Match Book
Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel
2014 · 333 pages · Literary fiction
How it reads
Station Eleven is literary fiction (dystopian post-apocalyptic, specifically), and its dominant mood is melancholy. It's quietly sad, wistful and reflective. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in several locations, in no single period, told across two timelines. Its central concerns are survival, art and creativity and loss and grief. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 333 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something melancholy
- you want something to chew on
- you want a complete story in one book
Maybe not if…
- you need something funny or hopeful
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- literary fiction
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- established
- Setting: place
- multiple locations
- Setting: time
- timeless or multiple
- Mood / feeling
- melancholy
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- dual timeline
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- survival, art and creativity, loss and grief
- Ending style
- bittersweet
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
- I Cannot Get You Close Enough: Three NovellasEllen GilchristShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
White OleanderJanet FitchShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
Lincoln in the BardoGeorge SaundersShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace- Voice Like a HyacinthMallory PearsonShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
- SpinRobert Charles WilsonShares: melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace, bittersweet ending
- The Gap of TimeJeanette WintersonShares: literary fiction, melancholy mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
Appears in
Find a copy
Reviews on Goodreads ↗Match Book earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, Match Book earns from qualifying purchases.