Kim Miller
Station Eleven is a fictional space station in a graphic novel being written by one of the characters over time in the story. A flu pandemic wipes out 99% of the world's population in a matter of weeks. The book is the story of some of the survivors. It has a lot of before/after time shifts in the narrative that took me quite a while to get used to.
At it's heart is the story of a Shakespearean actor who dies on stage the night the pandemic hits. The book goes back into his life and through his three marriages, being carried along by those who were around him at the time. After the pandemic and the survivors start to form communities, some of those people interact but without knowing their connection to the actor. There is a slow realisation of their connection through the book as little snippets of information and memories fall into place. One of those snippets is the graphic novel, Station Eleven.
The survival story is harrowing in places and heartwarming in others. The main group we follow is a traveling orchestra who puts on musical concerts and the plays of Shakespeare. As they travel they are welcomed by some, and attacked by others such as the doomsday cult that gathers around 'the prophet'. It is much later that we find the contact point between the actor who died on stage and the prophet.
Some of the survivors have formed a community in an airport and the orchestra finds its way there. In the final portions of the story some of the earlier narrative finds its way into the present and some loops are closed. The book ends on a sombre note but with a sense of completion that at least the stories of some of the people have found a home.
Station Eleven is a fictional space station in a graphic novel being written by one of the characters over time in the story. A flu pandemic wipes out 99% of the world's population in a matter of weeks. The book is the story of some of the survivors. It has a lot of before/after time shifts in the narrative that took me quite a while to get used to.
At it's heart is the story of a Shakespearean actor who dies on stage the night the pandemic hits. The book goes back into his life and through his three marriages, being carried along by those who were around him at the time. After the pandemic and the survivors start to form communities, some of those people interact but without knowing their connection to the actor. There is a slow realisation of their connection through the book as little snippets of information and memories fall into place. One of those snippets is the graphic novel, Station Eleven.
The survival story is harrowing in places and heartwarming in others. The main group we follow is a traveling orchestra who puts on musical concerts and the plays of Shakespeare. As they travel they are welcomed by some, and attacked by others such as the doomsday cult that gathers around 'the prophet'. It is much later that we find the contact point between the actor who died on stage and the prophet.
Some of the survivors have formed a community in an airport and the orchestra finds its way there. In the final portions of the story some of the earlier narrative finds its way into the present and some loops are closed. The book ends on a sombre note but with a sense of completion that at least the stories of some of the people have found a home.