Station Eleven: A Novel (National Book Award Finalist)

I get why she introduced some of the characters, but at the same time I would have rather 150 wasted pages with in my opinion we could have done without, have been about the characters the book started to get into, and their full journey from beginning to end, and maybe a chapter or two of the peoples life who died days maybe weeks into the pandemic. I felt some dialogue was repeated a little too much. I feel cheated on the middle of the book to the point that I'm like did I really finish the book, or is there some hidden chapters I missed and so desperately wish I read.

There's not really a central conflict or narrative arc to tie the book together, but the characters are well developed, the context vividly described, and the language richly evocative. Not a story in the traditional sense, but a satisfyingly melancholy while also hopeful meditation on the end of civilization. Pays homage to some of the greats of the post apocalyptic sub-genre (such as The Stand and The Passage), but is something entirely different.

This entry in a well-populated genre hits all the standard plot points. It manages to be absorbing and genuinely moving despite the formulaic collapse-of-civilization set-pieces, thanks to the author's skill in managing character, structure and tone. For anyone who believes that there is redemptive value in art, a good read which will leave you thinking.