STATION ELEVEN (Emily St. John Mandel) - July 3/22

 Wow! What a book! Station Eleven hooked me right from the jump and although I wasn’t sure about it after an initial flashback stretch (it seemed like the emphasis was going to be solely on the Walking Dead-like exploits of the survivors), I was drawn back in thanks to Mandel’s ingenious structure. (Things would be briefly mentioned early on and then brilliantly come around again.) I had a tough time keeping certain supporting characters straight, but the central protagonists were painted very vividly. I liked, too, that she didn’t dwell on the bad guys (the crazy cult thing had been done to death) and I really appreciated that the Prophet was killed fairly suddenly. I dug, too, that the book ends with some hope, with the sighting of a town using electricity. I loved this book. **** out of ****