective for you.
Makes you think what society would be like if there really was a global collapse?
Some examples off the top of my head:
You're a university student in an unfamiliar city, failing your classes but too embarrassed to go home.
Your company has started mass layoffs. Many of your coworkers have been fired and you know you're next.
You're in your late twenties/early thirties and starting to realize that the best part of your life is over.
I didn't realize when I bought this book that it was a post-apocalyptic novel in which a contagious disease wiped out most of humanity, but I found it oddly comforting during these times. It follows a group of actors and musicians that travel around the northeast putting on shows (mostly Shakespeare plays) to entertain what's left of humanity. The characters reminisce about the world that has past as they attempt to cope with how the world is moving forward and what it us leaving behind. It is a captivating read that reminds us that the most human things survive even the worst of times.
I've seen a lot posts about people reading horror/thriller/suspense stories related to mass virus outbreaks and pandemics for when they self-quarantine for the Coronavirus.
Call me crazy but I prefer to feel good about myself and humanity after reading books. That being said, I think Station Eleven is a great read for a time like this.
It takes place years after a major virus wipes out like 99% of the world's population. Enough to where there aren't enough people left to maintain city structures, energy plants, factories, etc... so the remaining few have settled into small little camps/towns. The story follows one particular traveling symphony that goes from town-to-town performing theatre.
For me, I think it's a great book that reminds us of the importance of art. Just surviving isn't enough. We need positive things to enjoy and look forward to. It really made me think of what non-survival thing(s) I would want to take and keep with me in post-apocalyptic lifestyle.
For the people who want to read a post-virus-epidemic kind of story and not feel depressed, this would be my suggestion. A very non-typical, post-apocalyptic story set not too far in our future.
I recently finished Station Eleven and really enjoyed the elements of the post-apocalypse in the form of nature taking over; the use of Shakespeare and the comic books as metaphors and motifs; and the prophet. I also enjoyed the intertwining narratives between the characters and how they were all related somehow, and just the writing overall too. I have more of Emily St. John Mandel's books on hold at the library but was hoping for other recommendations that contain the elements of Station Eleven that I enjoyed!
I have read The Glass Hotel and Station Eleven and loved them both. What other books can I read that have a similar vibe, style, etc? I am flexible on genre as long as it's not one meant to freak you out
Colorado
Has been sent. Thank you.
It was written in 2011 (I think?) But the whole "world wiped out by pandemic" pulled me in. I wanted to know worst case scenario.
It's about a troupe of actors who goes around the middwest performing Shakespeare in settlements. It also has multiple story lines from before, during, and after the virus- all of which kept me engaged. I definitely feel like multiple stories usually have me speed reading through one to get to the other but each one in this book was wonderful.
Highly recommend! The phrase 'survival is insufficient' is going to stick with me for a long long time. And I love that she ripped it from star trek and proudly admits it. Her other books have pretty crap ratings but I might try one.
Anyone else read this or another book by her?
The Glass Hotel is like a literary mosaic of tiny pieces taken from various times, locations, and perspectives. I found this initially disorienting, but when the bigger picture started to emerge, I was hooked.
Listen to the complete review @https://podcast.jannastam.com/episode/review-of-the-glass-hotel-by-emily-st-john-mandel-read-by-dylan-moore
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> Set in the days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
> One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and 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 theater troupe known as the Traveling 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 Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.
Participate by posting here, this discussion thread will be up all month. Spoilers must be hidden.
I recently finished Station Eleven and really enjoyed the elements of the post-apocalypse in the form of nature taking over; the use of Shakespeare and the comic books as metaphors and motifs; and the prophet. I also enjoyed the intertwining narratives between the characters and how they were all related somehow, and just the writing overall too. I have more of Emily St. John Mandel's books on hold at the library but was hoping for other recommendations that contain the elements of Station Eleven that I enjoyed!
