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2000s and the future – Georgia Flu has swept the globe and 20 years later the world is a very different dystopian landscape indeed
Station Eleven
What you need to know before your trail
The Georgia Flu has swept the globe. So deadly, those who catch it die within 24 hours. And soon everyone is dying and the future of civilisation
looks grim. The same day, an actor in Toronto dies on stage. What if any is the connection and what is the hope for the few who survive?
20 years after the pandemic and the world is dystopian landscape with no electricity or modern cons as people were so used to. Gone too are cars, medical help and well, life as they knew it. No way to communicate with those who are left behind. And not all those who have survived are friendly.
Before and after come to a dramatic conclusion as 20 years after the story of the Travelling Symphony merges with that of ‘before’ and the destination of Station Eleven becomes clear.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
From Toronto to Michigan and beyond (even Malaysia!) , this is a story of places you will know the names of but not recognize as this is a world dystopian in nature and spirit where everything is different and nothing has survived and stayed the same. St Deborah by the Water is fictional.
The world of Station 11 is scarily realistic. Short chapters take you to a point in time either before or after the disaster strikes. Time is measured in years since the event. Now, the world is a shadow of its firmer self as cars no longer drive, there is no electricity or communication and the world of social media is no more. A barren landscape in eery sense of the word. sounds such as that of a plane overhead, something you took for granted is now but a distant memory. The doomsday world has even made one celebrity paparazzi turn his hand to something more worthy!
The Travelling Symphony are a post -apocalyptic travelling company who work their way over the country and spend every living moment together. They are a microcosm of the world lost around them and simmering tensions are highlighted like a bug through a lens. These and other artists believe that ‘ Survival is insufficient’ for many create art for arts sake and enjoy what they do such as Miranda who writes comic books, never minding if they become popular. After the pandemic, comic books take on a whole new meaning. When they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they are faced with a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave….
Survival after the unthinkable has happened is not a dystopian story but a story of what you would do if you lost everything, every point of reference and what we all take for granted. What do you really need in order to survive?
Streetview Maps
3) Toronto - Elgin Theatre
The novel opens here
The novel opens here
4) Toronto - Jarvis Street
Miranda lives here
Miranda lives here
Booktrailer Review
Clare @thebooktrailer
I took ages to read this book for some reason but I had to know more about what Station 11 was and what the dickens the Museum of Civilisation really contained. This is a fine book but I’m not sure I understood everything but maybe that was the point. The book was left open ended so there is an understanding of what will happen which fits nicely with the pre and post -apocalyptic world created so carefully and evocatively by Emily St John Mandel that you can see, feel, touch everything written about and alluded to. It was chilling and fascinating to be in such a world that I realise could actually be true. The sense of those left behind, those part of the Travelling Sympthony and their struggle to survive, their realisation with what the world has lost is haunting.
On their way to the Museum of Civilsation, a place where the world that once was has been curated to remind everyone what used to be is as amazing as is the entitled Station 11 and when I found out what this was and what it meant I felt a chill down my spine. Just imagine if both existed!
Made me think as to what I would keep in a museum of civilisation and it would have to be something to do with books. I couldn’t survive without them.
What a fascinating and weirdly wonderful book! Stays with you this one does. A full and dramatic picture of humanity at its most raw and vulnerable.
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information:
Web: emilymandel.com
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