Station Eleven

Station Eleven
by  Emily St. John Mandel

Genre:  Science fiction; Suspense; Dystopia
Publisher: Random House Audio on 
09 September 2014
Reading with my ears:  Unabridged 
10 hours 49 minutes
Narrator:  Kirsten Potter

An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells 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.
One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear. Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo-turned-EMT, is in the audience and leaps to his aid. A child actress named Kirsten Raymonde watches in horror as Jeevan performs CPR, pumping Arthur's chest as the curtain drops, but Arthur is dead. That same night, as Jeevan walks home from the theater, a terrible flu begins to spread. Hospitals are flooded and Jeevan and his brother barricade themselves inside an apartment, watching out the window as cars clog the highways, gunshots ring out, and life disintegrates around them.
Fifteen years later, Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony. Together, this small troupe moves between the settlements of an altered world, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. Written on their caravan, and tattooed on Kirsten's arm is a line from Star Trek: "Because survival is insufficient." But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave.
Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty. As Arthur falls in and out of love, as Jeevan watches the newscasters say their final good-byes, and as Kirsten finds herself caught in the crosshairs of the prophet, we see the strange twists of fate that connect them all. A novel of art, memory, and ambition, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

My thoughts:
I loved this one.

"Survival is insufficient".

Star Trek: Voyager

The story revolves around characters that were connected to Arthur Leander, an actor who's fame was starting to faze out.  Arthurs dies on stage in the opening scenes of the book but he is the centre of this story.  Almost everyone in the story can be traced back to him in one way or another.

On the night Arthur dies, a terrible flu starts to erase life as we know it.   And civilisation dies.

Through flash backs we get to know Arthur, his friends and his ex-wives.  His first wife, Miranda, created a comic book called Station Eleven.  This comic becomes a favourite escape for Kirsten, twenty years after it was given to her by Arthur when she was a little girl in the King Lear production he dies in.  

We do not get a lot of the epidemic and it's effects (the parts that I always love), this is more about the people and their relationships with each other almost twenty years after.  It is all about how the past and actions taken then can impact today.

Another great narrator that added to my enjoyment of the book.

{Movie}Review: Exam

Exam (2009)
Starring: Colin Salmon, Chris Carey, Jimi Mistry, Luke Mably, Gemma Chan, Chuk Iwuji, John Lloyd Fillingham, Pollyanna McIntosh, Adar Beck and Nathalie Cox.

Eight talented candidates have reached the final stage of selection to join the ranks of a mysterious and powerful corporation. Entering a windowless room, an Invigilator gives them eighty minutes to answer one simple question.

My thoughts:
I am enjoying a good run with “indie”low budget movies.  Exam was recommended to me a while ago but I only got to watching it yesterday. At first when I saw the exam room (the one scene of the whole movie), I expected a horror-type movie but this was all psychological thriller.  Eight candidates are in the final stages of a job interview in a dystopian world run almost entirely by pharmaceutical company.  They have to answer only one question but no-one can figure out what the question is.  And the tension starts running high.   

Unfortunately the ending did not quite live up to the tension of the movie.  For an hour and half we debated the good and the bad and then in the last few moments everything is resolved . . . it almost felt like they ran out of movie.  But don’t let the abrupt ending keep you from enjoying the build up.   This was a good movie! 

Audiobook Review: The Long Walk

 

The Long Walk 
by Stephen King

 
Publication date: 01 April 1999 (first published 1979) 
Genre: Science Fiction; Dystopia; Horror 
Source: my own copy 
Date Read: 09 August 2013 
Narrator: Kirby Heyborne 
Length: 10 hours 40 minutes 

Every year, on the first day of May, one hundred teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as "The Long Walk." Among this year's chosen crop is sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty. He knows the rules: that warnings are issued if you fall under speed, stumble, sit down. That after three warnings... you get your ticket. And what happens then serves as a chilling reminder that there can be only one winner in the Walk - the one that survives...

My thoughts: 
When I was younger, I was a huge Stephen King fan and read anything with his name on it. As I have become older, I have read less and less of his novels as I have gradually lost interest in his writing style. I have found a few gems here and there but overall I have been disappointed.

Then I came across this audio copy of The Long Walk. I read it quite a few years ago and it was a happy surprise as I remembered the creepiness of it. I was not disappointed in this “re-read”, it held the same creep factor that I remembered loving from his earlier titles.

The Long Walk is about winning a race that will mean all your dreams coming true – for the rest of your life. So it is quite an honor for the 100 boys that is chosen from the lottery draw. Unfortunately only one boy can win and that means that 99 other boys will die. I cannot

imagine someone being eager and excited about this possibility but these teenage boys all seem to think they will live forever.

In this dystopia television extravaganza, warnings are given for any “infringement” of the rules . . . if your pace becomes too slow, you get a warning. If you sit down to rest your bleeding feet, you get a warning. If you try to leave the race in any way, you get a warning. Every warning can only be erased by walking an hour without any incident. And if you receive three warnings in an hour, you get your ticket – delivered by a gunshot. Your race is terminated – forever, while the spectators cheer.

This book is very entertaining even if it all takes place on a highway during a few days' stretch. We meet a few of the characters and not all of them are very likeable . . . The ending is somewhat strange. I have read a few reviews that speculate about the real meaning of the ending but I thought it was perfect just as it was. I recommend this for all dystopia lovers.

Audiobook Review: The Program

The Program
 
by Suzanne Young 

Source: my own copy 
Publication date: 30 April 2013 
Genre: Dystopia Sci-Fi Young Adult 
Date Read: 26 December 2013 
Narrator: Joy Osmanski 
Length: 10 hours 56 minutes 

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories. 

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.

My thoughts:
I loved the beginning of The Program. I could not stop listening to the fabulous Joy Osmanski introducing me to Sloan and James and all their friends.

It was strange to think of suicide being a sickness of epidemic proportions. In this future world, suicide is contagious and more and more young people are dying every day. The powers-that-be try to cure this rising tide by erasing the flagged teenagers' memories. So everyone is on edge, trying to not be noticed by hiding all emotions and completing the daily questionnaire by stating that they feel happy and contented. It is smiles all around.

Even with this hard-to-believe concept, I soon gave in to the story's buildup and enjoyed

Sloane's experience in the program. It was definitely fast paced and scary, with a few icky characters making an quick appearance.

Unfortunately when she was released back into the normal world, things started to grate on my nerves. The control that was enforced into all aspects of life was especially hard to take even when I tried to remind myself that that was the point of the story. Sloan's parents was especially irritating and I think the author did an excellent job of us just having to hate them. On the other hand, I can't imagine that Sloan would not want to distance herself from them.

The love story between Sloan and James was very intense for a YA title but I found their re-discovering of their love sweet and heartwarming. Their relationship is just as perfect as we want our fictional romances to be.

I enjoyed some parts of this book and but unfortunately there were stages where I wish I could just fast forward toward the end and the obvious conclusion. I would even go as far to say that if I have not been invested in Sloan and James “finding” each other again, I would have given up. Thinking back, I do not see the point of the introduction of some of the characters and can only imagine that they will feature in the future books.

I liked the story but unfortunately I am not invested in Sloan and James enough to look out for the sequel.