Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

70 reviews

parfait52's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

It took me several months to get through this book, which is saying something because it's fairly short. Every time I picked it up, I was interested enough. Once I put it down, though, I didn't feel the need to pick it back up. This book doesn't really have a plot so much as it has a story. And once you figure out how the story is forming and the author is doing, it's very easy to know where it's going to go. At times, I found the writing to be beautiful and profound. I found the concept fascinating, but the execution was stifling at points. There were several parts of the book that I personally found very boring and wanted to get past immediately. Overall, not a bad read. There are just books I've enjoyed more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Stalking, Gun violence, and Blood

Minor: Pregnancy, Child death, Alcoholism, Drug use, Rape, and Sexual assault

clementine9's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual assault and Trafficking

bookboi56's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I really wanted to enjoy this book, having heard good things about it for a long while. But whilst the premise is very interesting, and the opening chapters are very intriguing given their close resemblance to the COVID-19 outbreak, I found the rest of the story a trudge to get through. 

Maybe 20% of the book unfolds with the present characters in mind. The rest constantly flips back and forth between any one of about 12 characters all vaguely related to each other at greater and greater tangents, whilst moving from present to past in short fitful chapters.

As someone who is not great with names, having only a quick description for each person is not sufficient to keep up with a dozen similarly traumatised apocalypse survivors. This may be an effect of listening to the book rather than reading it. But for the last 2 thirds I found myself just going along and trying to enjoy what I was hearing with no context as to who anyone was. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, Grief, Violence, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

reggiethebird's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I very much preferred this to Sea of Tranquility. Those first 30 or so pages are a tough read, and hit a little too close to home (the toilet paper line got me [ I'm very glad I read this after covid]), but the rest is nicer. Jumps around the timeline a ton, but once you know to expect it it works beautifully.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Gaslighting, Violence, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Rape

danimcthomas's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Absolute perfection. I still haven’t stopped thinking about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

hollyenglish's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I found it took me a little longer to feel invested compared to other books I've read by this author (where, to be fair, I've been instantly hooked). But I read the second half of the book in a day, I couldn't put it down. The anxiety I felt in the descriptions of the flu outbreak and some of the more tense post-pandemic scenes is a testament to how well-written this book is. Emily St John Mandel is such a skilful writer, both in the eloquence of her prose and the way she weaves different characters and timelines with such clarity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

r_zoner's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Pandemic/Epidemic

kdomps's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I didn't want to read another book about the pandemic but what makes this book truly impressive is that Mandel published it far sooner than the covid pandemic of 2020.

It was a bit triggering for me but I was able to get through it because of the human-ness of the characters. I found it to be very suspenseful and finished it quickly despite its length and my reluctance to revisit pandemic life. Very good job, would recommend to lovers of apocalyptic stories and sci-fi. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, and Rape

bcrowes11's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Terminal illness, and Gun violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Murder, Gun violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mishellsch's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I see how this novel and the miniseries about a deadly flu and the resulting dystopia flew under the radar while we were experiencing our own pandemic.

 Now to finish the last few episodes of the miniseries. The miniseries adjusted some of the characters' storylines to help format the plot for the screen. So far, I don't mind the changes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Suicide

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape