Station Eleven (Television Tie-in)

A Novel

De: Emily St. John Mandel

Narrado por: Kirsten Potter

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. Now an original series on HBO Max. Over one million copies sold!

Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.

Look for Emily St. John Mandel’s bestselling new novel, Sea of Tranquility!

©2014 Emily St. John Mandel (P)2014 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

National Book Award Finalist

Winner of the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award

One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Buzzfeed, and Entertainment Weekly, Time, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Minnesota Public Radio, The Huffington Post, BookPage, Time Out, Book Riot

“Deeply melancholy, but beautifully written, and wonderfully elegiac . . . A book that I will long remember, and return to.” — George R. R. Martin

“Station Eleven is so compelling, so fearlessly imagined, that I wouldn’t have put it down for anything.” — Ann Patchett

Thin plot

I kept waiting and waiting for some kind of plot, but what little there is left me unimpressed. It felt like 95% back story and character development, and quite a few characters are left at the end as loose ends. There was little to no drama, just a 'prophet' that any idiot could see through and would likely be killed quickly in this strange world. It also seems silly that even though it seems like there are plenty of survivors, it takes them 20 years to restore power in one small town.

A beautiful apocalypse

My biggest beef with this book was the fact that no one seemed to remember that solar panels are a thing. It seems like a little detail, but I found it to be super distracting. It’s just emblematic of a few issues I had with the world building, which was really well thought out in some ways and a little slap dash in others.

I also feel like the “religious cult leader villain who has to have all the wives” is a bit of a cliche.

Otherwise, I thought that this was a lovely book. The prose is elegant, the structure is fresh, and the characters (with the exception of the above villain) are all well realized.

"Survival is insufficient"

On a snowy night in Canada an actor collapses on stage while preforming King Lear. His death was caused by a heart attack but within months most of the world will also be dead but this time from a particularly pernicious variety of flu.

One person present that evening is Kirsten a child actress who joins a troupe of travelling actors and musicians The Travelling Symphony, travellingl the now decimated world preforming concerts and Shakespeare's plays because "survival is insufficient".

The lives of the Kirstin, the Symphony and those they meet on the road are interwoven both in the present and before the pandemic. A great story of what it really takes to survive.

Fun Listen!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This was a fun book and I was curious about the end given some of the other reviews but thought they were totally wrong. The ending was fine! A great story and very fun to listen to. THough if you are a nervous person about pandemics, I would not listen to this.

Which character – as performed by Kirsten Potter – was your favorite?

The character Kristin actually!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I really liked the parts with Miranda who was a strange and not big character but her story of being stranded in Asia was pretty

It was a solid 3.5 or 4 out of 5.

I was definitely expecting more to happen in this story and was left wanting once it finished. I enjoyed it but I didn't love it. It kept my attention but it didn't grasp it. I kept waiting for the Station 11 references to grow and build, to become a larger part of the story but it didn't. I kept waiting to hear more about life after the flu but the flashbacks to pre-pandemic seemed to dominate a much larger part of the story. Maybe the HBO series will be better... Here's hoping.

Not what I thought it would be

This book was in almost every list of great apocalypse books you MUST READ, well I 100% disagree. It was super boring barely had anything to do with the apocalypse besides the fact that it had happened other than that I would have it listed as a semi-syfy live story? maybe? idk , I was bored 🥱 & would put every single other apocalypse book I've ever read WAY ahead of it .

it was ok

I found it a struggle too finish but it did make me realize that their are many things I should be grateful for that I take for granted. I did reflect on that.

It never really came together for me

and the pacing was slow. they said I need to add 15 more words.

Why"

Is there anything you would change about this book?

An extremely well-written story about nothing. No growth in characters and the story just ends without resolution. It's primed for a sequel.

Today is 7/7/2020. Go Get this book Right Now!

From the beginning, I thought it would be another well-written post-apocalyptic novel. It was more like a bucket of cold water on your head on a hot day. Takes your breath away. The parallels between the worlds of the book and in the here and now were almost mystically prescient. Time shifts back and forth with ease and no matter when or where it is the transitions are seamless. There were a couple of times when I had to stop and recalibrate because I didn't know where I was. In the story or real life. A must-read or listen.