Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Sea of Tranquility

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Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

36 reviews

agnesg's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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lizzie24601's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

God, Emily St. John Mandel is one of the best. She has such a way of weaving together mundane scenes in each character's life to create something so complex and meaningful.

I don't know if I would say you have to read The Glass Hotel before this, but this book prominently features two of the characters from that one.

Speaking of which, I love that all of Mandel's books seem to

exist in alternate dimensions of the same universe, with Miranda in The Glass Hotel but no apocalypse, and Mirella/Vincent/Jonathan/etc in this one but Jonathan never went to jail. Fun little easter eggs!

And note/trigger warning: at times this is very much a COVID/pandemic book. Extensive descriptions of lockdowns and mentions of pandemic deaths.

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saric7's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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clemrain's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Mandel is always such a pleasure to read. I deeply appreciate her storytelling.

It took me a while to get into this book. I’m not sure what it was but I think it was the pacing. It’s nailed a bit in the beginning but once the book picks up it’s hard to put down.

The characters in Sea of Tranquility are small and—in turn—real. I deeply feel for all of them. The hurt I feel for these characters isn’t easy to describe without spoiling the book and rambling for paragraphs. But Mandel has a talent for writing real people living their real lives. And without it, the ending on the books wouldn’t land as hard.

This book is a simulation of sorts. And all it’s hurt and joy makes it real. Which creates this complete feeling when you’re done reading. It’s not a novel idea to say that the world being a simulation doesn’t matter, what does is that it feels like. However, Mandel presents it beautifully.

I love the writing style of this book. I wish this were longer. I want to know more about all of these characters. I have read about some of them in Glass Hotel and Station Eleven, and I hope as I read more of Mandel’s work I’ll run into the other characters as well. Especially Edwin. He’s such charming character. Back to the writing though, I love a past future and present and Mandel really kicks that idea up a notch in this novel. So fun to follow the narrative.

The dialogues are real. They feel like human interaction and it’s easy to get invested in them. The literary cadence is effective most times.

the repetition and anxiety of Olive wanting to return home is contagious. And the pang of delivery through a nonchalant conversation that she never made it home is insanely effective. Not to mention that it really shows Gaspery’s character development. If someone is gonna drown they’re gonna drown, to I couldn’t just let her die. It’s good. And the repetition of “this is real” and then the halt of “I’m convincing myself it is”. Also, good.

They’re effective but not necessarily unique.

The ending caught me by surprise.

I was expecting Gaspery’s ending to be the jail sentence Olive found. A nonchalance for a nonchalance. But him being the anomaly and the discrete way of delivering it did catch me by surprise. I keep going back on forth on if it was good to add in Gaspbery’s perspective of interviewing himself. Maybe it fit best to just leave the story at him recognizing his face after the surgery and picking up the violin. However, that would be too cliche. It’s already inching towards the line by having Gaspbery be the anomaly. (Maybe I’m having over reaching cringe from Doctor Who’s time child arc). It’s just kind of flat. I’m also left wondering if it’s proof of a simulation or just the science of a paradox and time travel. The book would’ve been five stars if not just for this.

It’s not easy to write time travel. I don’t care much about the science. I only care about a good timeline and something that isn’t corny. Just good writing, science can be bad. It’s fiction afterall. Madel’s time travel sections are very entertaining.

I really wish this book were longer. I know the plot was centred around the shared experience of all the characters and we did get a good glimpse into the characters lives but I just want more.

Great book, it made me think and added new perspectives into my life.

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trips's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is difficult to rate. Its a perfectly lovely book, with overall nice pacing with good discussion on extremely relevant societal issues. Its not incredibly exciting, but it doesn't need to be to tell the story its weaving.
Its the oddest sci-fi I've ever read simply because its very obviously sci-fi while feeling like a literary fiction novel. And I really enjoyed it for that.

But at the same time...isn't this just Cloud Atlas? Well, its a lot shorter, and more relevant to our post 2020 lives, so perhaps its more palatable.
I also don't think the last 5% of the book is truly necessary, once the 'reveal' happens, I was thinking "Ok, we get it, lets wrap it up,"...but I have a feeling I'm in the minority with that opinion!

In any case, its a book I could recommend to both my older aunt and closer friends, a book we can all take something away from.

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