If you are a virus with a high mortality rate you best be highly virulent and have a high infection rate. Ebola. Georgian Flu. 
Teleologically, that is. So in reality: genetic adaptation.
I thought Arthur may have died from the flu until I read the chapter that showed him on the day he died. (Chapter 53, pg.317) His symptoms were heart attack symptoms. If you compare his symptoms to Mirandaâs on the day she died (Chapter 41, pg. 225), they are different. Miranda started with a sore throat, then woke up with a fever and body aches. Her symptoms came on very quicky. Arthur had been feeling bad for a few days.
Very nice. Thanks for broadening my perspective. I think I was too focused on the bad things Arthur was (unfaithful husband, absentee father) rather than the good things he tried to be, and the way in which his character was important thematically.
Interview with ESJM
^@jaylynn
I love your description as 'quiet" post apocalyptic novel. Iâm reminded of the intense beauty of the stars at night.
But, it bothered me that the tattoos were a constant reminder of the forgotten years, and how many people Kirsten had killed.Why such a constant reminder of something she abhorred ?
I,too, did not dislike Arthur as much as many did. I felt sorry for him. He seemed to be searching for a connection that he was incapable of making.
I think those tattoos kept Kirsten grounded.
One of the reviews I read complained that the theater troop only did Shakespeare and that they should have been writing contemporary plays. I thought that was silly, and the reviewer seems to have completely missed the fact that one person in the troop tried and failed to get past a single page. But it did get me thinking. Is only Shakespeare timeless? What plays do you think should survive? Most of Broadway these days is musicals, would one of them survive?
Interesting about her want to show passing time. Like with Claire of the Sea Light I ended up making a timeline of the whole book trying to figure out if there were any rhyme or reason to how it was structured. (Not apparent to me.) I was particularly annoyed with the way the newspaper interview was broken up across three chapters.
I think your question is an extension of question 9 (which eyemamom and ignatius made reference to earlier):
The tattoo ânotchesâ reminded me of the E.M. Forster quote, âUnless we remember we cannot understand.â In order to make sense of the enormity of what they have endured, I think Kirsten and her fellow survivors feel the need to record it, to remember the bad along with the good. I donât think Kirsten wants another forgotten yearâor even a forgotten momentâin a life that will likely not be long.
The benefit of not remembering would be being spared the grief of loss or guilt â because you would have no recollection of what you had lost, or what you had done. But itâs one thing to desire amnesia for yourself and another to pass it on to the next generation. Deliberating withholding the details of human history from the children seems foolish and dangerous to me.
The epigraph poet, Czeslaw Milosz, made it his lifeâs work to keep the horrors of the past alive as a testament to those who died and a cautionary tale for those who survived. He is described as a poet with âthe rare gift of talking in the same breath about the long dead and the still fragilely alive. His work at turns faces the dark and faces the light, trying to keep both in balance, in proper perspective.â http://artfuldodge.sites.wooster.edu/content/conversation-czeslaw-milosz. That seems like an approach that Station Elevenâs post-collapse society might embrace when teaching their children about the past.
Iâm just the opposite here. Iâve discovered that I like books with this structure - another being The Maidâs Version by Daniel Woodrell. Iâm tiring of books with alternating chapters. It can work well - All the Light We Cannot See - but Iâm finding it overused as a plot device at the moment. I just finished one book written that way and picked up two books at the library yesterday only to find both written the same way. Anyway, back to Station Eleven, I really like the structure.
Very nice Mary
The tattooes reminded me of the holocaust.
I think Kirsten keeps the tattoos as a remembrance not only of her survival but of those she kills. Given the same set of circumstances, she would kill again and yet she doesnât take the act lightly. She takes a life and acknowledges - with a tattoo - that she did so, both for her sake and the unknown person she kills. What could come across as a mark of toughness or braggadocio on someone else comes across on Kirsten as both acceptance and regret.
Iâve never been part of a book club and this is fun!
Okay, so little questionâŠlikely answered above but perhaps i didnât understand it:
- So i accept the survival of all of the passengers on the planes.
- And I accept that the sign ("keep out. infected") near the front of the airport kept infected/dying folks out for that first week.
- But then how does the plague work after that? When that small group left the airport to search for food, etc (and came back with the napkins and rice from a Chilis), how are they not infected then? Is it because everyone vulnerable is now dead? And did the virus die with the hosts? i guess i'm wondering about people who aren't part of the 1% with the natural immunities...how do they avoid being infected once they move into the larger world?
Good question,mathmom. Haha, musicals? Probably not. Young people these days still love Tennessee Williams. Youâd think heâd be dated, but he isnât. Others would be Eugene OâNeill, Anton Chekov, Henrik Ibsen. Definitely Bertolt Brecht.
Why do you refer to him as âthe epigraph poet,â Mary? I could try to google it, but Iâm lazy. 
I think the virus was a plot device to set up the world that Mandel really wanted to explore-- what is life like after you start over? I think all the people who were going to die, died, and those who were lucky and werenât immune but werenât exposed (the airport must have had some nonimmune people) were safe once everyone else who had to die, died. Not realistic but itâs not a scientific article, and it didnât bother me.
I enjoy the time skipping structure and I am seeing a lot of it these days. Just read âIâll Be Right Thereâ and âThe Girl on the Trainâ and they use that structure too. I guess I like all the little cliff hangers it creates.
Seems the ending is the perfect jumping off place for a sequel, or a series. It could set up nicely for a struggle between those who want to go back to the technological glory of the past (Kirsten) and those who like the simple life of the new world (Jeevin.)
The people in the airport waited before sending out scouts. They didnât go out until Day 100 (pg 253). It was a quick moving virus. The virus was gone from that area by the time they ventured out.
I also liked the structure of the book. It helped keep the characters fresh in my mind.
@cartera45, The sequel idea is interesting. I like it.
Donât get me wrong, I donât dislike books with this structure, but I kept expecting some connection between the parts. Say, resiliency in some scene in the past vs similar thing in the present. You know like in The Storied Life of A.J. Fricky the intro chapters always had a relation to the main story. Maybe thatâs easier to do when you just have a frame and a main story - as opposed to multiple interweaving storylines.
Another who found Arthurâs symptoms very consistent with my experience of people getting ready to have a big heart attack.
Itâs easier to do if youâre a better writer. 
Kate Atkinson showed herself to be a master of connections in a time weaving structure in Life After Life. I thought that book had some flaws, but in general is was most impressive.
Iâm love seeing the new posters for this book! Welcome everyone!
Sorry for the typo above. I was editing at the last minute and I ran out of time before I finished. AnywayâŠWelcome new posters!