Station Eleven

I loved it too. And cote's comment about how it's not particularly good as a piece of sci-fi is clearly not shared by everyone, since it won a very prestigious sci-fi award (the Arthur C. Clarke award) last year.

I liked it too, and the details of how the apocalypse happens didn't really matter much to me (and I say that as a microbiologist) but I don't usually read post-apocalypse literature. I enjoyed the writing and the characters and that glimmer of hope at the end.

I loved Station Eleven. I recently read anothe rof hers. Can't remember the title tjough.

However, I agree with Cote in that The Postman is excellent, as is The Passge. I really enjoyed the Wool series too.

The Road was ever so bleak but I think that's part of the appeal... I liked the style of prose as it suited the storyline.

Hah there must have been a bit more to The Stand than that!

I have In The Heart Of The Sea but haven't read it yet. I think I know the about it, though. I've been to Nantucket where I learned all about that grim story.

Have you read 'In the Heart of the Sea', Cote? I thought it was excellent.

Cote - that about sums it up, tbh! :)

Quog - So convenient. So incredible. So much a 'So what was the point of the entire novel' moment. I read another of his books and it put me off him entirely- No Country For Old Men. Dullsville.

I was just about to say that about the ending in my review, Remus. I liked it up to that point but the ending made me cross.

Maybe I should read The Stand again, actually. I loved it as a teen but can't remember a thing about it except that there were some people and they were going somewhere, and there was a showdown between good and evil.

I'd be interested to see what you think if you ever get around to reading The Road, Cote. I was distinctly underwhelmed by it. I thought it did virtually nothing that King hadn't already done in The Stand and found the ending an absolute cop-out.

I only recently read The Day Of The Triffids (& reviewed on 50-Book thread) and was pleasantly surprised - the nonsense that was aggressive plants was not essential to the story, which was more about the collapse of modern society when the vast majority of people go blind overnight. I thought it was pretty well done, despite the silly plants.

My new favourite in the post-apocalyptic genre might just be Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, once I can get myself to pay £9.99 for the Kindle edition. It's been out for almost a year. I think it will soon be the most expensive Kindle book I will have ever bought.

Well, based on your criteria there Cote, I would say The Road fits in quite well. The central characters are a father and son (never called anything other than the man and the boy), struggling across country trying to avoid the lawless gangs who are killing for what they can get, including the meat of the dead. It is harsh country, ash strewn, permanently winter and with little hope of survival.

I wouldn't say I'm enjoying it, but I do like it. As a genre, it interests me. Will look into some your other suggestions too. But I do think Station Eleven was a good (or bad) starting point to explore the genre and generate an interest in further exploration. I think I first read The Day of the Triffids whilst at school, along with The Lord of the Flies (still terrifies me).

I haven't read The Road but cannibalism as an alternative to starvation has happened without a global catastrophe, even when people were stranded on a boat or a mountain. As depressing and upsetting a thought as it is, cannibalism does happen when people starve.

(When I visited Nantucket, I was told the story of the man who survived that whaling tragedy. He remained a recluse in his home (tower?) apparently that was always stocked to the gills with food )

Anyway re SF, to each their own but personally I expect a minimum of realism - an overlap with what I know about the universe and human nature. What we see everywhere when power structures collapse is difficulty to meet basic needs like food and clean water, and a rapid return to lawlessness & savagery as people realise everything is there for the taking and there will be no consequences. The struggle to come up with a new power structure, to provide safety for loved ones. NOT sitting around all day bored and whinging about lost comforts of air conditioning like pampered children.

Off the top of my head, apocalyptic & post-apocalyptic books that were far superior to Station 11:

The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Day Of The Triffids
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Flood by Stephen Baxter
World War Z by Max Brooks
The Postman by David Brin

And the few I have read that were at about the level of Station 11:

On The Beach by Neville Shute
The Girl With All The Gifts by Mike Carey

I'm slogging through The Road by Cormac McCarthy at the moment. It's only a short book but, as an audio book, I'm finding the bleakness of it difficult to take in big chunks.

Whilst I did enjoy Station Eleven very much, I can see that there are far more serious approaches to post apocalyptic literature out there, this being one imo. Some scenes are stomach churning in their awfulness - cannibalism as the alternative to starvation, for instance.

Have you any other books sci-fi? It's not a particularly good one in that genre.

The plot was utterly ridiculous. A disease that kills in 1 day is the easiest 'contagion' in history to contain. Just tell everyone to stay home for 2 days.

And a post-apocalyptic world where basic needs are so easy to meet that people get to laze around and whine about how much they miss A/C all day long

Seriously, a very poor example of SF. I can suggest much better ones if anyone is interested.

Absobleedinglutely loathed it. It's definitely a Marmite book on here!

I've read this and really enjoyed it. Beautiful descriptions. A surprising find last year.