STATION ELEVEN, A Novel
by Emily St. John Mandel
To be perfectly honest, the idea of reading a dystopian novel didn’t really appeal to me. But Station Eleven was a National Book Award Finalist and it came highly recommended to me by a friend whose taste in reading often matches mine. And it is set in Canada, my book review co-editor’s current country of residence. So, I decided to go for it. It definitely exceeded my expectations.
The story is set in modern times and starts with our protagonist, Kirsten, a child actor in a performance of King Lear that goes drastically wrong when the famous actor playing the King suffers a heart attack and dies mid-sentence during a performance. The other main character of the book, Jeevan Chaudhary, who is training to be a paramedic, jumps onto the stage and tries unsuccessfully to revive the actor. As Jeevan leaves the theater, he gets a cell phone call from a doctor friend informing him that a virulent flu has sent hundreds of patients to his emergency room and many of them have died within 24 hours.
And so the stage is set for a pandemic that kills the vast majority of the world's population. The story jumps ahead 20 years, where a troupe of actors and musicians travel by foot around Canada and parts of the United States, determined to keep the arts alive. The author cleverly moves back and forth in time, between the time of the pandemic and the time of the traveling artists, all the while weaving what turns out to be a fascinating web of connections between all of the characters.
Although this isn’t always the most uplifting book, ultimately the author leaves the reader with a sense of hope. More important, Station Eleven stays with you long after you’ve finished reading. (Liz)
