Reviews

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

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fortheres's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective

4.5

sidekicksam's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

What is time travel if not a security problem?

The book weaves timelines together from 1912 until 2401, in which scientists explore the anomaly that has happened in several moments between those two dates.

We meet each person who witnessed the anomaly, either through their own POV or through their friends' POV. Gaspery, the investigator, visits the people who have witnessed the anomaly - his POV was the most interesting one to get into, as it is at that point that stories start to connect.

I am enamoured by Mandel's writing style, and am curious to read more of her work now that I've read Sea of Tranquility. The book is mesmerizing, and I was consantly left wondering about the worlds that she has created - domes on the moon that people can live on? A Night City where you live in constant darkness because the lighting doesn't work anymore? The Far Colonies where they live underground??? But also how (for me) future pandemics cause humanity to change their way of interacting with each other, i.e. Gaspery being weirded out at the fact people give hands and kiss each other's cheeks when he visits Vincent in 2007, show that there is a lot below the surface of what is shown and said, which aren't explicity explored but still tangible enough that you get an idea of the how and what of it.

One of the themes explored is human morality, which I thought was both well-done and a bit oversimplified. I didn't get why

Gaspery would throw away 5 years of training and repeated warnings not to, to warn a woman he's known for moments. But then again, knowledge can be a burden, and though Olive was perhaps not as significant in the overall timeline for him to not be immediately lost in time, and wouldn't you stop something awful from happening if it was imminent but preventable?

Perhaps it was my fractured way of reading the book - I could only read snippets each time and it ended up taking me almost two weeks to finish it (it's only 260 pages) - that I didn't love it in the end. I enjoyed reading it a lot though, and would like to explore the story again in the future to dive deeper into the stories and themes.

jennapfingsten's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I hate time travel so this book was a no from me

haunted_atoms's review against another edition

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4.75

I just really love time travel stories. Even the ones that completely screw with your head are just the best. This one, however, was very easy to follow and came together nicely. Very quick read.