Station Eleven: A Novel (National Book Award Finalist)

By Emily St. John Mandel

This Anniversary Edition of Station Eleven, a finalist for the National Book Award and named a Best Book of the Twenty-First Century by the New York Times, celebrates ten years of this now iconic novel with a new color illustration and a guide to “The Mandelverse”

A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century


An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days following civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

It is fifteen years after a flu pandemic wiped out most of the world's population. Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony, a small troupe moving over the gutted landscape, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. But when they arrive in the outpost of St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave. Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the disaster brought everyone here, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty, telling a story about the relationships that sustain us.

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Published Jun 2, 2015

352 pages

Average rating: 7.58

1,293 RATINGS

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Readers say *Station Eleven* offers a poetic, character-driven exploration of a post-pandemic world that balances loss with warmth and hope. Reviewers...

Jeremy R.
Jeremy R.
8/10 stars
St. John Mandel's best book. A pre-pandemic take on the return of civilization after a devastating pandemic.
Jan.wagner2014@gmail.com
Jan.wagner2014@gmail.com
7/10 stars
Lots of characters to follow. I didn't know where this was going at first, but I loved how it all came together in the end
S
Sue Dix
10/10 stars
It was a very compelling read. It makes one think of how one would react in an apocalypse. I hope I would not disgrace myself.
KelBel
KelBel
6/10 stars
I'm still trying to figure out how to review this book. Interesting premise, confusing execution. The flow from one character into the next then all of a sudden a back story of a different character turned me off a bit. I the end it did tie them all together but it look a long a winding road to get there... Much like the traveling symphony took in the book..
T
thenextgoodbook
10/10 stars
thenextgoodbook.com

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
333 pages

What’s it about?
Imagine that a pandemic quickly spreads throughout the modern world killing 98% of the population. Over time, society as you know is falls away. No technology, electricity, or communication. The world becomes a place of small, isolated communities. Ms. Mandel takes us back and forth in time from the world as we know it, to this post pandemic world she has created.

What did it make me think about?
Possibilities..... Not all good.

Should I read it?
It is the best kind of book- a book you miss as soon as you finish. I do not think of myself as a fan of post- apocalyptic novels, but I loved this book. Ms. Mandel seems to have a different approach in this novel. "Station Eleven" seems interested in the concept of how you would begin to rebuild a society. Fascinating!

Quote-
"I don't remember my parents. Actually just impressions. I remember hot air coming out of vents in winter, and machines that played music. I remember what computers looked like with the screen lit up. I remember how you could open a fridge, and cold air and light would spill out. Or freezers, even colder, with those little squares of ice in trays. Do you remember fridges?"

9 stars

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