From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel

Start date: July 21, 2015

Finish date: August 16, 2015

Discussion: Book Discussions

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Why we're reading this: Group Contemporary Novel discussion for July 2015
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What Members Thought

Jul 21, 2019 Tanya (Novel Paperbacks) rated it really liked it

I don’t read Post-Apocalyptic things, I don’t like dystopian. It’s a tricky area. Therefore, much as I was intrigued to read this hyped book, I was also a tad dubious.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book.
The writing is beautiful. It is just a really well written book. With deep characters with well developed back stories and motivations. We see this new world through them. We see the old world through them. And this juxtaposition of old and new creates a harrowing and sometimes unsettling b ...more

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Jul 16, 2015 Rob Thompson rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, fiction, audio, reviewed, 2015-challenge

Survival is Insufficient
Emily St. John Mandel’s fourth novel Station Eleven was granted the National Book Award’s shortlist for fiction. At first glance Station Eleven appears to be a post-apocalyptic genre novel. A world devastated by a flu epidemic. Small bands of survivors regressing back to a “Walking Dead” type of existence. Ferals” roam the country, religious cults attack passive communities and starvation is a constant threat. But this isn’t a normal genre novel. For a start the imaginati Survival is Insufficient
Emily St. John Mandel’s fourth novel Station Eleven was granted the National Book Award’s shortlist for fiction. At first glance Station Eleven appears to be a post-apocalyptic genre novel. A world devastated by a flu epidemic. Small bands of survivors regressing back to a “Walking Dead” type of existence. Ferals” roam the country, religious cults attack passive communities and starvation is a constant threat. But this isn’t a normal genre novel. For a start the imaginative scope of the novel is significant. It’s a story about celebrity, memory and how ordinary people relate to each other. The pandemic is just a way of framing these interactions.

One person, Arthur, is a central figure. He connects to most of the other characters in one way or another. And Emily St. John Mandel writes about these connections in a literary way. This makes the conventional characters portrayed interesting. They aren't unique, wild, crazy or particularly fascinating.

The book also employs many flashbacks. This has the effect of telling the story in a non-chronological way; rather like a jigsaw. The bigger picture reveals itself as the reader bounces back and forwards through time. This device compensates for the lack of a gripping story arc. Yet this isn't a criticism, the fact that the book is so readable is down to the skill of the author.

Where the book struggles is in its depiction of the disaster itself. Many technical details about the post-apocalyptic world don’t quite work. For example, technology grinds to a halt because of a lack of electricity or skilled engineers to maintain the infrastructure. Why? What about solar panels? Even if 99% of the population was wiped out, this assumes that only people without any tangible technical skills remain. This especially doesn’t ring true when the story introduces hundreds of people living at an airport. Surely someone could get the power running again? Also, apart from the token bad guys who eventually make an appearance the survivors are all so pleasant. For the most part they act like they would have before the cataclysm. The author gives the reader a few hints about their day to day struggles but glosses over how they survive.

At the end of the book I was left with a clear conclusion. It’s the people you spend your life with that are important along with the values you hold, not the material goods you own. If you can get past the lack of robust world-building and the civility of it all then this restrained story will reinforce the belief that its our relationships that sustain us. ...more

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Jun 21, 2015 Janine Southard rated it it was ok

Shelves: post-apocalyptica

I may be the only person in the world who says "This book was not for me."

I think I knew that after listening to the author's interview on The Guardian Books Podcast last year, but since all my friends have been excited about this book, I read it anyway.

I was bored by just about everything that happened. Possibly because the only thing that wasn't a post-apocalypse cliche was tabloid news about some famous actor. I don't follow that kind of news in *reality*, so an unsympathetic fictional guy w ...more

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Feb 27, 2015 Ash rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2015-read, fiction-drama, naah, dystopia-adult, fabulist-fiction, post-apocalyptic

One of the most boring books I have read in last few years. I ended up buying this book and that makes me more frustrated for pouring money on this book. Lesson learnt: think twice before buying a science fiction book written by a female author. This is hardly a science fiction book - other than the fact that some part of the story takes place in a post apocalyptic world. The characters are boring, nothing much happens plot wise. Even after reading 169 pages, story did not progress and I finally ...more

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May 16, 2022 Brian rated it did not like it

I made it just shy of 200 pages before giving up. This book is just god-awful boring. Rather than being a book about survival after a plague, the vast bulk of those 200 pages was about the past life of a guy who died in the first chapter. It was just filler, and really boring filler at that.

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