Sea of Tranquility: A novel

disclaimer: never read any of the author’s other books, which are apparently referenced in this one

hey this was a fun read! I didn’t have many expectations going into it, and it pleasantly surprised me. there’s a progressive reveal that I think is done well, elements of sci-fi, humor, varied characters that feel quite real… at one point the mc does something that seems out of character but other than that it was good. the multiple perspectives works very well

someone else compared it to cloud atlas which is a book I loved and a comparison I made as well while reading. however I thought the goals of each book were pretty different, and they’re mostly just similar in the (unique) narrative structure they use.

it seems like some other reviews are getting hung up because this is part of a series (which I didn’t know!) and/or they expected this to be deep and meaningful and life changing or have really good world building. I didn’t have expectations of it at all so maybe that’s why none of this stuff bothered me. if you just want an interesting and funny book that has a message but isn’t too philosophical, I would definitely recommend :)

rating: 4 stars

This book lives rent free in my mind, and it inspired me to reread The Glass Hotel. I love a book written out of order or with multiple narrators whose perspectives we have to balance. St. John Mandel places scenes so familiar to us we can inhabit them inside of fantastic plots that remain with you in scenes as vivid as Toni Morrison’s.

A little matrix. A little butterfly effect. A little historical fiction. A little pandemic. A little cloud atlas. A little cheese.

A tale of unusual circumstances and futuristic possibilities.

There have been many of books that felt like they dragged on too long. This is not one of those. The story flowed so well, and over time once everything connected the book felt special and ended too quickly.