Book Report: "Station Eleven"

by Emily St. John Mandel

I saw this book on a "recommended pandemic reading list" back in April, before we got sick of all things Covid. I put in a request at the library, but so did everybody else and I was, like, 49th in line. Five months later, my name finally came up. I read it in a day.

"Station Eleven" (written in 2014 and currently in development as a TV mini-series) describes the world before and during a swine flu which wipes out 99% of humanity. But what makes the book unique in the world of pandemic story-telling is that the author, Emily St. John Mandel, tells the tale through the eyes of a traveling troupe of Shakespearean actors and musicians. Given the brutal "Walking Dead" conditions of this new world, these creatives learn how to kill and defend in between rehearsals of Twelfth Night. At the very least, St. John Mandel gets points for creativity. At best, it is a fascinating exploration on the undying drive of people to sing, play, and perform in even the worst conditions.

The book won the Arthur C. Clarke award for science fiction in 2015, but it is not sci-fi. I also thought it could have been better. Some of the characters were underdeveloped (including the Big Bad), and the climactic battle was underwhelming--something they will no doubt fix in the TV version.

But nonetheless, I found the book prescient in a very specific way. During these days of quarantine and anxiety, what has has sustained us? Art has. Music has. Drama has. Whether it's piano players playing on their apartment balcony in Italy, quality entertainment on Netflix, or the release of Hamilton on Disney+ which captured our patriotic imagination, art has helped keep us sane. We are artists at heart, even with zombies moaning about. As Shakespeare himself wrote, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." Every creative has always known that sometimes the best way to cope with the drama of life is to create a little drama of your own.

Besides which, what does it matter if we survive the apocalypse but forget how to sing, dance, and draw?

-MRH (10/20/2020)