You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2014.
What’s it all about?
Station Eleven is a novel about the coming of the end of the world as we know it and how we cope with it afterwards. It follows a small group of people who are all connected to the actor Arthur Leander, and the story starts with his death on stage in Toronto just before the illness that wipes out the vast majority of the world’s population. The book is mainly set went years after the Georgia flu hits, and focusses particularly on Kirsten and the theatrical group that she travels with, but flashes back to show the lives our handful of characters were living before it all fell apart.
Why did I want to read it?
Absolutely word of mouth and good reviews and I seem to be absolutely in the middle of an end-of-the-world-novel reading spree at the moment (just wait until you see the next couple of reviews).
What did I think of it?
I absolutely adored this novel and have been trying to encourage like-minded friends to read it by describing it as a cross between The Girl With All The Gifts (which it absolutely isn’t except in the quality of the story telling) and A Visit From The Goon Squad (which it sort of is because of the connections between key characters). I read it in a couple of sittings (but I’ve been doing a lot of that recently!)
I loved Arthur’s story, a flawed man dealing with his fame and the impact that had on all the people around him, including the person who tried to save his life when he collapsed, and how some of that survived into the future through the memory of Kirsten who was so young when I tied but still has copies of the comic he gave her (drawn by his first wife) which gives the book its title and also provides a link to one of the more mysterious and unpleasant characters in the new world, The Prophet. The charismatic religious fanatic who creates a cult of personality and rules with an iron will is a bit of a cliché but in this incarnation at least is totally believable. I think people would look to someone like him to fill a void and give them a sense of purpose and direction even when they know that it isn’t right. It doesn’t take too much thinking to work out who The Prophet probably is but I don’t think that’s a big deal, it’s not meant to be a mystery but shows the impact such a disaster can have on an impressionable mind and how they night find the means to cope, however warped that might be.
But the book is really about relationships, professional and personal, friendship and love and how they resonate through time. There wasn’t a character that I didn’t engage with or feel some sympathy for and I wondered, as I always do with this type of novel, how I would cope in a similar situation.
If you haven’t done so already you must must read this. It’s so good I definitely intend to revisit it.
Just wonderful.
Another selection of recent short reads
Edie Investigates by Nick Harkaway
This short story features Edie Banister, elderly lady with a past full of derring-do and at present involved in investigating (unofficially of course) a rather unusual murder. This is either a teaser for or an outtake from Angelmaker, the novel in which Edie features heavily. As such it’s very enjoyable and it was lovely to meet Edie again, but I would recommend you get your hands on the novel which I read a year or so ago and thought was absolutely wonderful.
The Face at the Window by Louise Welsh
A collection of three short ghostly stories originally written for BBC radio (and broadcast on Radio 4 I believe). I enjoyed them (I do like a ghostly tale) and found them atmospheric but wonder if they wouldn’t have been even better read aloud on a grey chill winter afternoon. Louise Welsh is becoming one of my favourite authors and it was good to read some of her shorter fiction.
I’m using this post to keep track of my walking during December as part of the Book Blog Walkers thingy. My final tally for November can be found here (big dip at the end of the month as I was ill and housebound for several days)
Week 1 (Dec 1)
- 2.9 km
- 46 minutes
A really bad week; was stuck at home, head down and working, and miserable grey weather didn’t exactly encourage me to go out. Will do better……
Week 2 (Dec 8)
- 20.6 km
- 5:01 hours
From a completely dreadful week to a bit of a record. Go figure!
Week 3 (Dec 15)
- 15.8 km
- 4:18 hours
Week 4 (Dec 22)
- 6.4 km
- 1:29 hours
It was Christmas week and i was mostly curled up on the sofa!
What’s it all about?
The Martian is Mark Watney, biologist, engineer and astronaut who finds himself stranded on the Red Planet after a huge sandstorm jeopardises the mission and his crewmates evacuate believing that he died in a freak accident. How is he going to survive until the next planned landing in four years time, especially as no-one knows he is alive?
Why did I want to read it?
I love all kinds of sci-fi but have a particular fondness for techie stories with lots of science and explanations and problem-solving. The only thing missing from this one was a Big Dumb Object but at least there was enough Survival Against the Odds to keep me gripped. Oh and the reviews had been very favourable and when people whose opinions you trust suggest you read something then it would be rude to refuse. And I love love love books about Mars.
What did I think of it?
A couple of chapters in I really thought I was going to be so irritated by Mark that I wasn’t going to be able to continue. He was just so annoying – and it really wasn’t about the technical detail which as I’ve said above is something I enjoy, it’s that it was all first-person and he was so relentlessly cheerful and positive and upbeat and, well, blokey, it began to get on my nerves. I know the conceit is that he is leaving a record for future expeditions in case he doesn’t make it and so the tone is deliberate but ooh, I wanted to hit him.
However, fear not. It got better. Much, much better.
Things started to improve for me when they started to go wrong for Mark and the cracks in his positive attitude began to show. Then Andy Weir made a very wise tactical decision in order to deal with the inherent problem in first person narratives and had the people on Earth find out he was still alive and start to work to bring him back. Apart from adding a second layer of tension to the story it also meant we weren’t constantly in Mark’s head and I began to like him a lot more. I also liked the way the dilemma on whether to tell the rest of his crew was handled and resolved; they’re stuck on a spaceship heading home, how will they feel when they find out they’ve abandoned their friend and colleague?
It’s basically a huge boy’s own adventure, Robinson Crusoe in Space. Without Man Friday, and being American and, you know, in space (obviously).
In the end I enjoyed it; an uplifting story of human ingenuity with quite a few “isn’t science cool” moments. And it will no doubt make a good film.
So great fun, but *whispers* for my money the best man stranded in space story I read this year was The Explorer.
You could do worse than read them both.
Bride of the Book God 