Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel

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⭐ 9.5/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This book is really everything I wanted. Post-apocalyptic fiction is possibly my favorite genre and I loved this more grounded take. I think Emily St John Mandel is an amazing writer and was a pretty refreshing read after going through a few novels that were rather dry (not naming any names).


This way definitely more impactful to read while living within a plague of our own, and although i kept being tempted to think that I know more than Emily did about what it's like to live in a world with a virus, I did think she did an amazing job here of predicting what a modern pandemic looks like (except where are the masks Emily?!). Obviously this virus was much more deadly than ours, and it was super engaging seeing it all unfold and seeing how characters we like react.


Speaking of which: lots of great characters! She does an awesome job making lots of real, complex characters and putting them in a dynamic, vivid environment. This book jumps around in time, yet despite that I think this source material will make a great TV show when it comes out in a year or two as there are still these great images and scenes seared in my mind. My only minor complaint is that I think I would have preferred the book stick with some charterers a bit longer, but it was cool to see all these characters in different phases of the world and see how they were all connected.


Anyways, great book, highly recommend. One of my favorite works of fiction I've read in some time, and I can't wait to watch the show. It reminded me a lot of The Last of Us in a lot of ways and made me think of it often. If that's not high praise I don't know what is! Thanks to Maggie for the rec.

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