Review: Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

Who would have thought that a novel about the end of the world, published in 2014 would prove to be so prophetic? Station Eleven tells the story of how a deadly flu sweeps the globe, eventually killing ninety-nine percent of the world's population. Okay, we may not be that bad off this time around (I hope) but the story certainly shares some similarities with what happened when COVID-19 became global.

Anyway, in Station Eleven tells stories across a few different timelines--there's Jeevan based in Toronto, who is studying to be a paramedic, who gallantly leaps out of his seat at the theatre and rushes to the stage to save Arthur, an actor who is one of the early victims of the virus. Then there is Kirsten, a child actor in the same play as Arthur who, twenty years later is part of a travelling group of actors and musicians who perform Shakespeare in various small towns across North America. Unsurprisingly, Miranda is a creative woman married to a selfish actor who eventually leaves her for another woman. And then there is Clark, Arthur's most trusted friend who spends the years following the virus in an airport.

Finally, there is the surprising thread, the one other than Arthur, or the virus, that links these characters together. A comic book about the end of the world, written and illustrated by Miranda called Station Eleven. While the comic has a wholly positive effect on Kirsten, for another character the effect is very different ...

Regardless of whether this novel is relevant to our current global pandemic or not, Station Eleven is a well-written book about human tenacity, the ability of survivors like Kirsten and Jeevan to adapt and how small and seemingly unconnected objects and events can have a enormous impact on the future. The author has a real talent for getting into the heads of her characters and writing about them in a way that is emphatic and believable, which is no easy feat, given the number of characters and the timeline that spans across the book. In particular, I found Kirsten a joy to read about, though I enjoyed Jeevan's relatively small part in the novel as well. And Clark is good value. I feel that the authors insight into human nature was spot on, particularly when she was describing Arthur's many relationships, and his continued lack of understanding about Miranda's project, Station Eleven.  

This is an excellent read for anyone looking for a book that is intriguing, well written and with a lot to say about humankind. The novel did feel a little long in places, but overall the journey is worth it.

Highly recommended. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Peppermint Patty: I Cried and Cried and Cried

Image
Unrequited love is a common theme in the Peanuts Comics and is one that I have previously explored on this blog. We know that Lucy loves Schroeder, Sally loves Linus and Charlie Brown has a crush on the unseen, unnamed and utterly unattainable Little Redhaired Girl. But perhaps the saddest unrequited love stories from the comic is that which ran in late June 1972. It was the series of strips where the usually self-confident Peppermint Patty came face-to-face with the Little Redhaired Girl with the intention of thumping her and then something surprising happened: Here we have a usually self-confident girl, who is funny, unashamedly herself and talented at sports reduced to tears by the realisation of who she is not and never can be. I really feel for her in this series of comic strips. She knows that Charlie Brown can never love her, when he is so hung up over a girl who represents a supposedly ideal feminine beauty. Fortunately Linus, the most spiritual member of the Pean
Read more

Phrases and Idioms: Tickets on Himself

To have tickets on himself: (Australian slang.) To be conceited or vain. To have an overinflated opinion of oneself.  He's got tickets on himself if he thinks that any woman would fall for that. I was thinking about this particular bit of Australian slang the other day, after my boss said, "He's got tickets on himself," to describe the actions of a particular individual. At the time, I smiled, knowing exactly what the boss meant. Later on, I started to ponder on this unusual phrase and wondered where it might have come from. A search on google helped me find the definition, but that was about all. There are no references to it being used in pop culture or literature (if you find one, let me know,) and at the time of writing this post, Tickets on Himself was not listed on Urban Dictionary. (I tried to add it, but the fuckers rejected my definition. They probably think I have tickets on myself or something for trying to add a relatively common piece of A
Read more

Who Else Writes Like V.C. Andrews?

Image
Are there any other authors out there who write similar novels to V.C. Andrews? This is a question I see asked frequently in excellent fan run V.C. Andrews Facebook groups like Attic Secrets and The Dolls Club. In times gone by, The Complete V.C. Andrews webpage (which is no more, but the best bits are archived by Lorraine at the Attic Secrets blog,) had a comprehensive list. Today, I thought I would put forward a few of my own thoughts and recommendations. (Note: This will focus mainly on the series and novels written by the actual V.C. Andrews and not ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman, who has a distinctive writing style of his own.) The Classics This is probably the best place to start, as it is likely that some of these novels influenced V.C. Andrews herself. Andrews was a fan of Charles Dickens, mentioning the author in the prologue of her most famous novel Flowers in the Attic. I have yet to read all of Dickens novels (I've read about half,) but I can feel a slight V.C. Andrews vi
Read more