Words, words word, they're pretty powerful: Station 11 Book review

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Civilization is over; everyone you’ve ever loved has died, and you are alone. Everything pure in the world has been sullied; You are a 7 year old girl witnessing death.  In the novel station eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Arthur Leander, a common day equivalent to Brad Pitt, has a heart attack on stage, and after that, everything ceases. In the story, Arthur Leander is the sun, and the other character’s stories are the planets which revolve around the sun. Mandel  eloquently ties her prominent characters and storylines into one perfect little bow. The desperation of the ended civilization is fluently expressed through Mandel’s use of language. Mandel similarly uses parallelism and other literary devices to tell the story. The novel’s title “Station 11” is based upon a series of comic books called station 11 in the novel. These comic books are used by Mandel to parallel the occurrences in the world, post-civilization.  The use of imagery in Mandel’s novel enables the reader to embed themselves within the story. The story is told through a scope of perspectives, one of which is seen through the eyes of an actress in the  traveling symphony, Kristen. Now, what is the traveling symphony? When all of society ended, the surviving people decided that the dark, electricity-less world needed light. They provided this light through art: shakespearean plays, and music.  The symphony travels across land by foot; they hunt for themselves, cook for themselves, and they survive off the land. Mandel is very descriptive in her scenes; she illustrates danger, distress, and hopelessness. Throughout the novel, the characters in the novel are in a constant brawl for their lives. The struggle for survival is consistent. Through Mandel's words, the frightful scenery the characters face are played like a movie in the mind of the reader. As the characters drudge through “great clouds of steam, [during] times when they were cold and afraid and their feet were wet” , the reader is able to imagine themselves as the helpless and cold symphony traveler(Mandel 119). She also paints an intimidating picture of the unknown. Through the use of the fear of the unknown, whether it be “blank walls of forest”, or  “wondering if an unhinged prophet or his men might be chasing them”, she instills fear within the readers in the most beautiful way(Mandel 119). The reader is able, through the descriptive illustrations she paints, to feel like they are in the book themselves. This allows the reading experience to enliven completely. Mandel similarly grapples the concept of “survival”: what does it really mean? Is survival really staying healthy, or does survival entail happiness and a fit mental state? Kristen has a tattoo engraved into her skin: survival is insufficient. The concept of art being a means of survival is a major player in this novel. There is a reason why these people risk their lives in the unknown to present their art to complete stranger. Mandel captures the true beauty of art with her words. She certainly uses too many words, which makes the novel quite dense, but in a grand sense, she communicates a beautiful concept to her audience.  A concept that is unforgettable and leaves the reader in awe. What would you preserve in an empty dark world? What would be your art?