So this is a different kind of post-apocalyptic book than I’m used to. I’m not sure I even knew it was post-apocalyptic until I really got into it. Usually that’s a book’s selling point to me, but I really don’t think I knew with this one! I read this book because it was the most reviewed book of CBR7 (or at least one of the top ones). I knew my fellow Pajibans wouldn’t let me down. I really did like it a lot.
Station Eleven is one of those books where you travel backwards and forwards in time, multiple times during the book. I usually love that, and this was no exception. You know it’s well written when you get so engrossed with a certain storyline in a certain timeline that you forgot how engrossed you were in a former storyline and timeline until you get back there again! I liked mostly all of the characters, and I liked figuring out who they used to be before the end, and how they all fit together.
I loved the side story of Dr. Eleven, and Station Eleven, where the book got its name. It wove pretty seamlessly through the narrative, and I was just as surprised as Kirsten was when we found out someone else had the Dr. Eleven books. I’m not sure how to say any more without being a bit spoilery, so just read this book, trust your internet friends and fellow Cannonballers, and enjoy it like I did!
I honestly had no idea this was post-apocalypse fic until I started reading it. I had heard it was winning all kinds of awards, but I didn’t know what it was about and was pleasantly surprised to see the world of scifi intersecting with that of the “literary.” If you’re interested, there’s a great discussion on Lithub between Mandel and Laura van den Berg on that intersection and the apparent popularity of apocalypse fiction.
(And if you liked Station Eleven try van den Berg’s debut Find Me. It’s a bit more surreal, but I loved it)