5 STARS for Station Eleven!
I read Station Eleven for my neighborhood book club. It was recommended by a member of the club over a month ago and available from our library as a book club kit. At the time the decision was made to read it, the COVID-19 outbreak was just becoming a concern in the United States, as we were seeing what it was doing to China and I believe at this point, had only a few confirmed cases in the US.
Additionally, at the time the book was selected to be read, toilet paper was still widely available, as were paper towels, bread, and rice. Libraries were still open and had normal hours, as were grocery stores. All of our children were still going to school, able to go to the playground. Field trips were planned and paid for, and national parks were open for adventures and dreaming. Also when this book was selected, date night was something that included options to go see a movie, barhop, or have dinner away from home. Now, bars and restaurants are closed and only at this time offering take-out or delivery options. Movie theaters are empty. There are talks of curfews and "shelter in place," as well as limitations on visiting with friends and family. Currently, no one should be in groups of more than ten people and NO ONE can visit a nursing home or assisted living facility. No one.
Probably for reasons similar to why I gave Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments both 5 stars, Station Eleven follows right behind with a chilling and unreal account that 30 days ago, none of us could have really thought would be possible in the US.
When I finished the last page, I just sat. Numb. How could I review this book? How was this written with such clarity and almost prophetic significance? Where did Emily Mandel come up with this? Was it a dream that she woke up and feverishly felt she had to get down on paper? Was it a fear? Had she read something about the Spanish Flu and was inspired and driven to tell a story about how our present world could turn upside down if something similar were to attack the world?
I found one of the most beautiful things that Emily uses is her gift of drawing life and death so intricately with her words. She describes such destruction with bleak depth about things such as imploding structures and burnt out old buildings and then turns right around and will describe the flowers growing out of the cracks in the concrete. She does that time and again. My book is marked up from one end to the other and I found this element so beautiful throughout the book.
When the Georgia Flu strikes, airplanes are grounded, the internet is non-existent. Power is lost. Very few are able to remember the hum of the air-conditioner, the coldness of the refrigerator, what happens when you flip the light switch when walking into a room. Few remember TV shows, magazines, and warm or cold water coming out of the faucet. Because all of the workers making all of those technological advances function became sick, could no longer work.
I had literally 30 pages left and it took me a very long time to finish those 30 pages because I wasn't confident that the tides were going to turn, that the book would end nicely. That I would be relieved, hopeful, or feel humanity is not destined to walk down this same path due to some of the same circumstances outlined in this book. Some of which are very real and palpable right now. But, I did finish it. And, highly recommend it regardless of which side of the doomsday prepping scale you find yourself on.
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