Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

You know a book is a slog when you'd rather do anything else other than reading it. I really wanted to like it, after so many great reviews, but the best part about it was finishing it, and moving on to another book. Station Eleven starts like any post-apocalyptic book, with the obligatory deadly flu that empties the earth. So far so good. But no, it keeps jumping back to the pre-flu world, following this insipid and unsufferable movie star and his interminable collection of wives (soon to be ex wives) and mistresses (soon to be wives, soon to be ex wives). At least gossip magazines make it juicy enough to keep us entertained. And if gossip was what I wanted to read, I would have bought the gossip magazines. There's also some very sparse parts set several years after the end of the world as we know it, with a group of travelling actors and musicians performing for the struggling human settlements along the road, which could also be interesting if it wasn't, again, mindless gossip about the performers, who sleeps with who, who likes who, the costume choices, where can we find a jar of rosin, etc. You'd think a post apocalyptic world would offer more interesting subject matters. The only tenuously secondary story that has something interesting to offer follows a group of survivors stranded at an airport, and a self proclaimed prophet with nefarious intents. But it all probably takes less than 10 pages in total.