Station Eleven

I had been on the wait-list for this book for over 3 months. I have a fascination with dystopian/post-apocalypse novels like World War Z and The Stand. I was even more intrigued by this book when I was talking to a fellow teacher at my school who said she had just finished it and really liked it. Additionally, when I went to my school's library last week, it was one of the featured books. We also had two snow days last week, giving me a 4-day weekend and a lot of free time trying not to watch House of Cards.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Genre: science fiction, post-apocalypse 

Publication Date: September 2014

Setting: 20 years after Night 0, coastal region of Michigan, Lake Huron + flashbacks

The story begins on Night 0 during a Toronto production of King Leer. The actor playing Leer, Arthur Leander, dies of a heart attack, and the next day the Georgia Flu begins wiping out 99% of the world's population.... The story is told through flashbacks, including random characters who were also involved with Arthur - his first wife Miranda, his former paparazzo Jeervan (who performed CPR on him). To me, the flashbacks past Night 0 are unnecessary. I am far more fascinated with the time after the flu, but the author decides to develop characters and examine relationships when all was normal.

Kristen, who played a daughter of Leer in the Toronto play, has joined the Traveling Symphony that performs along coastal Michigan. She remains intrigued/obsessed with the kind older actor who died in front of her eyes, and collects old tabloids and news clippings pertaining to him. She was a child before the Flu and has some memories of life with technology and light switches, but she has changed significantly in the 20 years since - her parents are gone, her brother died of a minor infection, and two tattoos on her wrist are in rememberence of the two lives she took.

Clark, Arthur's best friend, becomes stranded in an airport with several other flights and these delayed passengers educate the young, hunt, farm, and survive together. Clark creates the Museum of Civilization, where he displays artifacts from the time before the flu: iPhone, stilettos, laptop, passports, etc. All the artifacts have become extinct, along with electricity, the Internet, borders. Clark and the others who are older, struggle with the past - to remember and thus live in sorrow of a time long-gone, or to forget and acceptance the present state of the world. 

This book reminded me of Walking Dead, but without the zombies. Kristen is Maggie, her beau August is Glenn. The crazed prophet is the Governor. The characters struggle with the new morals and ethics of a changed world - how to keep your humanity when humans have been all but wiped out?

Finished reading Monday, March 9, 2014

DD's rating: A-/B+ 

This book is a solid 89.5%. It was too cliche and predictable (finding out who the prophet is, Clark and Kristen) so I can't give it an A rating. I enjoyed the 20 years later (instead of immediately after) aspect of the story and the overarching question of whether it is happier to remember the past or move on to present. And i enjoyed the Traveling Symphony's motto "Survival is insufficient" - there needs to be joy and passion and creative expression, those wonderous parts that make up our soul.

Next read: The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters