BOOKS 2 SCREEN PICK
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Madel
Agent: Katherine Fausset at Curtis Brown
Status: Unknown
Summary: Station Eleven tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear, and then the world changes. Moving back and forth in time-from the actor’s early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains. The story surrounds five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor’s first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.
Notes: The world has been turned into a wasteland after a flu 99% mankind. What would aspects would you save of humanity? Art, religion, commerce etc. I like the uniqueness of looking at Art in a post-apocalyptic world and it’s importance to civilization. As well the role of religion, and those seeking purpose and answers. A brilliant cast of VERY strong characters and relatively simple landscape (as much takes place in rural landscape or an abandoned airport). A great look at social media, technology, Hollywood and the true value of it in our lives.
The Book to Screen Club 