An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. A National Book Award FinalistA PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist Kirsten Raymonde will never forget …
Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.
Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.
Look for Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel, The Glass Hotel, available in March.
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Must read in this pandemic
Very interesting and thought provoking book, especially during this time of uncertainty and social distancing.
If you like how I focused on culture and storytelling in the apocalypse instead of a world-saving plot, you’ll want to pick up St. John Mandel’s novel, Station Eleven.
Why did I wait so long to read this book…?! Perhaps because I thought it was sci-fi…(not that there’s anything wrong with that!). This is a mesmerizing dive into what it means to be human, the power of art, and the tangled relationships we build, and sometimes destroy. An incredible book that will stay with you. I want to read it all over …
I haven’t finished this book yet. I read any great reviews and I thought it was going to be good. But I couldn’t keep my attention on it. So I am taking a break from it. There is one too many characters in it and for me it’s too many characters to try to keep up with. I finally did get to the part of why it was called station eleven, but I still …
When I started reading this book I was wondering if it is yet another post-apocalyptic novel with all the bad stuff that comes with it but no way: it is so much more. I loved how the author imagined it will all come down and it is so very close to what happened a few months ago (luckily not with the same finality). Also loved the way she presented …
Exquisitely written and well-plotted, this book will make you nostalgic for the times we are living in.
Friends said I was a masochist for choosing to (finally!) read this book during an actual pandemic, and now having read it I can’t argue with them. Would I have been so enthralled with this book if we weren’t already facing something so similar? I can’t say. But I read this faster than I read most books, and I still wake up in the night thinking …
amazingly written novel that comes full circle at the end and you almost don’t see it coming
Particularly relevant and frightening in this time of covid19
Reading this during Covid-19 made it significantly relevant. I can’t remember why I bought it – possibly a review that said it was remarkable to see how things came together. It was one of those books that I wanted to pick up when I needed to do other things.
Outstanding. Goes beyond genre.
Quite a read during a pandemic!
Especially interesting during our own pandemic
An inventive and astonishingly true apocalyptic novel peopled with vivid characters. But reading it in the age of COVID-19 was a mistake. It heightened my anxieties and produced disturbing dreams. I do recommend it, though, one the plague has passed.
This storyline is intriguing, original, and easy to read. Note to editors of these books – some scenes in the story line are retold for apparently no reason, some scenes are described but add nothing to the storyline, character development, or effect the outcome of the story.
Too bland, too slow. Got bored and didn’t finish it. One of the few books I deleted from my Nook.
Every time I drive by Detroit Metro Airport and I think about what it would be like with NO planes flying….
I picked up a copy of this book based on a review I read when it was first released and it has become probably my favorite book of the last five years, at least. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say it’s my all-time favorite post-apocalyptic novel of all time (sorry, Cormac McCarthy…). It is beautifully written and the characters are fully …
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