Recently I've felt like I've been striking out with the books I've been reading, but these last two I've really enjoyed so it is giving me hope! 

Station Eleven is a story of not just survival, for "survival is insufficient". Twenty years after an epidemic wiped out 99% of Earth's population, a group called The Traveling Symphony trapses from settlement to settlement, performing Shakespeare and classical music, a man is the keeper of a makeshift museum and a ex-entertainment journalist is living on the coast. Station Eleven bears the stories of these people, each chapter switching between each of their stories. They live parallel lives, maybe intersecting once only to diverge once again. Each is connected to the other through one person, Arthur, whose death was the last thing to happen to any of them before the epidemic; like a web that connects branches, long after the spider has abandoned his post.

I really enjoyed that, unlike many post-apocalyptic books, we get quite a few glimpses into what life was like before. We aren't thrown into the "twenty years later" world, but rather start in the here and now, see how the epidemic started, what each of our characters were doing on that day. The rest of the book continues to flash back and forth, giving us snatches of information to help us understand the origin stories of certain details and objects that mean so much to our characters later when they have so little. Really well written, originally done, despite the plethora of post apocalypse literature out there.

I thought that the book ended kind of abruptly (maybe only for me because I was reading the ebook and thought there was more...) and there was one plot line that I thought could have been tied up better - it felt too sudden, like the problem was fixed to easily. But over all, a really enjoyable read! 

p.s. Nothing gross or inappropriate in this book. There's a little bit of violence (when attacked, they do end up taking a couple lives in self-defense) and a spattering of language (7 f-bombs, 4-5 GD's).