Time to play catch up on the book
reviews!
And to start with, we'll go with Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I'm
not sure how I ended up hearing about this book but I thought it sounded
interesting and the cover art definitely drew my eye. The story jumps timelines
and follows an almost set course of characters from Arthur Leander, who died on
stage performing King Lear; Jeevan Chaudhary, who rushed on stage to save him;
and Kirsten Raymonde, a child actress who stood in the curtains and watched
Leander die during his performance. The story continues for the rest of that
night at first, following Jeevan as makes his way home after the performance
all while he is hearing reports about a flu that is spreading through the city.
Working with the information he has, Jeevan stocks up on food and water and
barricades himself and his brother inside an apartment to wait out the disease.
After those events, the plot jumps around, occasionally going back to Arthur,
exploring the ins and outs of his life before he died on stage and the various
people who were important to him. The story also zeroes in its focus on Kirsten
fifteen years later when she's working with the Traveling Symphony and they
return to a place called St. Deborah by the Water, where they find a man who
calls himself a prophet and realize it would be safer for them to get away
while they still can.
