Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Summary of the Summary of the Summary:

Post-apocalyptic study on identity and human connection.

Summary of the Summary:

Emily St. John Mandel's novel weaves a web of characters surviving a post-flu pandemic U.S., whose connections are revealed throughout. While some early effects of the pandemic are told, and we hear some on how these characters survived, the majority of the novel takes place as small scattered communities try to reconstruct society. At its core, St. John Mandel has attempted to write a study on human behavior and how the world around influences it. She succeeds, to a degree, interspersing flashbacks to way before the world crumbled, demonstrating how relationships succeed or fail based on their surroundings. There is
a mystery dispersed throughout, an evil character whose true identity must eventually be revealed, but it isn't detrimental, or entirely important, to the story, but rather keeps it clicking along. A pleasant, non-cliched survival tale that manages to shrug off any comparisons or pretentiousness.

Summary:

(light spoilers)

It's easy to lump Station Eleven in with the rash of post-apocalyptic novels and films drowning the entertainment market, and in some ways it should be. Its whole premise is based on a realistic flu-pandemic that wipes out modern society, leaving survivors to recreate their own societies without internet, telecommunication, or electricity. The book begins at the beginning of the end, during a performance of King Lear the night everything starts going downhill, and no one in attendance is the wiser. In this night, we are introduced to the 3 main characters: The past-his-prime actor playing Lear, an EMT in training in the audience, and a young girl playing a bit part on stage.

And then Lear dies. I mean the actor playing Lear dies, on stage. And there goes our main character, his death effecting our other two prominent people forever. We visit the actor again, in flashbacks to his life before, and we learn that even though he's not a survivor, he is the thread that connects all others throughout the book.

The other two characters, Jeevan and Kirsten, never meet again, at least as far as the novel goes, but their separate stories are used to tell two very different post-apocalyptic experiences. Jeevan's story is told through flashback, telling the story of how he survived the aftermath of a pandemic, while Kirsten's is told in present, of how she is surviving the rebuilding of society, with only allusions to what may have happened to her to bring her to that point. But through both characters, we are led to believe that in the chaos of an apocalypse, whatever shred of identity who had in your last minutes of civilization are what forms your identity in the aftermath. What semblance of what you were before, it what you have become when the world crumbled.

For Jeevan, this means his limited EMT training has made him his new town's doctor, and for Kirsten it means she has become an actress in a traveling Shakespeare company. What little skills or knowledge they had before has been imprinted on them, shaping their whole lives after. For other characters their pre-pandemic lives lead them to become makeshift museum curators, journalists, and fanatical religious zealots. It's an interesting idea the author puts forth, that in a time when one can reinvent oneself, one relies on their past.

The most enjoyable part of the novel, in my opinion, was the little tidbits and facts about post-apocalyptic life the author throws in here and there, demonstrating that humanity is just as annoying and messed up as it was before. Even though people have had to band together fur survival and have had to rely on each other for resilience, there is still annoyance with others, there are still break-ups and romantic pasts, and there is still a need and appreciation for entertainment, such as a Shakespeare performance or musical interlude. St. John Mandel very much drives the point across that even though the world is different, humanity is very much the same.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is a mention that someone scrawled on a vehicle: "hell is other people", and someone else went in and replaced "other people" with "flute players."

Station Eleven is an entertaining novel with some intriguing ideas. There is a plot with danger and stakes and a villain, but it is largely overshadowed by the quieter moments, by the flashbacks and conversations that show what goes into a person's identity, how their experiences and pasts, and especially their environment, play a role in how someone portrays themselves and others. Some seek fame, some seek fortune, and some just seek family.

Overall, Station Eleven holds its own, standing apart from other popular apocalyptic novels. It's not a dystopian world, it's the same world with the same people, just sparser.

Interested? Get it here.

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