To the End of the World and Back: A Review of Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel

By: Abigail Delic

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Do you like dystopias like The Hunger Games? Apocalypses like The Walking Dead? What if I told you that there's a world where The Last of Us meets King Lear? Where three psychological twisters entwine creating the story of Station 11.

Courtesy of our lovely library technician, Mrs. Van Ryzewyck, and lovely librarians Mrs. Della Mea and Mrs Giancola, the newly restarted STM Book Club has been discussing this thrilling read. Station 11 is a realistic yet hopeful take on the apocalyptic genre.

Imagine if Covid had pushed humanity to its breaking point and collapsed our world? What would Earth - and more specifically the arts - look like? The novel follows Kirsten, a traveling actress who performs Shakespeare with her troupe called “The Symphony”. She finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy and has to act quickly before her friends disappear. We also follow Jeevan, in the days leading up to the Pandemic, a paparazzo turned EMT and Arthur, a Hollywood actor from the west coast and his tumultuous love life. Three completely different people whose stories cross in big ways.

My favourite (non spoiler) part of the book is just how much the arts are appreciated. When you imagine typically apocalypses like The Walking Dead or The Last of Us, art and amusement is the last thing on everyone's minds. Survival is number one but how can humanity survive without art? The first drawings date back to 73 000 years ago, back when humanity was still in its hunter gatherer stage. Those primitive cave drawings were our

ancestors ways of recording the world around them and expressing themselves

In Station 11, the troupe of actors go out of their way to travel through dangerous terrain - to perform Shakespeare of all things! The things that all STM students collectively groan at reading in their classes is the same thing that the troupe cares enough about to perform over and over. It doesn’t put food on the table or give them a place to stay, No - performing Shakespeare is about making people laugh, making people feel, when they have so little to enjoy. Because life is merely existence without enjoyment. That is why Station 11 has a solid 4 out of 5 rating in my books. 

But remember - reading is merely scanning pages without people to discuss those pages with. Don’t miss our next meeting on December 11! Pick up a copy of Station 11 at the Caledon Public Library, see one of our librarians, or come with your own copy, and hear what our fantastic group has to say. There will be snacks, hot chocolate and a playlist made by yours truly.

 Stop on by and let's make reading fun again!