“Station Eleven is a triumph by Emily St. John Mandel, blending lyrical prose with a hauntingly beautiful vision of a post-apocalyptic world.”

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Genre: Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Apocalyptic Fiction

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Rate: 4/5

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“First we only want to be seen, but once we’re seen, that’s not enough anymore. After that, we want to be remembered.”

Introduction
When I first picked up Station Eleven, I was influenced by the common sentiment hailing it as the best apocalypse book of the twentieth century, with many raving about Mandel’s beautiful prose and intricate plot. Thus, as a devoted fan of Stephen King’s The Stand, I approached it with high expectations and a fair amount of skepticism. Now, as I sit down to write this review, I can’t say the book fully lived up to everything I had hoped for. Still, its many strengths made up for it, offering a fresh and original take on an overused trope.

“No one ever thinks they’re awful, even people who really actually are. It’s some sort of survival mechanism.”

Prose
One thing I can absolutely agree with others on is Mandel’s prose in this book. Simply put, her ability to string words together is something I’ve only experienced from my favorite authors; her writing is concise and straightforward, but behind that simplicity are emotions and depth that are almost impossible to fully grasp. All characters, from Miranda to Kirsten, come to life with this quality. The writing is so mystical that it mesmerized me from the first chapter with Arthur. In this regard, Mandel absolutely succeeded.

“It was gorgeous and claustrophobic. I loved it and I always wanted to escape.”

Plot
So far, I’ve talked about the external beauty of Station Eleven. However, though that enhanced the overall quality of the book, I personally believe it was also its own downfall: in terms of plot and character development, the writing seemed to have taken the forefront, with other parts being less complete or “delayed.” To put it simply, without its prose, Station Eleven would be a whole different novel. This, of course, is not an inherently bad thing; writing is a necessary aspect of a book, and in this case, it was its strength. But it is only a part.

In my opinion, this is why time jumps are such a double-edged sword in stories: under 300 pages, Station Eleven simply couldn’t afford to have the structure that it did. Every chapter would be focused on a different character at a different time period. There was simply not enough time to flesh out characters and make readers feel sympathy for their situations. The idea of the Traveling Symphony and the Severn Airport Museum were all beautiful on paper, but I wished we got more information about them during the book.

Of course, there were certain things I liked. Through such different time periods, Mandel was able to create a common thread that connected all of our characters. If you know me, I am a sucker for this trope: the presence of Station Eleven throughout the entire novel was definitely a highlight, linking everyone together in such a beautiful way.

One last thing I want to talk about is the originality of this book. Though it explicitly deals with an apocalypse and the ending of the world, it focuses on hope and the perseverance of humanity. Many other novels mostly write about the downfall of society, epidemics, or warfare destroying everything in this world. Deviating from this idea, Station Eleven offers a fresh take on how humans survive in the most devastating situations—a very sentimental lesson to give the readers.

Conclusion
To conclude, Station Eleven is a beautiful book that I would not hesitate to recommend. Though it had its own weaknesses and strengths, at the end of the day, it is a fresh story absolutely worth reading. 4/5.

“A fragment for my friend–
If your soul left this earth I would follow and find you
Silent, my starship suspended in night”