From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel

Start date: July 2, 2015

Finish date: July 31, 2015

Discussion: Books of the Month

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What Members Thought

Apr 03, 2015 Krissy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, pgs-300-399, dnf, title-number

I just couldn't get interested in the story. The time jumps drove me crazy and made it even more difficult for me to to get into the book. Plus the narrator of the audiobook didn't help things at all. She used the same voice for every character. Which tends to get very boring. I made it to the 65% mark and couldn't go any further. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 24, 2015 Vickie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: booksthatmakemegowow

Epic sweeping tale set in the near-pandemic past and not-too-distant post-pandemic future told through many voices, mostly through the Traveling Symphony, a traveling band of musical and actor players who travel their route trying to bring a bit of joy into what has become a threatened and threatening world.
The story goes back and forth in time, using memories of the before and during of the pandemic that killed many and brought the best and worst out in survivors.
Different tethers tie the stor ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 09, 2022 Avigail rated it really liked it

Shelves: physical-book, challenges, 2022, audiobook, own, audible

I heard about Station Eleven on a couple of platforms in June 2014 (when I first started watching BookTube.) I also have the book on my TBR from a couple of years ago. I would have read it earlier but reading a book about a pandemic during the Covid pandemic; I had to skip it.
I picked it this time and read due to a reading challenge.
I fell in love with Emily St. John Mandel's writing. I have one more of her books in my physical TBR, and I will pick it up sooner this time.
The author did a fa ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 10, 2015 Joyce rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club-choice, set-in-the-midwest

Great discussion of this book among the members of my book club. I enjoyed this post-apocalyptic novel very much. I tell myself I dislike dystopian stories yet I find myself reading them quite a bit. Could this be about the value of art? Is it about learning how not to be a ghost? I don't know but I often found it surprising and in the end quite hopeful. ...more

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Apr 05, 2015 Beth rated it really liked it

Shelves: foolscap-club, friend-bookclub, tuesday-book-club, sf

August Foolscap book club

This is not quite SF. It's definitely an SF concept, and in fact can comfortably take its place among other post-apocalyptic stories. But its interest lies elsewhere. In fact, it reads more like a book in which magic has died -- the characters don't seem aware that technology was created by people and that they can work to make simpler versions of this. Like, the power grid is down but no one attempts windmills or water power or steam. They wonder whether to teach their ...more

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Sep 20, 2015 Karen D rated it really liked it

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, music, eccentric-characters

I really enjoyed this book, much more than I expected to when I started it. It took a little while to get into it, to understand how the characters were connected, and to get the flow of the storyline, as it kept jumping back and forth between the pre- and post-apocalypse worlds. There's not much in terms of conflict, no real pivotal moment that the story builds to, but instead it's all about the character development, the relationships they build, and what they consider necessary for survival ( ...more

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Jan 19, 2015 Dana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopias, science-fiction, disease, shakespeare, strong-characters, flashbacks

Extremely well-written, character-driven, dystopian fiction with great use of flashbacks. So refreshing to experience a post-apocalyptic world not brought about by zombies!

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