A Chaotic Station: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mendel

Jack Bergantino

A Chaotic Station

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, is the combination of different plots, that together, form one story. The piece begins just before a Worldwide epidemic, the Georgia Flu, wipes out the majority of the human race. A once prominent, and now aging, actor named Arthur Leander performs in a production of King Lear and dies from a heart attack in the middle of the show. Over the course of the following weeks, most of the human race faces a similar fate to Arthur. Society has reverted back to an agrarian culture and only the crumbling structures of cities and towns are left as reminders of the civilizations that existed before. Throughout the novel, Mandel switches back and forth from pre- to post-epidemic, and, by doing this, she shows the stark contrast between past and present. Mandel immerses her readers into an engaging story through the style which she writes, yet her work lacks an underlying plot that brings meaning to the novel.

Mandel’s style of writing brings interest and suspense to the readers of her book. “There was no one on the street. He called Hua on his way back to the store. ‘What’s happening now?’” (Mandel 22). The heart quickens as the pace of the story becomes faster. Events become seemingly more urgent, not only because of word choice, but sentence structure. Tersely stated sentences are followed by a brief question. The main character--at this moment in the story--is moving at a fast-pace and Mandel expresses this through the short length of her sentences. Yet, in order to maintain interest and stop the novel from droaning on, a long line follows, “Another case of water--Jeevan was under the impression that one could never have too much--and then cans and cans of food, all the tuna and beans and soup on the shelf, pasta, anything that might look like it would last for a while” (Mandel 22). The sentence is wordy, more so than necessary, but this is intentional. Mandel repeats words to express how much Jeevan, the main character, purchases. She is able to use so many words because of the punctuation that she chooses to incorporate. The em dash, for instance, allows her to break in thought and add more content to the sentence. The readers have this feeling of being in a hurry, yet at the same time, there is much to be done which further increases the urgency of the scene. Through the style that she writes and the diction that she chooses, Emily St. John Mandel engrosses readers and fills them with all of the same emotions that Jeevan feels at this point in the story.

While Mandel has shown mastery in her skills as a writer, her story is, at times, overwhelming. The smaller plots that make up the whole story usually consist of several chapters and they simultaneously happen while others are in the midst of taking place. Even the most adept reader, may have trouble to keep from confusing events with one another. Her swapping between settings and characters is too common. Just when becoming engrossed in one section, the story changes again. Without an underlying plot, Station Eleven lacks something that unifies the story and allows its different parts to come together. If Mandel had incorporated a clear storyline, the novel would have been more cohesive and fluid.

Mandel has created an enthralling story through her use of diction, and style. In order to become a masterful author, though, it is important that she center her attention on the characters and themes that contribute to the overall message of the novel.