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Station Eleven (Television Tie-in)
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. Now an original series on HBO Max. Over one million copies sold!
Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.
Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.
Look for Emily St. John Mandel’s bestselling new novel, Sea of Tranquility!
Critic reviews
National Book Award Finalist
Winner of the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award
One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Buzzfeed, and Entertainment Weekly, Time, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Minnesota Public Radio, The Huffington Post, BookPage, Time Out, Book Riot
“Deeply melancholy, but beautifully written, and wonderfully elegiac . . . A book that I will long remember, and return to.” — George R. R. Martin
“Station Eleven is so compelling, so fearlessly imagined, that I wouldn’t have put it down for anything.” — Ann Patchett
Featured Article: A Bittersweet Symphony: A Station Eleven Explainer
Station Eleven is one of the most successful and popular novels of the 21st century so far. Set in a future North America where a deadly flu wipes out 99% of the population, this post-apocalyptic saga focuses on several survivors as they struggle to find meaning and beauty again. Station Eleven is certainly a different listening experience today, in a pandemic-stricken world, than it was when it was first released, less than a decade ago.
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Scott Warden is a man haunted by the past-and soon to be haunted by the future. In early 21st-century Thailand, Scott is an expatriate slacker. Then, one day, he inadvertently witnesses an impossible event: the violent appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its base, freezing ice out of the air and emitting a burst of ionizing radiation. It appears to be composed of an exotic form of matter.
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A haunting, beautiful work...
- By M. Stephenson on 11-20-09
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The Seduction of Water
- By: Carol Goodman
- Narrated by: Christine Marshall
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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For Iris, he sudden impulse to write a piece about her mother leads to a shot at literary success. The piece recounts an eerie Irish fairy tale her mother used to tell her at bedtime - and nestled inside is the sad story of her mother's death, a strange, untimely end in a fire 30 years ago. When Iris returns to the remote Hotel Equinox in the Catskills, the place where she grew up, to write her mother's biography and search for her mother's missing manuscript, she unravels a haunting mystery that threatens to envelope her.
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Disapointing
- By Susan Delaney on 02-19-09
By: Carol Goodman
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Nightwatcher
- By: Wendy Corsi Staub
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Nightwatcher, the first in a riveting new series, takes place in the days immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A serial killer is loose in New York City, and Allison Taylor may be the only one who can identify him. She doesn’t know the killer has now set his sights on her—and unless she acts fast, she’ll be his next victim.
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Nightwatcher!!!
- By barbara on 06-07-13
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Insomniac City
- New York, Oliver, and Me
- By: Bill Hayes
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
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Bill Hayes came to New York City in 2009 with a one-way ticket and only the vaguest idea of how he would get by. But, at 48 years old, having spent decades in San Francisco, he craved change. Grieving over the death of his partner, he quickly discovered the profound consolations of the city's incessant rhythms, the sight of the Empire State Building against the night sky, and New Yorkers themselves, kindred souls that Hayes, a lifelong insomniac, encountered on late-night strolls with his camera.
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Touching and Intimate Portrait
- By Amazon Customer on 01-18-19
By: Bill Hayes
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Beautiful Animals
- A Novel
- By: Lawrence Osborne
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
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On a hike during a white-hot summer break on the Greek island of Hydra, Naomi and Samantha make a startling discovery: a man named Faoud, sleeping heavily, exposed to the elements, but still alive. As the two women learn more about the man, a migrant from Syria and a casualty of the crisis raging across the Aegean Sea, their own burgeoning friendship intensifies. But when their seemingly simple plan to help Faoud unravels, all must face the horrific consequences they have set in motion.
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please offer more of this author's books
- By S. Liskey on 07-20-17
By: Lawrence Osborne
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Whirligig
- By: Paul Fleischman
- Narrated by: Robert Field, Lily Christian, Alex Hauk, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
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Newbery Medal winner Paul Fleischman writes a profoundly moving story of connectedness and the journey of a young soul to self-discovery. Told through the voices of five characters and narrated by age-appropriate actors, Whirligig compels the listener with its lesson on how our actions can impact the lives of others - even years later. A stunningly authentic listening experience.
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Fabulous
- By Tim on 03-21-17
By: Paul Fleischman
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The Lemon Orchard
- A Novel
- By: Luanne Rice
- Narrated by: Blair Brown
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In the five years since Julia last visited her aunt and uncle’s home in Malibu, her life has been turned upside down by her daughter’s death. She expects to find nothing more than peace and solitude as she house-sits with only her dog, Bonnie, for company. But she finds herself drawn to the handsome man who oversees the lemon orchard. Roberto expertly tends the trees, using the money to support his extended Mexican family. What connection could these two people share? The answer comes as Roberto reveals the heartbreaking story of his own loss – a pain Julia knows all too well, but for one striking difference: Roberto’s daughter was lost but never found. And despite the odds he cannot bear to give up hope.
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A story to tug at your heart
- By Donna A on 01-31-15
By: Luanne Rice
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White Noise
- By: Don DeLillo
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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When an industrial accident unleashes an "airborne toxic event", a lethal black chemical cloud floats over the Gladneys' lives. The menacing cloud is a more urgent and visible version of the "white noise" engulfing the Gladneys - radio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, ultrasonic appliances, and TV murmurings - pulsing with life yet suggesting something ominous.
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Designed to be analyzed by an English class
- By RI in Canada on 10-15-16
By: Don DeLillo
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Koko
- Blue Rose Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 22 hrs and 56 mins
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KOKO. Only four men knew what it meant. Now they must stop it. They are Vietnam vets — a doctor, a lawyer, a working stiff, and a writer. Very different from each other, they are nonetheless linked by a shared history and a single shattering secret. Now, they have been reunited and are about to embark on a quest that will take them from Washington, D.C., to the graveyards and fleshpots of the Far East to the human jungle of New York.
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7 hours in and I am done
- By bionichands on 01-26-12
By: Peter Straub
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The UnAmericans
- Stories
- By: Molly Antopol
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Again and again, Molly Antopol’s deeply sympathetic characters struggle for footing in an uncertain world, hounded by forces beyond their control. Their voices are intimate and powerful and they resonate with searing beauty. Antopol is a superb young talent, and The UnAmericans will long be remembered for its wit, humanity, and heart.
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Sensational stories! Brilliant new author.
- By MidwestGeek on 05-04-14
By: Molly Antopol
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Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the government responds with a nuclear attack. America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen - from the President of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City - will fight for survival. In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity.
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What listeners say about Station Eleven (Television Tie-in)
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Stacy
- 10-08-14
gah!
I was really into this story-beautifully written, interesting characters- then it just ended.
What the beep?
So I'm left to ponder what happened to all these people, and what was the real point of the book. I get it, I guess, but I seriously had no idea that the book was about to end when the "audible hopes you've enjoyed this program" came on. I wanted more! wahh!
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- Mel
- 09-24-14
Melancholy, Reflection, and Venison
I can't say what kind of apocalyptic society member I would be. A religious, rapture-ish event... I'd have to brush up on my survival skills, but a nuclear event or count down to Armageddon, and I would place my chair at Ground Zero, because I wouldn't want to be without the people I love, nor would I choose to live in a world where there was not some form of beauty, or sense of community. Alone, fighting just to survive, I would wind up as mad as King Lear. Station Eleven opens with a scene from the Shakespeare play and expands on the themes of survival and meaning.
Opening night, the lead actor suffers a heart attack and passes away. The news that night pronounces the actor's passing, and barely mentions a mysterious illness that has people flooding hospital ERs. Within 3 weeks, 99% of the world will die from a flu pandemic. Forward: Twenty years later, a troupe of actors and musicians called The Travelling Symphony moves from one outcropping of survivors to another performing plays and music. Their mission statement sounds enlightened and magnanimous, an ode to the arts... “Because survival is insufficient,” it is a quote one member recalls from a Star Trek episode he watched as a child. The troupe includes a woman that was a young child in the King Lear production the night the actor had his heart attack on stage.
At times, author St. John Mandel is eloquent with understated visions of a broken world. Her museum of artifacts is a centerpiece that connects people and stories, including the actor Leander. His personal life, his celebrity, is captured there in articles from the celebrity magazines left intact. She doesn't go into the breakdown of society or the aftermath of the pandemic, but focuses on the emptiness and melancholy borne of lost loved ones, simple pleasures only remembered, and the connections that remain stretched across a barren world, traversed by The Travelling Symphony. Here, the author is a mighty gentle giant.
Beyond the difficulties of surviving day to day, there is a menacing group of brutal men ruled by The Prophet, but sadly,he makes only a brief appearance and whimpers away. Just when I was hoping for a little trouble-maker to take my mind off the moping and memories, and roasting venison over burning tires, again. Once you get the general premise, you better be ready to dwell on it. Mandel writes beautifully and has created a world that is eerie and surreal, but I started to feel swallowed by the melancholy. For all the hype, all the great reviews, all the promises that I would be haunted by this powerful story, I wasn't feeling it. From my frame of reference, it's been done before. Mandel thinks outside the apocalyptic genre box, but doesn't enlarge the real estate.
The book stays high centered in that world of reflection, the menagerie of meandering melancholics mourning the past, hoping for a better future, chewing deer meat, occasionally appreciating the arts, coming up with some profound thoughts--wallowing in sentimentality. I recommend the book, in spite of my sarcastic, irreverent nature; but not to hard-core apocalyptic/dystopia fans, or anyone that believes the saying "you can't move forward with one foot in the past." (I think Mr.Spock said that in an episode.) It is a lovely novel, written beautifully-- my head tells me so.
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- Roger
- 01-28-15
Airport Paperback
Maybe this is not a completely terrible book. I was really up for something that had both a symphony orchestra and Star Trek references-- and who doesn't like a good post-apocalypse? But my God, what's with the critical raves and nominations for fancy book prizes? Are these people nuts? There is glaring hokiness on every single page: the pedestrian, almost clunky writing; the empty characters; the bad-movie dialogue; the predictable villain; the barrage of cliches. The lameness just washes over you.
The whole thing is not helped much by the reader, whose delivery only amplifies the built-in corniness, and who surely cannot do a British accent. Also, the audio quality doesn't seem great (though maybe I'm just ranting now).
It's possible for a book to have all these flaws, and still be decent entertainment. I finished it, after all. Just manage your expectations. Think of it as a serviceable beach book. If you are looking for something "luminous" or "spellbinding" or whatever hype they are dishing, you're going to be sorely disappointed.
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- Jack Foster
- 10-14-14
DON'T FALL FOR THE HYPE: THIS BOOK IS TERRIBLE!!
I am really struggling to understand what people like about this book. This book is terrible.
The characters are so poorly drawn. Arthur, a vapid movie star drifts from woman to woman without conscience. His existence as a movie star is dimly imagined as if through the lens of a person who only reads UsWeekly. His craft is only discussed inso far as to ruminate (uninterestingly) on celebrity (actors sacrifice privacy, paparazzi are opportunist scum, the money and glamour are ultimately unfulfilling: nothing illuminating here)
Miranda lives with some dude for a few years, wakes up one day decides to move in with a movie star she bed the night before time passes & with no real understanding of what went wrong between them (or why they even liked each other) she becomes, apropos of no sort of instruction or schooling, based solely on a temp job she took several years earlier, a shipping magnate (but only after discovering the right pair of shoes!) In her spare time she writes and draws a graphic novel she never intends to publish, and most frustratingly, the author and nearly every character & even Miranda herself continually blur the distinction between a comic *book* and comic *strip*. Then there's several members of a post-apocalyptic orchestra who are boilerplate and interchangeable (was there a difference between Deiter & August). Oh! And there's a guy who is a paparazzo but only for a while before becoming an EMT cos THAT happens. This book is so shitty it's actually making me mad.
Then there's the apocalypse. If you are looking for a new or evolved spin on the end of the world plague story look elsewhere, survivors in this book do the same things you've already seen in a bunch of other (better) books: walk a lot, miss electricity and especially mobile devices, learn to hunt and fish and basically do everything you've probably already thought of yourself if you were ever high and wondered what would happen if the world ended in a great big plague. Scratch that, you probably came up with more interesting things when you were high, like, I'd live in the White House or inside the Statue of Liberty.
The book lacks intelligence, none of the characters are especially engaging, the quality of the writing is strong in spots but not sufficient enough to excuse the very flimsy plotting & character work. This is easily one of the most disappointing books I've read in a long time. About halfway through I considered quitting it, after finishing it I wish I had, it never improved. Meaningless characters drift and then it ends.
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- ibillinsly@gmail
- 03-21-18
Symphonies, Caravans, Comics, and a Plague
Station Eleven is not the typical post-apocalyptic tale. Based on the quality of writing , it is considered "literary." While I didn't find the narrative overly compelling, Emily St. John Mandel does have a knack for descriptive scenes and character development. The author's tale of post-apocalyptic society revolves around a traveling symphony, a migratory convoy performing Shakespeare plays in the remaining small villages of America. The narrator of this audiobook, Kirsten Potter, does a excellent job and keeps the reader/listener engaged through what I consider to be a slow-moving first couple of hours. While most novels of the post-apocalyptic genre focus on the evils the deterioration of modern society must surely bring, Station Eleven focuses more on the hope that not all is lost. While the horrors of civilization's demise certainly occur within in the novel, these horrors are more of a backdrop rather than the focal point of the narrative. Station Eleven is an artistic version of an apocalyptic setting, an above average read for those looking for a change of pace. Overall rating: 4.11 stars
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- CScott
- 12-20-16
An Alternative Dystopian Viewpoint
A masterfully executed dystopian novel from a feminine perspective. Although I am a fan of this genre of literature, I have yet to read (or listen via Audible) to one so rich in the description of human relationships in a post apocalyptic world. Maybe Margaret Atwood comes close. No zombies or AI units wanting to dominate the planet here, just folks trying to figure out what it means to be human in a brand new world. The primary adage of Mandel's work "survival is insufficient" says it all.
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- Beth
- 02-28-20
Thought I'd never get through it
The only reason I finished this book was that it was a selection for my book club.
Too many disjointed scenes... too many characters with no apparent connection to one another.
I have so many questions..
Why did it matter that Arthur died on stage and Kirsten was there when the virus began? Why did they keep going back to that?
Why did some people have names, and others were "the guitar, the flute"?
I get the "survival is not enough" theme.. but really.. a traveling band of folks performing Shakespeare (but calling themselves "The Symphony")?
Who and why was the prophet?
What did the Station Eleven stuff have to do with anything? (Why is that the name of the book)?
Most of all..
WHAT WAS THE POINT???
I hope there is a LOT OF WINE at my book club meeting this Sunday....
Yeah.. sorry..
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- Lorrie
- 09-27-14
Why do end-of-the-world survivors stay in tents?
There are millions and millions of empty houses, with roofs and walls, perhaps wood-burning fireplaces if you're lucky, beds to sleep in and probably sheets and blankets and towels and, and, and. Just remove all the dead bodies and Bob's your Uncle. But it never fails, books and the movies always show the few survivors squatting in miserable tents or thrown up shelters. Or in this case, gas stations and Walmarts.
And why do they always move about? Why don't they stay in one spot, plant a garden, take over a dairy cow or domesticated chickens whose owner has died? Why the wanderlust?
That's what I'd do. But I guess I would be a poor protagonist so no books would ever be written about me.
This book did keep me listening to the end, but there were a lot of false leads and half-developed characters. I wish there had been fewer foci, and that the characters had more depth. I'm just getting interested in Jeavon when we move on to Kiki, and then Arthur gets a turn, then Miranda. Pick a protagonist and stick to it!
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- Jan
- 06-08-15
Literary take on EOWAWKI...
I had great hopes as I started to read that this was going to be another well written post apocalyptic novel like "The Postman", "Silo Series, "On The Beach, "The Road", "Swan Song" or "The Stand" and knew not to expect a prepper view like "Jakarta Pandemic." I didn't find a new gem and would read all of the above again before this...
I can see what Emily St. John Mandel was trying to do and it had a lot of potential. Perhaps she tried too hard. I like woven stories with voices and time changing... but this was so tightly woven in places and loosely woven in others that I struggled figuring out who I was with in what time period and why. I might have done better with multiple narrators or reading it in hard print. I also didn't like most of the characters and almost turned it off because I didn't really care. I enjoyed the time spent with the traveling actors... but felt the results of the apocalypse were inaccurately portrayed and just didn't feel real to me.
Unlike other reviewers, I did enjoy the end and felt that as her loose strands were all pulled together and then left open she said something... worth reading... once maybe.
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- Ruth
- 12-19-16
No ending
I don't understand...I was enjoying this book, and just starting to care for the characters enough to wonder how it would all come together or why we had been following these particular people when the book suddenly ended!
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