Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

62 reviews

miller8d's review

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

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

reggiethebird's review

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Colonisation

decaying's review

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

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

discarded_dust_jacket's review

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Mandel’s writing is so comfortably and effortlessly propulsive. I have a lot of trouble focusing to read, so when an author is able to write in a way that tugs my eyes and my mind through the chapters fluidly and without the temptation of distraction, it’s something special. With this book, she accomplished that.

I feel like I don’t have much to say about the plot itself. It seems complicated on its face, but it’s actually very simple, and honestly, it’s a story that’s been told before. I don’t think that works against it; I think Mandel’s take on the trope is refreshing and the pandemic element is easy to connect with for obvious reasons. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Suicide, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Colonisation

franklola's review

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

clemrain's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, War, Death, and Colonisation

Minor: Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Murder, Racism, War, Genocide, and Gore

tbhwhoknows's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

a bit white. first half was meh but second half and ending tying everything was very satisfying. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation