And I'm so glad I did. This book is so unusual and interesting, I ended up really enjoying it. The presmise is that a famous actor dies on stage at the same time as a particularly virulent strain of flu starts sweeping the world, leading to the collapse of civilisation and the decimation of humanity.
The plot dots between a post-apolcalypse world and the pre-apocalypse world. In the post-apocalypse world, a group of actors and musicians called The Travelling Symphony travel around the US putting on Shakespeare plays and playing musicfor the disparate communities they find because 'Survival is insuifficient' (their motto). Like even though civilisation has collapsed, it's important to remember where we came from.
The pre-apocalypse world revolves around Arthur Leander, the actor who dies onstage, and the lifehe has lead,alongwithone of his ex-wives who writes a comic book called Station Eleven. Although the two time frames are connected, the book ends up feeling a bit like a series of interconnected short stories. In a good way. It's so hard to describe, but it's definitely worth taking a punt on.
Also it's a perfect example of how SFF doesn't just have to be pulp or a potboiler (although it can, and that's fine too) - it can actually cross over into literary fiction and pose really interesting philosophical questions.
My only regret with this book was that it took me so long to get round to reading it.
4 stars