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jordan_dc 's review for:
Sea of Tranquility
by Emily St. John Mandel
A little softer than I usually like my sci-fi but well-written, I still really enjoyed it! Not every book I read has to be an 800 page omnibus that redefines physics and encompasses the birth and death of the universe contained within. Some of ending doesn’t really make sense to me (see separate section below) but I really liked the setup for it! I think the narrator (G) is supposed to be unreliable in some aspects — I may be stupid and have missed something but I don’t think that was foreshadowed enough to be a pivotal part of the climax. Very very much liked the more optimistic and hopeful tone of the book. Even with pandemics and disasters, there is still chance to do good and help people. Helping people and having a good life is what matters, even in the face of cosmic horror/nihilism. G saves a life and instead of the [spoilers] Moon succumbing to a pandemic because of potential infected escapee, she gets to just live her life with her family. He tells Edwin the truth and sure he still dies within 48 hours, but he at least got to give him peace in the end. Even if the face of existential nihilism, being a good person still is possible and is its own reward.
Just a lot of simple yet smart writing throughout. I guess G being a poor observer is foreshadowed immediately before by not checking the files? I looooove how the violin notes/Talia’s Lullaby originate from themselves. Great loop. A song that never was written but just has always existed within time…awesome. Talia’s name(s) are very well done too — good work picking a name that can be shortened many different ways. The realization that him saying Mirella’s name is not ominous foreshadowing but just recognition and understanding is great too!
Prefacing my anomaly analysis with: the logistics don’t really matter, this is softer sci-fi, the point of this book is to discover that leading a fulfilling life and being kind to people is more important than finding out an answer at any cost or solving a mystery(another example — G gets a good life eventually [and doesn’t even mind prison that much!] but Zoey never really does. Also wait Zoey knew all along????). The universe being a simulation is a very useful hand wave to justify the time travel rules not being as strict, and the universe being forgiving at large — this simulation is one that encourages kindness.
But time to get into the nuts and bolts, heavy spoilers. The aircraft terminal portion of the anomaly makes perfect sense (assuming that G really is that unobservant). G unknowingly meets himself, and having two of the same instance of a person causes a glitch. Why does the forest also glitch? I initially thought it was because the universe searched for instances of G being in the same place but just displaced chronologically, and he has been to the forest twice. However, he’s also been to the Moon colonies in separate time periods, why wasn’t the moon included? I think the author intended it to be another Stable Time Loop that causes itself (like the lullaby itself) — he only wound up at the terminal due to the video of the forest, so he had to be at the forest/the forest had to appear. Just because it had to, to ensure events. Oh wait maybe the it’s the universe realizing the anomaly needed the forest to appear also to make the anomaly happen at all (by prompting him to meet himself)? In-text it’s explained by saying the forest appeared because he was there but that should mean the Moon Colonies are there too. Unreliable narrator strikes again? Nobody online really figured it out either to my knowledge. Oh well. Maybe it’s meta-commentary — the whole point isn’t finding an answer!
Just a lot of simple yet smart writing throughout. I guess G being a poor observer is foreshadowed immediately before by not checking the files? I looooove how the violin notes/Talia’s Lullaby originate from themselves. Great loop. A song that never was written but just has always existed within time…awesome. Talia’s name(s) are very well done too — good work picking a name that can be shortened many different ways. The realization that him saying Mirella’s name is not ominous foreshadowing but just recognition and understanding is great too!
Prefacing my anomaly analysis with: the logistics don’t really matter, this is softer sci-fi, the point of this book is to discover that leading a fulfilling life and being kind to people is more important than finding out an answer at any cost or solving a mystery(another example — G gets a good life eventually [and doesn’t even mind prison that much!] but Zoey never really does. Also wait Zoey knew all along????). The universe being a simulation is a very useful hand wave to justify the time travel rules not being as strict, and the universe being forgiving at large — this simulation is one that encourages kindness.
But time to get into the nuts and bolts, heavy spoilers. The aircraft terminal portion of the anomaly makes perfect sense (assuming that G really is that unobservant). G unknowingly meets himself, and having two of the same instance of a person causes a glitch. Why does the forest also glitch? I initially thought it was because the universe searched for instances of G being in the same place but just displaced chronologically, and he has been to the forest twice. However, he’s also been to the Moon colonies in separate time periods, why wasn’t the moon included? I think the author intended it to be another Stable Time Loop that causes itself (like the lullaby itself) — he only wound up at the terminal due to the video of the forest, so he had to be at the forest/the forest had to appear. Just because it had to, to ensure events. Oh wait maybe the it’s the universe realizing the anomaly needed the forest to appear also to make the anomaly happen at all (by prompting him to meet himself)? In-text it’s explained by saying the forest appeared because he was there but that should mean the Moon Colonies are there too. Unreliable narrator strikes again? Nobody online really figured it out either to my knowledge. Oh well. Maybe it’s meta-commentary — the whole point isn’t finding an answer!