Book Log 2017 #19: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

This book kept coming up when I was in Overdrive looking for something to read, and for some reason I never really felt compelled to pick it up. But I'm glad I finally broke down, as I really enjoyed it.

The story jumps between the outbreak of a flu pandemic and 20 years later, when the vast majority of humanity has been wiped out. We follow a group of people through both times, with a connection (not always directly) through a graphic novel called Station Eleven. The post-pandemic timeline focuses on a conflict between a traveling theater troupe and a cult led by a man called the Prophet, over the fate of a couple of actors who stayed behind the previous year.

I really can't do the plot justice here, too hard to explain the shifting narratives and the way you see the relationships between the characters develop between them. It's just oblique enough that there's a real sense of satisfaction when you put some of the dots together.

I admit I'm also hoping that an actual Station Eleven graphic novel sees the light of day.

The book is typically listed as science fiction, but it's really not (at least in comparison to traditional sci-fi), so don't let that put you off if you're not a sci-fi person. I feel like this book is similar to David Mitchell's work, not quite so steeped in the fantastic but more along the lines of how connections are made between people over time. Anyway, if you've not read this you should.