book review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The backstory: Station Eleven is on the 2014 National Book Award short list. Update: it was also longlisted for the 2015 Baileys Prize . The basics: "An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity." (via the publisher) My thoughts: I had high hopes for Station Eleven even before it was longlisted (and then short listed) for the National Book Award. Emily St. John Mandel is an author I've been meaning to read for years (and an author whose early books grace my shelves, unread), and this novel was set to be her break out hit. And it has been. But as a reader, I never connected to the work or its characters. The premise is interesting, and I typically enjoy narratives that bounce across time and whose c...