Station Eleven

This one was a little eerie to read, especially having lived through a pandemic. It’s wild to me also that St. John Mandel was able to envision this post-pandemic world just six years before we had our own. When Kirsten Raymonde was just eight years old, she performed in a production of King Lear. That night, Arthur Leander (a famous Hollywood actor) dies on stage from a heart attack. That same night, a global pandemic hits, wiping out 99% of the population and ending civilization as we know it. The book alternates between this new world (twenty years after the pandemic) and the old world and we get to know Leander, his wives, Kirsten and the traveling group of musicians she joins up with. When Raymonde and the Symphony arrive in a village called St. Deborah by the Water, they meet a dangerous prophet. The story alternates back and forth in time and while dark at times, it’s ultimately very hopeful. What I loved most about it was St. John Mandel’s masterful storytelling. The way she wove all of these (very varied) stories together was just incredible!