Kemper's Reviews > Station Eleven
Station Eleven
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by
![405390](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p2/405390.jpg)
This is one well written apocalypse.
Arthur Leander is a famous actor who suffers a heart attack and dies on stage just before a deadly version of the swine flu kills most of humanity. Station Eleven then uses Arthur as the center of a web of connections that we learn from the people in his life before, during and after the disease wipes out the world as we know it. Kirsten sees Arthur die as a child actor, and years later she’s part of the Traveling Symphony that tours the small towns of the post-apocalyptic landscape. Jeevan is an ex-paparazzo turned paramedic who once stalked Arthur, but he is in the audience when the actor keels over and tries to save his life. Miranda is Arthur’s first wife who could never adjust to the spotlight his fame brought and wrote a comic book about a space station as a hobby. Clark was one of Arthur’s best friends who gets stranded far from home when things really start to fall apart.
The thing that astonishes me most about his is just how deftly Emily St. John Mandel portrays the end of the world. There’s no shortage of post-apocalyptic scenarios out there, but whether the culprits are zombies or nuclear weapons or killer viruses the aftermath is generally as brutal as an ax blow to the face. Mandel writes with such an understated elegance that there’s a dark beauty and grace to her fallen world even as she acknowledges all the hardship and horrors of it.
She also does a masterful job of managing the structure with its shifting third party perspectives at various times. All the links and coincidences could have felt very forced and ultimately pointless, but again it’s her skill at making us interested in all of these people at their various stages of pre and post apocalypse that make it all work so that the connections feel organic and not simply plot points.
While the post-apocalyptic world seems believable for the most part there are some quibbles I could make. Mandel writes this as if a flu with a near 100% mortality rate would essentially wipe out all the accumulated knowledge and technical ability of the survivors and takes everyone back to an almost medieval way of life.
It’s weird that everything has been so ransacked just fifteen years later because the math doesn’t seem right there. If 99% of the US died within days so that there was no prolonged destructive cycle to use up resources, that'd be roughly 3 million people left in a country that had all the crap that 300 million people accumulated. Yet, Kristen is amazed to find a house in the woods that had not been searched where she finds a dress to replace hers that is worn out. Or guns and ammo are portrayed as being increasingly rare even though America has enough guns that each survivor could have about 1000 each. Books also seem to be in short supply as if the libraries were also killed by the flu.
So those would be some serious flaws in the premise if you were judging this solely on criteria like world building (Or world destroying.) and plausibility, but it didn’t lower my opinion much because this just isn’t that kind of book. It’s more interested at exploring human connections as well as providing a reminder that we’re living in an age of unappreciated wonders that is a lot more fragile than we want to admit, and at that Mandel succeeds exceedingly well.
Arthur Leander is a famous actor who suffers a heart attack and dies on stage just before a deadly version of the swine flu kills most of humanity. Station Eleven then uses Arthur as the center of a web of connections that we learn from the people in his life before, during and after the disease wipes out the world as we know it. Kirsten sees Arthur die as a child actor, and years later she’s part of the Traveling Symphony that tours the small towns of the post-apocalyptic landscape. Jeevan is an ex-paparazzo turned paramedic who once stalked Arthur, but he is in the audience when the actor keels over and tries to save his life. Miranda is Arthur’s first wife who could never adjust to the spotlight his fame brought and wrote a comic book about a space station as a hobby. Clark was one of Arthur’s best friends who gets stranded far from home when things really start to fall apart.
The thing that astonishes me most about his is just how deftly Emily St. John Mandel portrays the end of the world. There’s no shortage of post-apocalyptic scenarios out there, but whether the culprits are zombies or nuclear weapons or killer viruses the aftermath is generally as brutal as an ax blow to the face. Mandel writes with such an understated elegance that there’s a dark beauty and grace to her fallen world even as she acknowledges all the hardship and horrors of it.
She also does a masterful job of managing the structure with its shifting third party perspectives at various times. All the links and coincidences could have felt very forced and ultimately pointless, but again it’s her skill at making us interested in all of these people at their various stages of pre and post apocalypse that make it all work so that the connections feel organic and not simply plot points.
While the post-apocalyptic world seems believable for the most part there are some quibbles I could make. Mandel writes this as if a flu with a near 100% mortality rate would essentially wipe out all the accumulated knowledge and technical ability of the survivors and takes everyone back to an almost medieval way of life.
It’s weird that everything has been so ransacked just fifteen years later because the math doesn’t seem right there. If 99% of the US died within days so that there was no prolonged destructive cycle to use up resources, that'd be roughly 3 million people left in a country that had all the crap that 300 million people accumulated. Yet, Kristen is amazed to find a house in the woods that had not been searched where she finds a dress to replace hers that is worn out. Or guns and ammo are portrayed as being increasingly rare even though America has enough guns that each survivor could have about 1000 each. Books also seem to be in short supply as if the libraries were also killed by the flu.
So those would be some serious flaws in the premise if you were judging this solely on criteria like world building (Or world destroying.) and plausibility, but it didn’t lower my opinion much because this just isn’t that kind of book. It’s more interested at exploring human connections as well as providing a reminder that we’re living in an age of unappreciated wonders that is a lot more fragile than we want to admit, and at that Mandel succeeds exceedingly well.
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Reading Progress
November 4, 2014
– Shelved
September 13, 2015
–
Started Reading
September 26, 2015
–
Finished Reading
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message 1:
by
Trudi
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
Sep 16, 2015 09:54AM
![Trudi](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1446613110p1/1416912.jpg)
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![Zoeytron](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1542977636p1/12656534.jpg)
![Trudi](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1446613110p1/1416912.jpg)
Yes. Very nice. I love it when you don't miss the point.
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
Hope you like it if you try it.
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
I was really scratching my head over that one. Thanks.
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
Since I never do you should be happy all the time then.
![Trudi](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1446613110p1/1416912.jpg)
Since I never do..."
Your self delusion is one of your more pitiable characteristics.
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
But at least I don't have tragically Canadian sensibilities.
![Jessaka](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1485709659p1/4659464.jpg)
good review, really enjoyed it.
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
Because I'm a bitter old crank that hates everything?
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
That reminds me that I need to get my flu shot.
![mark monday](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1572672245p1/131922.jpg)
Because I'm a bitter old crank that hates everything?"
you're not bitter!
I dunno why except there is a softness to the novel that I wouldn't think would be a good fit for the hard-boiled Kemper aesthetic. I'm glad to be wrong, you big softie.
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
I'm so bitter that I can eat a handful of Sour Patch Kids candy without even making a face.
![Trudi](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1446613110p1/1416912.jpg)
*LOL* Careful mark, I don't think he's ready to be outed publicly yet :)
![mark monday](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1572672245p1/131922.jpg)
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
That's a very bad idea. I'm a big believer in personal space. Like a "I'll send you an email. No need to be in the same room." level of personal space.
![mark monday](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1572672245p1/131922.jpg)
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
I'm warning you, mark. It's for your own good. I don't need any more innocent blood on my hands...
![mark monday](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1572672245p1/131922.jpg)
![photo dont worry_zpskws4gmzf.gif](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1443556087ra/16376423.gif)
![Trudi](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1446613110p1/1416912.jpg)
mark, I do think this is a case of doth protesting too much. He's saying no, but he really means yes, the old softie. Just like a fluffy kitten wrapped in wool LOL
![Trudi](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1446613110p1/1416912.jpg)
I don't know Kemper. That looks like a lot of fun! It's definitely speaking more than a thousand words. Awww, there there. It's alright. (((Hug)))
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
It'd be more like this:
https://youtu.be/9aqA9lvUQ2c
![mark monday](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1572672245p1/131922.jpg)
but how about a friendly pat on the head?
![Trudi](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1446613110p1/1416912.jpg)
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
Hey, I agreed to a handshake. That would practically make us family as far as I'm concerned.
![Kemper](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1715435109p1/405390.jpg)
I'd like to see those hippies at the UN try to enforce that one.