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rainbowrachel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Confinement and Medical content
Minor: Gun violence, Suicide, and Colonisation
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Child death, Forced institutionalization, and Car accident
apersonfromflorida's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Forced institutionalization and War
sarasreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Death of parent
sunsetcity's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Confinement and Death
mandkips's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Gun violence and Suicide
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Murder
lilifane's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I recommend it to everyone, basically.
And I think now is the perfect time to read it.
I won't say anything about the plot here, because I think it is best if you go into it blind. But I was blown away by the ideas and the discussions and the mystery and the setting/atmosphere and the writing! It's such a short book (surprisingly short given the contents) and you fly through it, especially the second half.
That being said, to get the most out of it, I recommend reading Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel first, since there are some subtle and some very obvious references to these two books.
If you don't want to read those book, that's fine, Sea of Tranquility will make perfect sense.
But if you think about reading the 2 books after Sea of Tranquility, be warned that there are major spoilers for both of them in this book.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: Terminal illness and Colonisation
Minor: Gun violence, Grief, and War
massivepizzacrust's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Confinement and Forced institutionalization
starrysteph's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
We cross huge spans of time in this novel, but the writing style stays the same. I wanted more differentiation between the voices of characters in 1912 and 2020 and far into the future. I also felt that there was a lack of creativity or perhaps "realism" when we go far into the future. Why are things EXACTLY the same as they are in 2020? Yes, people live on the moon, but there isn't any nuance here.
I also felt some frustration at the recklessness and thoughtlessness of Gaspery's decisions. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but the choices he made and the shifting of timelines felt too simplistic and didn't make sense. And in general, I didn't find myself making deep emotional connections to any of the characters. (And there was some content around Olive as a writer of pandemic stories that felt like a clear self-insert and was a little silly.)
Overall, I enjoyed the concept. I enjoyed the weaving together of the stories (though it became a little cliche by the end). I enjoyed the writing style. But once I zoomed in and thought a bit more critically about the material, I found myself disappointed.
CW: chronic illness, confinement, death, colonisation, murder, gun violence, suicide, war, alcohol, pandemic, sexism
Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Gun violence, Sexism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Colonisation
literarylion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
- St. John Mandel is all-around good at what she does.
- Well-crafted and executed impeccably. No unsatisfying loose ends.
- Perfect pacing and length, unique concept.
- The character development is unreal. Even minor characters felt lived-in.
- I'd like to see her expand into a different genre. She's excellent in her element, but her past three books have been very similar to each other (not to say that I found them tedious or derivative)
- I don't think that this story needed to be
tied to The Glass Hotel . I can see how it might be satisfying to make that connection but it could easily stand alone. - Maybe I've been reading too many pandemic-focused books, but the details of the
SARS 5 pandemic felt a bit tired--maybe too similar to COVID-19
Graphic: Death, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, and Colonisation