Station Eleven: My Take

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
“Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.” Goodreads, Goodreads, 9 Sept. 2014, www.goodreads.com/book/show/20170404-station-eleven.

The Reader Response Theory states that a reader plays an active role in creating meaning from a text. As a result, the meaning of a story can change depending on who the reader is, their past experiences and outlook on life. In this post, I will be examining Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and reflecting on my own interpretation the novel.

Before diving into the first chapter of the novel, I dipped my toe in the synopsis. Straight away, I was drawn in by the promise of a dystopian science-fiction novel and found myself reliving some of my pre-teen favourites: The Hunger Games, Gone and Divergent.

"This one's for you, twelve-year-old me!" I thought as I picked up the book.

The Elgin Theatre, Toronto, ON
Centner, Sebastien. “Elgin & Wintergarden Theatres.” Eatertainment, Geek Power Wed Design, 2014, www.eatertainment.com/venue/elgin-wintergarden-theatres/.

Despite its fictitious characters and imaginative plot, Station Eleven, unlike most dystopian novels, rang a sense of familiarity for me. Having grown up in Richmond Hill, downtown Toronto was never too far away. To this day, my mom and I enjoy weekend brunches in Cabbagetown and walks along the Harbourfront trail. Following Jeevan through the streets of Toronto, I could vividly picture the bright string lights framing the Elgin theatre and the red streetcars trekking along Queen's Quay.

Mandel's Canadian identity really came through in the first few chapters but as the story continues, she also divulges her interest in old English literature and pop culture through her writing. Upon reading the first chapter of Station Eleven, I knew straight away that Shakespeare’s famous plays would become an important theme in the narrative. Mandel opens the novel on a theatre performance of King Lear: “The king stood in a pool of blue light, unmoored. This was act 4 of King Lear, a winter night at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto” (3). Later on, in a chapter titled “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, The Travelling Symphony performs the famous play of the same title in the small town of St. Deborah by the Water.

William Shakespeare's King Lear
“10 Dramatic Facts About King Lear.” Mental Floss, 18 Jan. 2018, mentalfloss.com/article/514198/10-dramatic-facts-about-king-lear.

Unfortunately, I’m not very well acquainted with any of Shakespeare’s work, and characters like Titania, Gloucester, and Cordelia are all strangers to me. I was overwhelmed by all of the allusions Mandel included in Station Eleven. Although I know she intended to enrich the text by referencing classic Shakespearean pieces like King Lear and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I was unable to appreciate all of the meaningful connections she made in context with her own novel. Instead, it took away from my understanding of the plot and characters. I was frustrated by all of the details I was missing, and as a result, I felt unable to fully immerse myself in the text while reading.

I’ve read my fair share of post-apocalyptic narratives growing up, and by now, most dystopian plot lines have become rather predictable and unoriginal to me. Station Eleven stands out among other novels of the same genre because it jumps back and forth through time to recount the lives of three entirely different individuals. Arthur, Jeevan and Kirsten all have intriguing pasts and compelling journeys ahead of them, but I think it’s Mandel’s clever storytelling that really sells the plot.

Station Eleven can be described as a collection of anecdotes. Throughout the novel, Mandel skips through time haphazardly, revealing just a fragment of the plot at each chapter. At first, I wasn’t sure I’d warm up to the “unique” flow of action, but I’m happy to say that I’m officially a believer! I was on my toes the whole eighteen chapters, trying to keep up with three different protagonists. I quickly began to appreciate how Mandel managed to get even the smallest intricacies to come full circle in the universe she has created through her writing.   

Of course, there is the evening at the Elgin Theatre where Arthur passed away on stage, marking the beginning of the Georgian Flu outbreak and the undeniable connection between the three protagonists. Twenty years later after the event, Kirsten still hasn’t forgotten Arthur and Jeevan: “the clearest memory she retained from the collapse: a stage, a man in a suit talking to her while Arthur lay still on his back with paramedics leaning over him, voices and crying and people gathering…” (Mandel 41). She continues to work in search of clues to help uncover her past. Each artefact she discovers, gives me, as a reader a hint or glimpse at the flow of events since the devastating epidemic took place two decades prior.

"Dr Elven" comics from Station Eleven
“Station 11.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.ca/pin/473370610814578049/?lp=true.

Later on in the novel, Mandel reveals a number of other surprising connections between the protagonists including the Dr Eleven comic books and the storm cloud paperweight that Kirsten carries in her backpack. In chapter 15, Mandel also reveals that during his time as a Hollywood paparazzi, Jeevan had made a living by selling out Arthur’s privacy. One night he sits to chat with Miranda, Arthur’s wife: “ ‘You people live for that kind of gossip’... ‘I live on that kind of gossip, actually. As in it pays the rent. What I live for is something else.’” (Mandel 103). This encounter not only helps to understand why Jeevan wants to become a paramedic, but it also represents one of the many events linking the protagonists to one another.

Despite having three characters to cover, Mandel did an excellent job developing each character with their own histories, ambitions and values. I appreciate that Mandel left room for me, as the reader, to make predictions and inferences while reading because it made the whole book more enjoyable. However, I’ve only read the first third of the novel so far, and it has not yet been revealed how each of the connections, symbols and events will tie in with the plot and final message of the narrative - especially considering Kirsten is the only one who seems to have survived the outbreak. I look forward to continuing reading the novel, and I’m sure Mandel has more for me to discover as a continue to dig deeper into her book, Station Eleven.

Thanks for reading! And as always, happy learning!

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Watch Emily St. John Mandel talk about her book in an interview with Rich Fahle!

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Visit https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20170404-station-eleven for more information regarding Station Eleven!