Station Eleven

Local Description

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, is set twenty years after the collapse of civilisations as we know it. 99% of the human population has been wiped out by a virulent virus, there is a total collapse of all infrastructure, technology, food production, fuel and so on. Kirsten is an actress travelling with a Shakespearean troop from town to town (there are small settlements dotted across the landscape, some dangerous). Only four at the time of the virus, she was a child actor in a version of King Lear. This theatre production on the cusp of the collapse plays a vital role in this novel, with stories moving across time back and forth through a variety of people connected to Arthur, the actor who is playing King Lear. That Arthur has a heart attack and dies makes it more remarkable that he is the centre of this complex wheel. While there are elements to this novel that I found intriguing and it is a compelling read, I found the device sometimes too convenient and a distraction from the action. - Stella

Whenever I read dystopian or post-apocalyptic literature it sends me into a flap about what supplies are in the house and what I’d do in the event of an apocalypse. This book was no exception, and wasn’t helped by news of the current ebola crisis in Africa. It follows six characters from the days leading up to the outbreak of a pandemic, and twenty years into the future, jumping back and forth. All of these characters are linked in some way, and those links become clear as the narrative progresses. If you’re into apocalyptic fiction then this is worth a read. - Holly

 

I'm still half-immersed in the world of Station Eleven, and hope fervently for a follow-up book, set 50, 100 years in the future. Emily St.John Mandel's novel of a post-apocalyptic band of wandering actors and musicians who have a fatal run-in with a doomsday prophet, totally captured my imagination. Her prose is beautiful, her characters diverse and interesting. The story flits back and forth through time, following young actress Kirsten, 20 years after the world has lost 90% of its population to a virulent strain of the flu. We meet Arthur, a somewhat washed-up actor who dies on stage on the last night of civilisation, and Jeevan, who tries to save him. Arthur's first wife Miranda, and his second, Elizabeth along with her son Tyler flesh out the in-between times, but it is Arthur, his oldest friend Clark, and  Kirsten who make the story sing. It made me want to live in her world. - Lucy

 

 

 

 

 

Description

What was lost in the collapse: almost everything, almost everyone, but there is still such beauty. One snowy night in Toronto famous actor Arthur Leander dies on stage whilst performing the role of a lifetime. That same evening a deadly virus touches down in North America. The world will never be the same again. Twenty years later Kirsten, an actress in the Travelling Symphony, performs Shakespeare in the settlements that have grown up since the collapse. But then her newly hopeful world is threatened. If civilization was lost, what would you preserve? And how far would you go to protect it?

Promotion info

'Glorious, unexpected, superbly written; just try putting it down' The Times

Awards

Longlisted for the Bailey's Prize 2015 The New York Times Bestseller 2014 National Book Awards Finalist 2015 PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist

Reviews

'Glorious, unexpected, superbly written; just try putting it down.' --The Times 'One of the 2014 books that I did read stands above all the others, however: Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel ... It's a deeply melancholy novel, but beautifully written, and wonderfully elegiac, a book that I will long remember, and return to.' -- George R. R. Martin 'Disturbing, inventive and exciting, Station Eleven left me wistful for a world where I still live.' -- Jessie Burton, author of THE MINIATURIST 'Once in a very long while a book becomes a brand new old friend, a story you never knew you always wanted. Station Eleven is that rare find that feels familiar and extraordinary at the same time, expertly weaving together future and present and past, death and life and Shakespeare. This is truly something special.'-- Erin Morgenstern, author of THE NIGHT CIRCUS 'Visually stunning, dreamily atmospheric and impressively gripping ... Station Eleven is not so much about apocalypse as about memory and loss, nostalgia and yearning; the effort of art to deepen our fleeting impressions of the world and bolster our solitude.' --Guardian 'Station Eleven is so compelling, so fearlessly imagined, that I wouldn't have put it down for anything. I think this one is really going to go places.' -- Ann Patchett, author of BEL CANTO and STATE OF WONDER

Author description

Emily St. John Mandel was born in Canada and studied dance at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She is the author of the novels Last Night in Montreal, The Singer's Gun, The Lola Quartet and Station Eleven and is a staff writer for The Millions. She is married and lives in New York.