Name: Megan's review of Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Item: Sea of Tranquility
Rating: 5
Author: Megan

Emily St. John Mandel

A novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core.

Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.

When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.'

A Novel

Sea of Tranquility

Nate

A life lived in a simulation is still a life.

Pandemics don’t approach like wars, with the distant thud of artillery growing louder every day and flashes of bombs on the horizon. They arrive in retrospect, essentially. It's disorienting. The pandemic is far away and then it's all around you, with seemingly no intermediate step.

The things we see when we're young, sometimes they don't stay with us.”

✧༺♥༻✧

“There’s a low-level, specific pain in having to accept that putting up with you requires a certain generosity of spirit in your loved ones.”

“My point is, there’s always something. I think, as a species, we have a desire to believe that we’re living at the climax of the story. It’s a kind of narcissism. We want to believe that we’re uniquely important, that we’re living at the end of history, that 

, after all these millennia of false alarms, 

 is finally the worst that it’s ever been, that finally we have reached the end of the world.”

Syrina Akbari

Evidence suggests they feel rather more oppressed by the British than by the heat

Edwin is capable of action but prone to inertia 

Santa

There’s a low-level, specific pain in having to accept that putting up with you requires a certain generosity of spirit in your loved ones.

The award-winning author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel, Emily St. John Mandel returns with a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment. Sea of Tranquility is virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful. Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from English polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal - an experience that shocks him to his core. Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's bestselling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him. When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: the exiled son of an aristocrat driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe. PRAISE FOR SEA OF TRANQUILITY 'I could write a thousand words about Emily St. John Mandel, and this book, and this moment but I won't dare spoil it. Truly soul-affirming.' Emma Straub 'A spiraling, transportive triumph of storytelling-sci-fi with soul.' Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies 'A complicated and mysterious puzzle concerning the nature of reality solved perfectly, all loose ends connected... Even more boldly imagined than Station Eleven. Exciting to read, relevant, and satisfying.' - Kirkus Reviews

Robyn Harley

“Think of how holograms and virtual reality have evolved, even just in the past few years. If we can run fairly convincing simulations of reality now, think of what those simulations will be like in a century or two. The idea with the simulation hypothesis is, we can’t rule out the possibility that all of reality is a simulation”

morgan

if definitive proof emerges that we're living in a simulation, the correct response to that news will be 

[...] we turn to postapocalyptic fiction not because we're drawn to disaster, per se, but because we're drawn to what we imagine might come next. We long secretly for a world with less technology in it. 

I think, as a species, we have a desire to believe that we're living at the climax of the story. It's a kind of narcissism. We want to believe that we're uniquely important, that we're living at the end of history, that 

 is finally the worst that it's ever been, that finally we have reached the end of the world. But all this raises an interesting questions. What if it always is the end of the world? Because we might reasonably think of the end of the world as a continuous and never-ending process.

One person suggested to me that [the interest in postapocalyptic literature] had to do with economic inequality, that in a world that can seem fundamentally unfair, perhaps we long to just blow everything up and start over. 

Someone sugggested to me that it has to do with a secret longing for heroism, which I found interesting. Perhaps we believe on some level that if the world were to end and be remade, if some unthinkable catastrophe were to occur, then perhaps we might be remade too, perhaps into better, more heroic, more honorable people. 

Some people have suggested to me that it's about the catastrophes on Earth, [...] the tragedy of being forced to abandon entire countries due to rising water or rising heat, but that doesn't ring true to me. Our anxiety is warranted, and it's not unreasonable to suggest that we might channel that anxiety into fiction, but the problem with that theory is, our anxiety isn't new. When have we ever believed that the world wasn't ending?

There's a low-level, specific pain in having to accept that putting up with you requires a certain generosity of spirit in your loved ones.

[...] maybe the death really was too casual, in the way he went from perfect health to death over the course of a paragraph and the story kept moving without him but on the other hand, isn't that reality? Won't most of us die in fairly unclimactic ways, our passing unremarked by almost everyone, our deaths becoming plot points in the narratives of the people around us? But obviously 

 was fiction, i.e., reality wasn't relevant to the question at hand, and maybe the death of the prophet really was a flaw.

You know the phrase I keep thinking about? 'The chickens are coming home to roost.' Because it's never good chickens. It's never 'You've been a good person and now your chickens are coming home to roost.' It's always bad chickens.

Emiley Jones

In those streets everyone moved faster than me, but what they didn't know was that I had already moved too fast, too far, and wished to travel no further. I've been thinking a great deal about time and motion lately, about being a still point in the ceaseless rush.

This is what the Time Institute never understood: if definitive proof emerges that we're living in a simulation, the correct response to that news will be “So what.” A life lived in a simulation is still a life.

—and my point is, there's always something. I think, as a species, we have a desire to believe that we're living at the climax of the story. It's a kind of narcissism. We want to believe that we're uniquely important, that we're living at the end of history, that now, after all these millennia of false alarms, now is finally the worst that it's ever been, that finally we have reached the end of the world."

She never dwelt on my lapses, and I couldn't entirely parse why this made me feel so awful. There's a low-level, specific pain in having to accept that putting up with you requires a certain generosity of spirit in your loved ones.

She'd seen five of those tattoos, but that didn't make it less extraordinary, seeing the way fiction can bleed into the world and leave a mark on someone's skin.

…but there's something to be said for unplanned cities. Colony Two was soothing in its symmetry and its order. Sometimes order can be relentless.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Megan

This book is fantastic and I really don’t want to say more than that. Read it without knowing anything about it. All hail Emily St. John Mandel

neri

Oh my god. I don't even know how to properly review this because I don't think I have the words for it. I will try to make this coherent but not quite sure if I will manage to do so.

This was amazing, at least for me. I love books that go around time travel when its executed properly and oh, this one was insanely good. I don't think I've liked a book this much in months, a year even.

The way Emily St. John Mandel writes is beautiful. The words, phrases, characters and events are connected like woven threads in the most lovely way. The way I could easily imagine everything, how tender it was described: it was splendid. I don't really know how to explain this properly but the way the characters are written feela like a sunday afternoon to me, does that make sense? Mostly because of how they are described.

I really love the topic around humanity, being worried about people; caring because you know them, and not in the personal, close friends, way. And I also loved the way the glitch, and everything surrounding it (trying really hard to avoid explicit spoilers) was handled and explained. I was hooked. It almost felt cinematic. 

It was also somehow poetic, I genuinely don't know how it made me feel. The characters were great! Not really knowing fully who they were or who they could be was amazing. The intrigue and curiosity, and temporary feeling of sadness regarding some of the topics. It really got to me. "In those streets everyone moved faster than me, what they didn't know was that I had already moved too fast, too far, and wished to travel no further. I've beeb thinking a great deal about time and motion lately, about being a still point in the ceaseless rush."

Loved also the way bureaucracy was talked about. How institutions handle issues, or anomalies in this case. How inhumane and cold they are. 

The ending for me it was perfect; the acceptance, the "so what" of it all (again, trying really hard not to make any spoilers). Nostalgia, tenderness, and caring. Also learning who Gaspery actually was in the end, how it all made sense, was amazing. Its not a "boom" of an ending, but a soft "whoa" one. And I love that!!! 

Anyways, I'm rambling a lot without making any sense. Plus I'm sure my English is broke at this point. But in short: Loved this. Definitely one of my favourite reads and I can't wait to re read it again, and again. I am also getting a physical copy as soon as I can. This was wonderful, greatly executed (since I don't think it's easy to write a book about this, specially when it's surrounding time travel) and tender and lovely and human. "A life lived in a simulation is still a life".

While I loved the prose and the structure (prosody between theme and structure woohoo), I felt underwhelmed by the payoff. Strong start though.

alice

Loved Glass Hotel, so was excited to get into this one. But I didn't really understand it. There were points in the story I felt could have been better elaborated to give more structure to the overall plot. The character descriptions were lacking which was a big pitfall. Very dissatisfying.

Dani

We’ll round it up to 5⭐️ here.

Exceptional. Emily St John Mandel has become an instant buy for me because the way her prose knits together never fails to hit the right note. It is something I cannot put into words, and so I am not going to try. I will take some time to get my bearings, and then I will come back and try to describe what it is that makes the whole of it work so well together. In the meantime I will say this: Mandel’s writing transports you to places previously unimagined. You won’t feel at ease, and that seems to be the point. To use the energy of that journey and let it transform what is around you. If I had to describe how I feel when I read her novels, I’d be likely to use the words unmoored, or adrift. It’s not a matter of forgetting where I am, but when I am. And it is a delightful experience.

Allison Dempsey

I only wish this was longer - I read it in one day. Will be carrying this one with me for quite some time. Possibly even better than The Glass Hotel, which I didn’t think was possible.

Honestly loved how monotone this read was

Deepika Ramesh

‘I’ve been thinking a great deal about time and motion lately, about being a still point in the ceaseless rush.’

The irony of reading that passage, while riding a train, and as the setting sun rushed to catch up with the train’s speed, was not lost on me. It’s possible to be a still point in the ceaseless rush — like reading a novel like this one and wondering about its reluctant to be grand but still becoming precisely that at the end. 

We go to writers for some of our unique needs to be met; I go to Mandel for the grandeur of simple things in her stories and to be reminded of my own fragile heart. Should I read the remainder of three books written by Emily St. John Mandel to declare that she is my favourite writer? Or having read three of her books will do?

Interesting concept, but I was definitely less enthusiastic about it than I thought I would be 

Francesca Starecheski

It was woven beautifully, but to me, written plainly, monotone echoes in my mind.

Ryan 

4.5 to 5 stars

i'm still in shock of just how mind-blowing and clever the author has done with the storytelling by the last 20 pages of the book (so do not jump to the last page to spoil yourself). i'm also shocked just how many months it has been in my shelf that i should've read it sooner.

emily st. john mandel is truly listed as one of my favorite authors, i'm curious to pick up the glass hotel yet i'm scared from the rating that i'll be having the third-book curse (in reference to me with celeste ng's *disappointing* recent novel). if you need a digestible literary fiction novel with deft use of storytelling and hopeful themes on humanity, this is my go-to recommendation.

Keely Calagos

Similar to Station Eleven, ESJM weaves a full cast of characters in different time periods together into a beautiful novel. The audiobook is read by multiple narrators which made it quite easy to keep track of the who, what, when, and where. This story felt eerily plausible, which makes me wonder if Emily herself is a time traveler… 🧐

I loved this book but Station Eleven is still my favorite. I’m eager to read The Glass House next.

More on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce6msLRpm...

Cody Degen

Realized I'm probably going to read everything she ever writes, and just ignore every time she gets into self-referential/allegorical stuff where I think she gets a little heavy-handed.

Syahla Aurel

In those streets everyone moved faster than me, but what they didn't know was that I had already moved to fast, too far, and wished to travel no further. I've been thinking a great deal about time and motion lately, about being a still point in the ceaseless rush.

My initial reaction : omg this book is so boring and what is the point of this 
My reaction after finishing this book : wow okay that makes sense 

Although it was a great book I still think that there were unnecessary parts/chapters (I don't care about Edwin and I want to know more about Olivia and Vincent or literally anyone but him)

mic shulman

i find this st. john mandel lady’s books so quick and readable what else can i do but 5 star it

'So wise, so graceful, so rich. I loved Sea of Tranquility' - Naomi Alderman, author of The Power From the award-winning author of Station Eleven Who could you sacrifice to protect the future? Lives separated by time and space have collided, and an exiled Englishman, a writer trapped far from home, and a girl destined to die too young, have each glimpsed a world that is not their own. Travelling through the centuries, between colonies on the moon and an ever-changing Earth, together their lives will solve a mystery that will make you question everything you thought you knew to be true. 'A spiralling, transportive triumph - sci-fi with soul' - Kiran Millwood Hargrave 'Emily St. John Mandel remains an instant-buy writer' - Glamour 'Ingenious, hugely ambitious and beguiling' - Guardian

Emma Cragg

Igor

"The award-winning, best-selling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel returns with a novel of art, time, love, and plague that takes the reader from an island off Vancouver in 1912 to a dark colony of the moon three hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and planets"--

Sean Goodwin

Product of the pandemic. A bit trite at times.

Cigdem O

best sci-fi ive ever read. highly recommended!!

Jaden Nelson

3.5 stars. I think this was a really interesting and imaginative idea, but it also didn't leave me with any profound feelings, so 3.5 it is.

Caroline

This is a beautiful book that parallels how much I loved her first book. There are so many passages that you could come back to that give one such hope and joy about being alive. Also an inventive novel that ties to all the stress and confusion we felt about covid but without bringing you back exactly to that time. My favourite part was the acknowledgment that life is worth living and celebrating in whatever circumstance you may live in.

Hannah Yang

“When have we ever believed that the world wasn’t ending? [...] Perhaps we believe on some level that if the world were to end and be remade, if some unthinkable catastrophe were to occur, then perhaps we might be remade too, perhaps into better, more heroic, more honorable people.”

If I could describe Sea of Tranquility in one word, it would be 'exquisite.'

This feels so different from other novels I've read. It's almost like a philosophical thought experiment disguised as a mystery, where the 'solve' is that it doesn't matter whether or not the initial question is answered. Though it is a time travel book, it also doesn't stylistically feel sci-fi. At first, the structure feels like disconnected short stories, but they come together at the end into one surprisingly simple story.

A lot of the things that typically feel important to a novel (ex: character development) didn't play as much a role here; for example, we don't really get to 'know' any of the characters introduced in depth besides Gaspery Roberts (and maybe Olive Llewellyn). Don't get me wrong, there is plot happening all the time - Mirella's and Vincent's story, fleshed out, could merit a book of its own - and some interesting world-building with the various moon colonies, but ultimately, the 'realness' (for lack of a better word) of their stories and experiences is what matters most.

Mandel's writing is poetic but straightforward and the whole book is extremely readable; I finished the whole thing in 2 hours. There are definitely moments where it's obvious that this book was written during the pandemic (the one time I felt taken out of the story was when a character mentions COVID), but overall, this was simply lovely.

“If definitive proof emerges that we’re living in a simulation, the correct response to that news will be So what. A life lived in a simulation is still a life.”

It hooked me, and a read half of the book with the pleasure of being transported by a skillful writer. Then I realized there wasn’t going to be anything deep in there. As most american entertainment, it is all surface. Its only goal is to offer a temporary distraction. I kept going even though I had lost interest in the plot. Then it resolves, following the fad of the moment: the unsurprising reveal, a big obligatory BET YOU DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING. Ugh. The story collapses on itself and little is left after the quiet implosion. I can’t imagine I’ll remember any of it in a few weeks. 

Martin Maugeais

A favourite this year. I have to read « the glass hôtel » now! 

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel