Station Eleven

As you will be aware from the description of the book, it is set in the time following an apocalyptic flu epidemic. The flu was like none ever seen before; extremely contagious with lightning fast onset, rushing from symptoms to death within hours. It quickly succeeded in wiping out 99% of humanity across the globe. With only a few survivors who managed to evade it by escaping the cities in time or locking themselves away with enough food and water for several weeks, the effects were immediate and devastating and our whole civilisation collapsed. No one to produce food, run factories, mine ores and oil, fly planes or drive trains. No electricity, no internet, no newspapers, no phones, no running water, no law and order, no hospitals, no drugs or vaccines, no schools or Universities.

The story follows the lives of a few survivors all connected to one event that happened in Toronto shortly just before the flu epidemic. A famous actor called Arthur Leander suffers a heart attack on stage while in the middle of playing King Lear. The story centres around this point flashing back to Arthur's life, his ex-wives and son and forward to the fate of those around him, Kirsten a child actor in the play and Jeevan, training to be a paramedic who jumps to the stage to start CPR. Twenty years on Kirsten is part of a travelling Shakespearean company and Symphony visiting all the small hamlets of survivors that have sprung up around Toronto. The motto written on their caravan "Survival is insufficient" is taken not from Shakespeare but from Star Trek and embodies the ethos of this little band of actors and musicians.

The sudden and absolute collapse of civilization in this novel makes you think about how reliant we are on our technology and lifestyle and to ask how we would cope if most of it was suddenly taken away. It also poses a lot of questions about what's important in our lives and what we would fight to save - art, music, knowledge, history, technology, books? At 20 years post apocalypse survivors are starting to ask whether they should be teaching their kids about what has been lost or concentrating on building a new world and teaching kids what they need to survive.
A very thought provoking book that will have you thinking about it long after turning the last page.