This book could be the ideal or the worst book to read in the midst of a pandemic, depending on your anxiety level. The story takes place in a future present time, during the eruption of a “Georgia Flu” Pandemic and takes place primarily in the Great Lakes Region of the US and Canada. The Georgia Flu is more deadly than the Coronavirus – 4 hours from infection to the onset of symptoms and 1-2 days to death. In a short period of time 99% of the population dies. So either you could read it and be relieved that our Pandemic is not as serious as the Georgia Flu (which is how my book group colleagues responded) or you could read it and fear for the worst about your current situation.

The narrative starts on Day 1 of the Pandemic, with a performance of King Lear in Toronto, during which Arthur Leander (the actor playing the title role) has a heart attack and dies. Jeevan Chaudhary, an EMT and friend of Arthur’s, was sitting in the front row and rushes on stage to try to resuscitate him, but it is too late. As the EMT’s take the body away Jeevan leaves the theater and is wandering the streets of a snowy Toronto in a daze when he gets a call from a doctor friend about the Flu outbreak in his hospital. The doctor tells him to immediately pack and leave the city. Jeevan picks up on the urgency of his friend’s voice and buys 7 grocery carts of food and supplies to bring to the apartment of his handicapped brother Frank. The two ride out the beginning of the pandemic (and the death of Toronto) from his 10th floor apartment window.

The narrative leaps back and forth in time from the King Lear performance on Day 1 of the Pandemic, with occasional extra-diegetic warnings inserted such as “everyone at the bar will be dead in 2 weeks”. What seems like a random assortment of characters, we learn are in fact all loosely connected to Arthur. The story is like a fabric which comes unraveled and then is knitted back together by the end.

Among the characters from Arthur’s past are his first two wives, Miranda and Elizabeth. Miranda is an artist whose life passion is a graphic novel project about a space station named Station Eleven. The story within a story provides a sci-fi mirror to the otherworldly events on earth, and also serves as a device to connect characters. Station Eleven has rescued a group of earthlings from the planet’s natural destruction, but in their escape the station was damaged so it’s always twilight. Factions emerge among the Station Eleven inhabitants between those who want to return to Earth and those who know there is no return.

Another story within the story is the series of letters Arthur writes to his childhood friend “V”. V later sells the letters and publishes them. V never responds to Arthur’s letters so they become an autobiographical view on Arthur’s life.

The future narrative shows post-pandemic life – small towns become strongholds for rural living with collective security measures in place. The conductor of the army orchestra forms the Traveling Symphony which wanders from town to town performing music and Shakespeare. In the troupe is one of the child actors from Arthur’s King Lear performance. Another group of survivors have colonized an airport in Michigan. The group ends up at this small airport after their flights on Day 1 of the Pandemic were re-routed and grounded. Some of these passengers had been on their way to Arthur’s funeral in Toronto. A religious group following “the Prophet” travel from town to town terrorizing residents and stealing their weapons. This group also has a connection to Arthur which I will not spoil for my readers.

A delightful aspect of fiction is that in a world where 99% of humanity has succumbed to a virus, so many characters and plot lines can come together at the end. This is especially comforting from the perspective of a New Yorker stuck in a quarantine with no end in sight. The book also wraps up with a note of hope – Electricity has re-emerged in Chicago – a grid of streetlights appear on the distant horizon. Despite the devastating losses, humanity has preserved its knowledge and basic technology. Station Eleven is a beautifully written novel, and even if you must wait until after our own Pandemic to read it, it will be worth the wait. I rate this book  a 4.5 👍 out of 5👍.