Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. Change is good though. I thought it would be similar to The Hunger Games, Divergent, Legend, The Maze Runner, etc. - but it wasn't. This was actually scarier to me, because I feel like it could happen to us one day. A fast-acting, airborne virus could indeed wipe out the earth - and it would take out our medical personal first, which would be difficult for the survivors! Fortunately, Jeevan had some training before the Georgia Flu. His limited skills came in handy in his new life.  His ability to adapt to new situations also saved his life. His impulsive shopping was a very smart thing to do!

I really liked how all the characters were connected, even when they didn't know it. I certainly didn't guess who the prophet was until it was spelled out for me! He took "everything happens for a reason" to the next level. Everyone was connected through Arthur. Arthur was a main character, and yet he was dead.  Everyone was also connected through "Station Eleven", but most people didn't even know who wrote it! 

It was interesting to start a story at the world's demise, and then develop the characters by having those characters think about their past lives, switching between the pre Georgia flu times and the post Georgia flu times to tell their stories. Then to have Jeevan, Kirsten, Miranda, Elizabeth and Clark tell Arthur's story. I wish we found out what happened to Elizabeth, but I guess there wasn't a character to tell her story after she left the airport, except Tyler, and he obviously wasn't into sharing about what happened to his mother. "Everything happens for a reason".

I have to hope that if something like the Georgia flu occurs, and I happen to be one of the few survivors, a traveling musical/acting group would indeed exist, but that it won't be performing Shakespeare plays!! Not a big fan of Shakespeare myself. I thought it was interesting that the traveling performers were the only ones really moving around, other than the prophet. I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting for someone to start "rebuilding" society. At the very end, there is hope of that when Clark shows Kirsten the community of lights, but generally, the main characters really don't do much about rebuilding. After 20 years you would think they would have been farming, building, planning, organizing, something MORE than just surviving. I thought that was odd.  The book ends on that note too. Survival is insufficient. Agreed. Then DO something!

I kept wondering if it was the author's intent to continue this story, but when I did some research, it doesn't say the author is planning a sequel or anything. I'm not used to books having such a non-ending. I liked the book though!

Wendy's Rating: ****