Book Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The blurb for Station Eleven had me hooked, Shakespeare, apocalypse, deadly disease. What's not to love?
The story spans approximately fifty years and focuses on five key people. Arthur Leander, an actor playing King Lear who dies on stage; his first wife Miranda, an artist and businesswoman; Jeevan, a trainee paramedic who tries to save him; Kirsten, a child in Leander's King Lear; and Clark, Arthur's oldest friend.
The storyline jumps to before, during and after the onset of the dangerous Georgia Flu which claims it's victims in a mere couple of weeks. As Arthur collapses on stage, the virus is spreading around the world.
The timeline is all over the place but I enjoyed the sporadic nature of it. For some characters we find out what has happened to them from Day One (of the flu), for others, such as Miranda, Arthur and Clark we get more of a back story, a history into their relationships. The next time we meet Kirsten is Year 20, when she is travelling with the Symphony, a band of actors and musicians who travel and perform in small towns.
What I really loved about this was that there wasn't focus on the vomiting and disease, the focus was on civilization. The things that people missed. How society has changed and developed. Kirsten and her friends are interesting and well developed characters. Each of them has a back story and individual flaws. We only see glimpses into Kirsten's past but it doesn't feel like anything is missing. The Symphony is a lovely touch, a highlight in a bleak world. It's nice to believe that there are those that carry on when there is nothing else left. As the Symphony travel it gives us a great insight into how towns have been formed. During their travels they meet The Prophet. A head strong, all believing 'saviour' who thinks it's necessary to have several teenage brides.
After being introduced to Jeevan at the beginning we don't hear about his character until at least halfway into the novel. As he our first narrator I warmed to him and wanted to find out his fate.
Clark's story is also interesting. We meet him through Arthur and Miranda but he really comes into his own in the last quarter of the book when left stranded at an airport with other passengers. Rather than looking at the bigger picture, this story focuses on the individuals, the humans, how they are coping with life as it is now and how everybody is linked.
I recommend this novel to everyone, it is pure brilliance and not only did it have me hooked from the start but I found the characters and stories compelling. Emily St. John Mandel didn't wrap everything into a nice neat bow so I would like another novel just to see how the characters progress. However, I can't wait for anything that she writes, I'll be grabbing it with both hands.


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