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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.
Note: I pictured Gaspery as Jacob Wysocki from College Humor.
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 wereastronut's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Grief
Minor: Gun violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, and Grief
bugcollector's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
nice time travel scheme
and what is it with the gays dying
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and War
Minor: Blood and Body horror
owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
"This is the strange lesson of living in a pandemic: life can be tranquil in the face of death."
I am in two minds about Sea of Tranquility. I loved this book and I continue to love Mandel's writing. I thought the fractured narrative style served the story really well and all of Olive's narrative sections that potentially reflected some of Mandel's own thoughts on Station Eleven, its public reception and the publishing world were extremely moving. I recently read Mitchell's The Bone Clocks which has a somewhat similar but far less balanced and moving storyline about feeling cynical whilst moving through the writing and publishing world. Mandel's novel took similar concerns and material and elevated it. It deftly handled the pleasures and difficulties of being a public figure who produces art and the range of consequences this has on people's personal lives. Mandel does this in a way that didn't make me feel tired, bored or embarrassed. The overall plot and themes were also really compelling and the prose itself is just beautiful and refined. I've also found this is one of the first pieces of media / fiction I've engaged with in the last two year that addresses the pandemic, and does so in a way that addresses how profound and unjust the ongoing loss of COVID-19 has been, whilst also providing an escapist element that provokes the imagination and encourages the reader to pursue the story.
At the same time, I wish there was more of this book - it sometimes moved far too fast and I wanted to spend more time with the characters, especially Edwin and Mirella. The ending felt a little rushed and Gaspery's story resolved itself too neatly. I wish his story had been weaved throughout from the beginning and that some of the earlier narrative sections were longer. That said, I really enjoyed this and I hope Mandel continues to write sci-fi that is as innovative and moving as this book is.
I am in two minds about Sea of Tranquility. I loved this book and I continue to love Mandel's writing. I thought the fractured narrative style served the story really well and all of Olive's narrative sections that potentially reflected some of Mandel's own thoughts on Station Eleven, its public reception and the publishing world were extremely moving. I recently read Mitchell's The Bone Clocks which has a somewhat similar but far less balanced and moving storyline about feeling cynical whilst moving through the writing and publishing world. Mandel's novel took similar concerns and material and elevated it. It deftly handled the pleasures and difficulties of being a public figure who produces art and the range of consequences this has on people's personal lives. Mandel does this in a way that didn't make me feel tired, bored or embarrassed. The overall plot and themes were also really compelling and the prose itself is just beautiful and refined. I've also found this is one of the first pieces of media / fiction I've engaged with in the last two year that addresses the pandemic, and does so in a way that addresses how profound and unjust the ongoing loss of COVID-19 has been, whilst also providing an escapist element that provokes the imagination and encourages the reader to pursue the story.
At the same time, I wish there was more of this book - it sometimes moved far too fast and I wanted to spend more time with the characters, especially Edwin and Mirella. The ending felt a little rushed and Gaspery's story resolved itself too neatly. I wish his story had been weaved throughout from the beginning and that some of the earlier narrative sections were longer. That said, I really enjoyed this and I hope Mandel continues to write sci-fi that is as innovative and moving as this book is.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Body horror, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, and Vomit
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