Station Eleven, a captivating and contemporarily relevant novel by Emily St. John Mandel, tells the story of an epidemic that, almost completely, wipes out the world’s population, and the beginning of a post-apocalyptic era experienced by one percent of the worlds previous population: the Georgia Flu survivors. The contemporary theme of one generation’s experiences being another generation’s history lesson separates Station Eleven from the majority of today’s poorly written apocalyptical stories.
Throughout the novel, Mandel follows a group of characters whose paths had crossed prior to the Georgia Flu outbreak, and in the twenty years after the outbreak. The characters all seem to be connected by one man, a famous actor named Arthur Leander who dies of a heart attack during a production of King Lear in Toronto. However, Arthur Leander might be considered the lucky one; for the people in his life and the people surrounding him, would become either victims or survivors of the devastating epidemic that arrived in Toronto that same night.
The novel consists of a series of shifts back and forth between the pre-flu world and year twenty after the epidemic. Delving into the lives of Leander’s wives, friends, and acquaintances before that fateful night and telling the story of a traveling band of artists who call themselves the Traveling Symphony. They are people trying to not only survive the new post-Georgia Flu era but bring back music and Shakespeare to other survivors. There is one survivor in particular, a member of the Traveling Symphony and a fellow cast member to Leander in his last production of King Lear, Kristen Raymonde, who the novel focuses on.
The idea that one generation’s experiences are another’s history lesson is a prominent theme in the novel. During an interview twenty years after the global collapse, between Diallo, a survivor who writes and publishes a newspaper about survivors and the new era, and Raymonde, Diallo makes a comment about the children of the new era being traumatized. Raymonde responds and concludes, “But my point is, doesn’t it seem to you that the people who have the hardest time in this--this current era, whatever you want to call it, the world after the Georgia Flu--doesn’t it seem like the people who struggle the most with it are the people who remember the old world clearly?... What I mean to say is, the more you remember, the more you’ve lost” (Mandel 195). Kristen Raymonde was eight years old when the Georgia Flu epidemic wiped out 99% of the world’s population; although she lived for eight years in the old world, she does not remember much, and she believes that it’s for the better. If she did remember, she would struggle more to adapt to the new way of life; so, the fact that she cannot remember much is actually beneficial to her survival and sanity. Children who were very young at the time of the epidemic and the children who were born after the epidemic, have no real memory of the old world; all they know is the new world. They are told the tales of the old world; they are told stories about computers, cell phones, and airplanes, stories of large cities full of thousands of people, but to them it’s a distant concept. It’s a history lesson. One generation’s experiences are another’s history lesson. This concept is true outside of the novel; the history that children learn about now, is the same history that their parents and grandparents lived. Although the world has not completely changed between the time of their grandparents and parents, and the present, things are certainly different. The world is always changing.
The relatability and contemporary relevance of this key theme makes the book much more than just an interesting read; it makes it a book worth reading. Mandel’s ability to simultaneously entertain readers and make them think is what makes this novel satisfying. Some may argue that the switching between time periods makes the book confusing or hard to follow, but in my opinion, that switching engages the reader and keeps them on their toes intellectually. The only aspect of the novel that was disappointing was the slow pace of the beginning. The novel picked up as the Georgia Flu struck and was a delightful read. Adding Station Eleven to your reading list this year is highly recommended as it is entertaining and thought provoking.
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