Station Eleven Clark Devoto

If Emily St John Mandel was a character in her new book Station Eleven she would definitely be Kirsten, a seemingly innocent girl that tries to create order in the post apocalyptic world she lives in, and ultimately flounders. She may seem different or special, but all the options in her current situation have already been overused. The only way either of them could hope to make a difference is if they are masters, which they are not.

The book does feel unique, it follows a few main characters throughout their lives, both before and after a massive flu outbreak that kills most of the world, and jumps between them very quickly. Arthur Leander is a wealthy actor, who is performing in a play when he has a heart attack, shortly before the outbreak. Kirsten is a young actor in his play, who starts a small obsession with Arthur, and works in a travelling theater company. Jeevan is a man who trained to be a paramedic, and tries to save Arthur, and bunkers down in his brother's apartment to wait out the flu. Clark is Arthur’s friend from college, who lives a modest life a an office job. The only item these people have in common is Arthur, and they each spend most of their post apocalyptic lives searching for more information about the world they once lived in. The theater company goes from town to town performing, but soon gets attacked and separated by a mysterious “prophet”, while Clark survives in an airport with the passengers stranded there, creating a display of everything he can save from the last world, and Jeevan creates a small community in an old motel. She also looks at Arthur's younger years, and life in Hollywood with each of his wives, and gives a brief history of everyone else.

The drawback of what could be a very gripping storyline is that Mandel never gives enough time to each character, and switches to another one just as she gives you a small understanding of another. She is excellent at changing her voice, without which it would be impossible to navigate the book. One plus is that her excellent voice changes give the feeling that a few novels are occurring at once, almost like brief newspaper clippings about each character. She adopts both informal and formal tones, such as in the beginning where she includes a few paragraphs from Jeevan’s brothers piece about a philanthropist. This is during a time when they are bunkered down in his apartment, a few days after a massive flu outbreak. The way that it is presented, and the formal writing that she uses provides a sharp contrast from the discussion between two brothers that has been going on. A new style is almost a relief, and when it comes as a surprise, you take it more deeply, “I’ve been thinking lately about immortality. What it means to be remembered, what I want to be remembered for, certain questions concerning memory and fame. (Mandell 186).” Combining with this is the absence of the speaker's personal life, making it easier to accept them as facts, rather than just another hopeful wish.

Even after all the impeccable diction, vivid descriptions, and twisting plot, she still fails to connect every storyline completely, perhaps because she jumps between them continuously. This may be intended, it forces you to piece the story together yourself, but the ending leaves you wondering, “That’s it?” It is hard to read Station Eleven casually, and sometimes a whole chapter has to be read over because it was perceived the wrong way. Overall, Emily St John Mandel has created something unique in the sense of structure and her timeline, but she fails to deliver a solid conclusion, and comes off as another writer who uses an already overused premise for her book.