08 March 2018

apocalyse and station eleven

station eleven by hilary st john mandel was a very interesting read. mandel's writing is lovely, and i am definitely going to check out more of her books (so glad she has written several other novels!). i haven't read sci-fi and end-of-the-world books since i was a teenager, and station eleven was a good post apocalypse novel in the sense that it didn't focus much on sci-fi elements. having said that, i would have been interested in the book exploring further how the world went from here to there in such a short time. however, the book focuses more on individual characters, most of whom were quite engaging.

i am always struck by how fast technology is evolving, and the book underlined that as well. i have only owned a smartphone for the past six years, and yet, now it seems well nigh impossible to function without one. i went through school, university and a good part of my working life without smartphones, without whatsapp, facebook, google and wikipedia. my kids on the other hand, have yet to hold a camera in their hands; the phone is their camera, encyclopedia, radio and communication device all in one.

some days ago, feeling nostalgic, i took out my uni photo album and was looking through the pictures. i had to laugh at how itchy my fingers were to 'enlarge' everyone's faces :P

No comments: