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Station Eleven

29 replies

HarryHarryHarry · 19/01/2021 19:53

I have just finished reading this and while I enjoyed it, I don’t quite understand the fuss about it. I didn’t find anything “beautiful” or “haunting” in it, and I didn’t particularly care about any of the characters, whose stories mostly go nowhere. The whole thing seemed quite waffly and inconsequential. Tell me why I’m wrong!

OP posts:
JaninaDuszejko · 19/01/2021 21:03

I have not read it but it's one of the great divides on the 50 booker theads so you're in good company.

VodselForDinner · 19/01/2021 21:05

I loved it. I loved all the different themed stories that came together loosely.

RavenclawesomeCrone · 19/01/2021 21:17

I've just started it. Might be too early for me to make a judgement, so I'm placemarking for now

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 19/01/2021 21:17

Ha ha. Come and ask the 50 bookers about it! For what it's worth, I thought it was terrible, and didn't finish it.

mum2jakie · 19/01/2021 22:18

I failed to see the attraction. I normally love a dystopian read but found myself skimming great chunks of this one as it was so dull...

Kote · 19/01/2021 22:53

I didn't get it either..

lljkk · 19/01/2021 22:57

I found St11 okay. The Prophet was tedious boring character for me. Earth Abides is somewhat similar but much better.

FenEel · 19/01/2021 23:02

I loved the message that the human sporit survives, that music and literature, both highbrow (travelling orchestra) and lowbrow (graphic novel) are vital. Most dystopias are brutal barbaric struggles for survival. I found this hopeful. Also I did think it was beautifully written. Also I have recurring dreams where I am in a library or book shop and find a beloved book has sequels I never knew about so I love the plot about the mysterious comic series. And I am a sucker for an end-of-the-world story anyway.

FenEel · 19/01/2021 23:03

Sporit? Spirit!

qwerty222 · 19/01/2021 23:06

I really liked it but it was weak in parts definitely. I mainly read it because I seek out dystopian fiction. I love it. I thought the part where a whole airplane of people somehow managed to escape the virus, all of them having managed to get on the plane without coming into contact with the virus. Even though the plane leaves from NYC which was crawling with this flu. Pretty silly really.

Pukkatea · 22/01/2021 11:17

I liked it, but I didn't see it as anything special. A good dystopia read, nothing more.

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 22/01/2021 11:30

I also found it an unusually hopeful read from that genre (I had not long read the Death of Grass so to be fair was in need of a lift).

I like the ideas of humans, no matter how shit things get, will still find comfort in art and culture.

Also, my book has an illustration of a stag on the front cover. For an odd reason I really liked that image too.

PhilODox · 22/01/2021 22:28

I read it over Christmas (festive and all that Wink) and while I thought it was quite good, I didn't think it was the best thing since sliced bread. I had read The Road for the first time the day before though. It just didn't seem quite as profound as I had been expecting from reviews.

Timeforabiscuit · 22/01/2021 22:37

Loved it! All the threads of people's connections through art, through tenuous relationships, beauty as a pursuit, the museum at the airport, the baking bread at the end.

It was just so darn comforting as ends of the world go!

Springfern · 22/01/2021 22:41

I agree OP, skimmed most of it towards the end. Have you read any Octavia Butler? Must better for sci fi/dystopia

RavenclawesomeCrone · 23/01/2021 19:36

I'm about half way through and though I think I'll probably finish it I am skimming quite big bits. Don't think it will make my favourites list

Youngatheart00 · 01/02/2021 23:31

I read it a couple of years ago. I love a dystopian fiction and I did enjoy the book I suppose, but I wasn’t gripped and it took me a fair while to read it. Thinking back, I recall I found it quite repetitive.

I wouldn’t put it as a literary great but it was a reasonable read.

Kobanidaughters · 02/02/2021 14:16

I really enjoyed it for all the reasons @Timeforabiscuit listed

@Springfern I read Kindred last year and just finished Parable of the Sower which is one of the best books I’ve ever read - which of her others would you recommend?

PursuingProxemicExactitude · 02/02/2021 14:29

I started reading Station Eleven on March 18th last year (and started a thread here about it!). Found it unusual and absorbing.

I've read one Octavia Butler (can't recall which). Wonderful writer, powerful storytelling - but I did find it quite depressing.

SushiSoozie · 02/02/2021 14:31

I don't understand how anyone could not care about the characters...I mean, seriously? Truly don't understand that at all.

Judystilldreamsofhorses · 09/02/2021 23:32

I have this on Kindle but abandoned it because I couldn’t get into it. I was thinking the other week I might try it again. Maybe not!

Stonehopper · 09/02/2021 23:51

The pre-virus stuff was pretty banal, and the post-apocalypse stuff was far more interested in the situation than in its characters. The one paragraph which was memorably brilliant and effective was the one about all the last times someone did something, like load a webpage, get on a flight, made a phone call...

Original poster
HarryHarryHarry · 20/03/2021 05:38

@SushiSoozie Have only just seen the most recent replies, sorry! Which characters did you particularly like and why?

OP posts:
garlictwist · 20/03/2021 05:40

I read it years ago and thought it was ok. I re read it last year and the travelling theatre people really annoyed me and I gave up.

Postprandial · 20/03/2021 05:45

@SushiSoozie

I don't understand how anyone could not care about the characters...I mean, seriously? Truly don't understand that at all.
I thought they were pretty generic. The author was more interested in worldbuilding than characters.
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