Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

52 reviews

xosirenox's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Death

Moderate: War, Grief, and Colonisation

haexelhasel's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

1.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Gore, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, and War

Minor: Murder and Suicide

miller8d's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Emily St. John Mandel is the only author I’ve ever read as an adult whose writing is effortlessly legible— I don’t have to drag myself through the continuation of the logic, the story, the names and details. She is an incredible world-builder and crafts her books in a way that kindly takes all pressure off the reader to painstakingly translate the story as they go, and she does it without losing the substance nor the sophisticated chaos of the story. She includes unnecessary yet enriching details everywhere so that you never quite catch on to the endings (unlike so many stories that make me think “Oh, well, that must be foreshadowing something”). I had a complicated

feeling of disappointment at the ending of the story: I was pulled to finish this book in two days because I was so excited to learn the explanation for the anomaly, and when I turned the final page, I said “Oh, come on” out loud because I did not feel like I got one at all in the moment. I found the twist exciting and sweet and logical but emotionally frustrating at first. But since I completed the book twenty minutes ago, I’ve realized I’m not actually disappointed because that is actually the most natural and truthful ending there ever could have been, and it rings true to the entire story, to the nature of time and space and boring explanations for exciting anomalies. It shines light on the entire hero’s journey and disarms us with a lonely sense of naked responsibility over the choices we make and especially over the universally lackluster inevitability of the logical consequences of the choices we make. I also really love how Mandel softly infused a strong clarity of anti-colonization and anti-cop sanity throughout the actions and beliefs of the lovable characters— refreshing to read a sci-fi/fictional/apocalyptic piece that doesn’t bury the lead of what evils are obviously leading us toward the darkness (colonization and cops, etc.), and refreshing to read any fictional book that pursues a leftist narrative through world-building and plot points, instead of just veering recklessly into harmful tokenization, superimposed racial dynamics written by a white author, and so on. I also just realized I liked the red herring of Vincent falling off into the sea— at the time, I was 100% sure she’d been teleported by the anomaly and that we must meet her later on. Fun to think that perhaps she did teleport somehow but that we’ll never know because Gaspery never knows.

I loved this book. 
Note: I pictured Gaspery as Jacob Wysocki from College Humor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Death, Mental illness, War, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, Deportation, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Body horror

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Vomit, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, and Car accident

I’m quite a sensitive person and even I’d say that despite the content warnings for this book, it is not an upsetting read (at least for me). The mentions of upsetting topics are justified and unsurprising in the context of the book, and very rarely is any upsetting detail given for the sake of indulgent displeasure. The bits that did upset me were

the bit about someone losing both their two partners tragically to sudden death, and the gnarly set of detailed memories toward the end of the book about a veteran’s battlefield trauma.

annaofjesup's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Confinement, Stalking, Grief, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

Minor: Death of parent and Suicide

Derealization, pandemic, COVID

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Plot: 3.5★
Prose: 3.5★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 4.75★/3.75★
Characters: 3★
Worldbuilding: 4★
Ending: 4★

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Grief, and Medical content

Minor: Gun violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Murder, Sexism, Stalking, War, Colonisation, Panic attacks/disorders, and Forced institutionalization

abyissmal's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.25

I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book! I didn’t have any prior expectations so I entered this book as a blank slate. I went off, not too long ago, on a tangent about a certain craving for a more quiet sci-fi book. Lo and behold, there this book was!

“Sea of Tranquility” sets itself at several different points of time at different places—within and out of Earth. At its core, it is a story about connection; our desire to be connected when we’re apart, when we’ve bid goodbyes with loved ones too soon, or when we crave to find meaning in life that lacks of it. “Sea of Tranquility” is a lonely book. Often, it spends itself through the perspectives of different characters when they’re far removed from their circumstances at different points of their lives. From a man’s who wanders aimlessly after having been isolated by his family, to a writer who finds herself struggling to grasp the reality around her while being separated from her family.

Solitude is fully and thoughtfully realized through Mandel’s writing. It is present in the very lives these characters go through. When the blue sky stretches far too wide they feel overexposed by it. When their thoughts wander in the middle of conversations. When they simply miss the presence of other people. It’s almost always present in some shape or form and consistently so even as we jump between different timelines and narratives. It is the one unifying thing that ties them together.

However, after spending most of the time jumping between different timelines and narratives in “Sea of Tranquility”, I find myself having a difficulty trying to ground myself in these characters. To fully understand them as characters—their desires, their fears, their stories. It solidifies itself in the notion that perhaps we can find meaning in life, regardless whether this was real or not. But I can’t help but think, does the book do that justice? Has it truly believed in its concrete conclusion that life is precious regardless of its unreality? Especially after spending plenty of the book in solitude or, at the very least, feeling lonely?

I don’t know. Honestly, I still find the middle section of the book difficult to sit through. Mostly because of this confusion in what it wants to say. It has reached to a conclusion that I hoped for, but was it something that was thoroughly explored? I’m not so sure. Even so, I still enjoyed this book mostly because of Mandel’s writing especially the way she effectively use structures and style through different perspectives. I appreciate this somewhat quieter lens on science fiction and honestly, the lack of this book only makes me want to explore more of stories like this.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Colonisation and Gun violence

Minor: Gun violence and Suicide

stagemanaginger's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.75

Hard to follow at times. I loved Station Eleven so I thought I would love this, too, but it was mostly a struggle to get through it even with it being so short

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, and Terminal illness

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

What a mind fuck?! I’m not a big sci fi reader but this was amazing! It was a quick read with unexpected twists and beautiful writing. I loved the unique story and cast of characters. It could be confusing at times keeping everything straight, but I’m simply blown away!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Misogyny, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicide

lizzie24601's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Death of parent

franklola's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Colonisation, Death, Grief, Murder, Suicide, Blood, and Gun violence