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| Station Eleven |
By Emily St. John Mandel
A famous actor has a heart attack on stage as he performs
King Lear; a paramedic-in-training jumps out of the audience to perform CPR;
and a 7-year-old actress watches her mentor pass away. Outside the theatre, snow is falling, and a
deadly flu is quickly spreading across the globe. Unbeknownst to those in the thrall of the
King Lear tragedy, the world as we know it is coming to an end.
So begins Station Eleven by Emily St. John
Mandel. Fast forward 20 years and that
young actress is now performing with the Travelling Symphony. Kirsten has little memory of the old world
before the Georgia Flu. With her parents
and brother gone, she now has a new family – all survivors.
Although there are many settlements, there are no longer
towns per se, or even borders. The
Symphony is made up of actors and musicians who move from place to place
performing nightly renditions of Shakespeare and Bach, amongst other things. In a world that has turned dark, the
Travelling Symphony brings light.
There are many hazards on the road, but none so frightening
as in St. Deborah-By-The-Sea. This
settlement is ruled by a Prophet; he takes many wives, often young girls, and
holds sway over the townsfolk. The
Symphony knows when they arrive that they are in danger, and escape is much
more difficult than they imagine.
Meanwhile, Station Eleven also follows the life
of our paramedic. Jeevan must make his
way out of Toronto on terrifying roads strewn with the dead. He must avoid marauding bandits and the
dangers of a lawless world, to find… what?
There must be good people out there, he reasons.
As for our actor, Arthur’s former life is revisited – a
life of fame, fortune and many regrets.
He leaves behind three ex-wives – one of whom has written the Station
Eleven comic book from which the novel gets its name. He also leaves one son, Tyler, to a new and
dangerous existence.
Mandel writes of a dystopian world that is well within
the realm of possibility. At times the
characters’ fear is palpable as they navigate the unknown. But amongst all the heartbreak, beauty
persists. There is a rumour of a Museum
of Civilization, located in an airport in Michigan. The Symphony brings its brand of beauty to
the world on a nightly basis. And as the
new world solidifies, people move beyond survival and towards lives they enjoy.
