I am a HUGE fan of post-apocalyptic novels such as The Stand and The Passage - and what do those novels have in common? They are BEASTS. So I was a little sceptical when I first picked up Station Eleven, because how can you encompass the scope and sheer devastation of a post-apocalyptic world in a mere 320 pages? Well never fear, Emily St John Mandel does it with aplomb - that’s a phrase I’ve never used before in my life but it feels fitting here!
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The format of Station Eleven was extremely satisfactory to my curiosity with all things apocalyptic: there’s a good mix of perspectives, shorter chapters interspersed with longer, more developed parts, and a good smattering of journalistic type extracts for good measure! This way you can really get a feel for the full effect of the disaster that led to the near-end of humanity.
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The characters were well fleshed out given the relative shortness of the book, and I loved the way they all interconnected! I loved Kirstin and Clark the most, and the Prophet was a most intriguing and despicable character with a fab storyline! Oh and I loved Miranda too - really, Mandel has a gift for characterisation!
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The writing itself was stunning, too, and it takes the post-apocalypse genre to a new dimension, exploring the ways humanity copes with disaster. It really puts into perspective how much importance we place on modern-day technologies etc and how quickly they’d become unimportant in such a scenario as this one.
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A very powerful and beautiful read!