From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel

Start date: March 1, 2025

Discussion: 2025 Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: March 2025 group read (involves music)
[close] March 2025 group read (involves music)

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2025 Monthly Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Dec 20, 2015 Judy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bookgroup, favorites, fiction

Even though I read this several months ago (for the second time, for book group), it has stayed with me - images, thoughts, the structure of the novel itself. It is post-apocalyptic, a genre I typically avoid, but there is hope and beauty in it - love of art, music, performance, and the written word - and most important, the sharing of that in a world where most things are stripped to bare bones. The author has done a masterful job of handling all the threads that run through this in a way that ...more

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Nov 09, 2015 katy rated it it was amazing

This book is gorgeous. The way it weaves words with feelings and characters with time and space. It's a tale of survival and how it means something different to everyone. It's this homage to the things we love about the world now, but don't need and this amazing sort of perseverance that humanity has. It reads like poetry and thoughts, but still draws you in. ...more

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May 21, 2017 Sarah rated it liked it

Shelves: book-club, fiction, michigan, dystopian

A famous actor, with a few ex-wives, a son, a smattering of friends and acquaintances, dies of a heart attack in the middle of a theater production of King Lear in downtown Toronto. There are experimental child actors that are a part of the production and an EMT in the audience is first to respond to the tragedy.
The drama of the heart attack is a drop in the bucket compared to what comes the next day. Starting in the Georgia Republic and Russia, by the time Arthur drops dead, the Georgia Flu is A famous actor, with a few ex-wives, a son, a smattering of friends and acquaintances, dies of a heart attack in the middle of a theater production of King Lear in downtown Toronto. There are experimental child actors that are a part of the production and an EMT in the audience is first to respond to the tragedy.
The drama of the heart attack is a drop in the bucket compared to what comes the next day. Starting in the Georgia Republic and Russia, by the time Arthur drops dead, the Georgia Flu is already on its way to Toronto and North America and when it is all over and done, wipes out 99% of all human life in about a week and a half.
In the years after the flu, the Traveling Symphony traverse the Michigan coast line, never straying too far from the water, bringing music and Shakespeare to small settlements in their horse covered caravans. All the musicians and players have seen some shit, but hold fast to the idea that survival is insufficient.
The author uses Arthur as the center of this story, and those characters that loved him, knew him, heard of him, worked with him all have stories that spin out in unimaginable ways into the unknown and then weave their way back.
I am neither a fan of post apocalyptic fiction, nor I am not a reader of Shakespeare. But the strength of this novel lie in the human connections in a world where connections are tenuous, fragile, and utterly necessary. The survivors search for meaning in many different ways, but the power of music and art were exceptionally moving.
The sense of place has the ability to transport the reader and the tone strikes a nice tight balance. The pacing felt a bit slow, but it was worth it to watch the stories weave together in the end. I will say however, that I found some of the content difficult to read. It isn't overly graphic, but there is enough implied in some situations that I found pretty horrifying. On this basis alone, I would suggest with reservations for some readers.
To those who enjoyed this, I would also suggest The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. It has a similar strong sense of place and while it is also post apocalyptic, has a similar lyrical and efficient prose. ...more

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May 05, 2019 Debbie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sciencefiction

This reminded me a lot of Margaret Atwood’s MaddAdam trilogy. With a less depressing ending.

The novel starts with the on-stage death of a famous actor playing King Lear. As the story jumps back and forth in time, it follows the stories of the actor and four people whose lives intersected with his—the child actor who watched him die, the would-be paramedic who tried to save him, his first ex-wife, and his oldest friend.

On the night that Arthur Leander collapses on stage, a deadly flu pandemic g ...more

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