Station Eleven: An Overdue Review

Overdue episode 221 was a delight to listen to, but not terribly analytic. Acting more like a summary than a literary investigation, one host briefs the other on the plot of Station Eleven, with additional details on Emily St. John Mandel’s life and passages from the book.

However, when they did discuss themes in the novel, I found that I agreed heartily with what they said. They spent some time on the incomplete list from chapter 6 ("No more avatars") in which they discussed the age of being able to project a false image of yourself. It is something I, too, explore, in my post: All Alone, Alone Again.

One of the ideas that they brought to the auditory table that I hadn't previously considered was the role of fate in the book. According to an interview with Mandel, she does believe in some degree of fate. In fact, they relayed an anecdote that she told about how she met her husband through a series of unlikely coincidences. But not only in her life does fate play a big role, but also in her novel. What makes the survivors different from those killed by the plague? How are these strangers' stories related to each other?

Interestingly enough, fate is a core concept of the main antagonist's philosophy. The Prophet believes that the survivors were chosen for a reason - the flu some sort of cleansing fire - and he uses these ideas to justify his actions. But then again, was it fate for him to be shot in the head? The book plays with the notion of a higher being slotting events into place and the holistic nature of this chaotic life. And, as this is a novel, the story is fated to end how the author writes it. The characters are unaware of this, though, and therefore they must decide whether or not to believe in destiny, or to chalk it up to coincidence. Just as we have that choice. Ask yourself: is there some kind of divine "author" in our real lives? Some being writing our stories? (if so, I demand an apology from them) Or is the universe as cold, uncaring, and random as it is beautiful?

On another note, the podcast also mentions a few of my favourite passages. One of this novel’s strengths is that it restrains itself from delving into the gruesome details of the apocalypse, and instead leaves much of it up to the reader's’ imagination. The Air Gradia jet is a good example. Where some authors might be tempted to narrate exactly what happens inside the plane, the hosts of Overdue and I are in agreement that it is much more unsettling to imagine it for ourselves. The same goes for the characters whose fates are left uncertain: the pilots and Lily Patterson, among others. There is no need to tell us exactly what happened when we have such skill for assuming the worst.

All in all, the Overdue Podcast was a great hour of my time. For the simple virtue of having uttered the sentence: “when I go outside now, I have a pretty fair degree of confidence that nobody’s gonna shiv me and try to take my precious jerky”, I highly recommend this podcast to anyone who loves books but does not have the time to read them. In fact, I will probably be listening to more episodes to keep up to date on all the literature that I do not have time to read (what with all the car chases and espionage).

- A.M. Ham