Reviewed by inlibrisveritas on
Arthur is an actor who dies on stage leaving behind several ex-wives, friend, and people who have some connection to him. 20 years after the Georgia Flu takes hold, killing most of the worlds human population, those people he’s left behind are having their stories told. I loved the back and forth narrative style that Station Eleven has. Instead of a linear story we get bits a pieces from the past of several people, some times Arthur but most of the time it’s those who knew him well or in passing. We get to see Arthur’s slow rise into stardom and his turbulent relationships, and how Kirsten and Jeevan fit into the mix and how that night changed everything.
The main theme of the story is that ‘survival is insufficient’ and I think it’s a beautiful notion to hold on to. Many of the characters carrying the past with them in some way, and those that are old enough to remember the ‘before’ try to give some of that knowledge to those who are too young or have been born into the new world. Art, music, pieces of the previous life are all things that these characters try to hold on to the most…and we get to see how that can go wrong as well. It has the beautiful literary style that helps it stick in your memory, but it doesn’t detract from the still dangerous world that these people live in. I love it when a post apocalyptic story focuses more on human nature than the actual happenings of the downfall. There is just something so poignant about reading a story where the characters are forced to rise above and seeing just how that can go so differently for each person.
The narrator, Kirsten Potter, was excellent! She had the right pacing and I found myself enjoying it quite a lot on normal speed, which is something I usually loathe doing.
Station Eleven is certainly worth the hype!
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 10 August, 2015: Finished reading
- 10 August, 2015: Reviewed