Emily St. John Mandel

In Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, the world is devastated, like 99%-of-the-population-gone devastated, by a mutated flu that gets into the global transportation system. In Toronto, the events kick off when an actor, Arthur Leander, collapses while playing the title role in a production of King Lear. An EMT-in-training, Jeevan, leaps onto stage to try to help, while a young actress, Kirsten, playing a child version of one of the daughters watches it play out in front of her. Within weeks, the world as we know it has ceased to exist. No more internet. Shit, no more electricity. Some people are immune and survive, but are they the lucky ones?

The primary thread of the story follows Kirsten fifteen years later, as she and the other actors and musicians who make up The Travelling Symphony journey through coastal southwest Michigan. Small communities have sprung up along the shores of the Great Lakes, and the ragtag crew that makes up the Symphony continually loop around them, performing, taking their inspiration from a line from Star Trek: "survival is insufficient". The group is excited to return to one particular town, where one of their members left them to settle down, but when they arrive they find their friend gone and things much changed. The town is now controlled by a cult leader known as The Prophet. When a stowaway pops up after the troupe has fled, trouble follows.

There are a lot of time jumps in this book. So much so that it seems almost unfair to call it entirely a post-apocalyptic novel, since a decent chunk of the narrative actually takes place before the flu hits. It goes from Kirsten in her present, to Arthur in his early years, to an interview taking place after the flu but before the principal timeline, and so on and so forth. It sounds confusing, but the way that Mandel writes it it's actually pretty easy to follow. It's a tricky thing to pull off, a narrative that moves around in time as much as hers does, but Mandel is a talented writer and, for my money, makes the emotional impact even stronger by doing it.

This is a wonderful book, y'all. Not only does Mandel handle her narrative masterfully, she also draws characters that resonate. You care about them, even knowing that some of them are going to meet their end when the virus happens. It's not a book like The Road about despair and sorrow. It's a book about people, and the connections that are made and fractured between them. There are certainly dark moments, but the atmosphere she creates is overall one of poignancy and bittersweetness. I loved reading it and am planning on purchasing a hard copy (I read this on my Kindle) so I can have it on my bookshelves to re-read on paper. I recommend it to literally anyone who likes to read.… (more)

I adored this book! The fact that I read it on a cruise, with the Mediterranean as my backdrop, made the entire experience even more special. Every moment with this novel was captivating. I drank it all in eagerly--from the engaging characters to the intricately woven story.

The narrative is multifaceted without being confusing. Mandel skilfully handles the jumps back and forth between the past and the post-apocalyptic present, as seen through the eyes of her diverse cast of characters. Despite the complexity, though, everything fits together seamlessly, and the impact in the end is profound. Mandel’s writing is stunning. Her descriptions are vivid and her characters feel real. I devoured each page and couldn’t help but hug the book to my chest when I finished.

What I loved most about this ambitious and emotional novel was how much it made me reflect on my everyday life, and the things I take for granted. The themes of love, loss, friendship, and the power of memory are explored in such a beautiful way here. My first foray into Emily St. John Mandel's work was a lovely surprise, and I can't wait to read more by this author.… (more)