The Sword and Laser discussion
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Station Eleven
2015 Reads
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SE: How Dystopian Is It?
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The book goes into the beginning of the fall but does not linger or dig deep into it. Then there is a skip of about 20 years. I say give it a chance, I think you can get past the parts you will not enjoy and still have a great ride.
People here are so eager to abandon books. Even invented a new term for it! There's a mix of both, it jumps all over the place from before the plague to the middle to well after its over. You'll have to read it for yourself and decide.
I'm not crazy about stories where humanity is doomed. I can still get something out of a near miss event, though. One where everything is awful for a bit there, but then we all pull together and get back on track. Like David Brin's book The Postman.
The nice thing about the book, the period of the 'terror filled immediate aftermath" is hinted at. Those are hints of past traumas. Now the characters are hopeful but wary. It is most about how all the puzzle pieces fit.
Yeah, this one is a pass for me despite the praise it's gotten. I'm just done with apocalypse stories and I'm kind of tired of the genre bandwagoning on that trope. I really wish SF would tell a diverse set of stories vs all hopping on the latest thing (I get the economic incentive and that it's easy for me to say that, though). Plus... well... 99.9% of people die? In most developed countries that would mean that the other .1% also dies since we tend not to have the skills and infrastructure to survive that, especially the immediate effects - imagine that, out of every 1000 people you meet, they're ALL dead except 1 person. Now imagine burying them. Or not and the disease that results.
I have the authors extended edition of The Stand on my short list of books to read this year so have no desire to read this.
Thanks for all the feedback! It sounds like after the 20-year time jump, the book moves a little closer into my comfort zone. I'm not going to lem it, but I'm going to skim until I get past the first stages of the apocalypse. That part is a really unpleasant read for me for some reason.Can anyone tell me how many minutes into the audiobook the time jump happens? (Or how many pages in?)
Well... the end of the world SHOULD be unpleasant.
The book moves back and forth between pre- and post-apocalypse. Skipping forward is not a good idea.I have read The Stand and am currently listening to Swan Song. I have read a huge amount of post-apocalyptic literature. What makes Station Eleven different is that it's more realistic. There are no supernatural good or bad guys. The people are simply people; some are good and some are bad. It's very literary. Definitely worth reading, even if you think you're done with post-apocalyptic literature.
I'm not saying that it's not a worthwhile read. So far, the writing is excellent.For me, personally, I just can't read the initial part of the story where a pandemic is actively destroying cities and lives. It goes far beyond being a personal preference; my anxiety spikes up and I start feeling distressed. It's a really unpleasant experience. I have no idea why I'm wired that way, and I don't know why some fiction triggers it and some doesn't. For this book, at least, I'm going to have to lightly skim ahead until I get to something less intense. It's either that or lem the book altogether.
Pol I'm glad you asked the question. I have ditched a number of books in the past few years because of anxiety triggers. Not the fault of the books or the author, but I'm not wasting my mental health in it when I could be enjoying something else. Apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic isn't usually a trigger, but grimdark fantasy really is and of course that's been really popular for some time (I'll never know what's canon in the GoT book/TV debate because I can't handle either).
Id argue that this is more about the distopia of bad marriages, selfish men and growing old than the end of the world, and thats not a bad thing
Pôl wrote: "Fun fact about me: I really dislike dystopian, collapse-of-civilization, uncurable pandemic stories. (With or without zombies.) 40 minutes into Station Eleven (20ish pages, I'd guess), and we are d..."This is a story about a group of humans and their relationships - the pandemic is only the background.
Rick wrote: "Yeah, this one is a pass for me despite the praise it's gotten. I'm just done with apocalypse stories and I'm kind of tired of the genre bandwagoning on that trope. I really wish SF would tell a di..."This book is so much more than what you think it is. You are really going to miss an amazing story.
Maybe. But I've got a LOT to read and honestly, the little I've heard in other groups about the book makes is sound like it's not for me (no definitive plot, some issues with the SF and a few other things. If it were available at the library I'd check it out just to see. But I'm not going to buy it when there are enough flags that, for me, it's a low percentage chance that I'll really like it.
Fresno Bob wrote: "Id argue that this is more about the distopia of bad marriages, selfish men and growing old than the end of the world, and thats not a bad thing"Huh. I can read Updike for that... :)
Typical post-apocalyptic elements: crazy cult people, post-industrial locations repurposed, survivalism. The ways it doesn't fit the tropes actually are what I don't like - some of the story lines are without practical explanation of how they work (food, etc) and that always bothers me. I preferred the beginning with the brothers and the play. But if that isn't really your thing, you may like the rest of it more than I did.
So... one thing I've read is that people are still living in abandoned stores etc. True? Because... um... aren't there a LOT of empty houses? And wouldn't people live in them? And use open space to farm?
Rick wrote: "So... one thing I've read is that people are still living in abandoned stores etc. True? Because... um... aren't there a LOT of empty houses? And wouldn't people live in them? And use open space to..."And nothing like (view spoiler) many things like this didn't make sense to me if society is going to move forward.
Yeah, i heard about that. That lack of rational action would just throw me out of the story plus it seems, from the reviews I've read, to have a 'what does it mean to live, not just survive?" theme and both together would just be off-putting to me. I understand that the writing is lovely and if it was available at the library instead of having a 60 deep waitlist, I'd check it out. But that's fine. I still look forward to seeing what all of you say about it.
^Kind of like how all the lawns are mowed in the Walking Dead, years into the zombie plague?
ahahah... I've never read/watch that, but yeah, that would bug me. Details matter (to me).
John (Taloni) wrote: "^Kind of like how all the lawns are mowed in the Walking Dead, years into the zombie plague?"Nah. Zombie past life reflexes! The big question is where do they get the mower gas???
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
The Stand (other topics)The Postman (other topics)
So for those of you who have finished it: does most of the book deal with the pandemic, or does it skip ahead until after everything has settled? Should I keep going, or lem while the lemming's good?