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Book Review Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

May 18, 2022

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Well I have loved this author in the past for her astonishing work of Station Eleven, one of my favorite books of 2018. It’s about a pandemic by the way…weird. I was excited to read her next novel The Glass Hotel, but it just fell flat for me. So I was cautiously hopeful about her latest book. And, I loved it. Here is my Book Review Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.

In this novel Mandel continues her imaginative work into “speculative fiction”, a genre that takes the reader through both natural and unnatural, magical and metaphysical and futuristic. But, it’s not SciFi. It’s much more. This book had some elements that reminded me of Cloud Cockoo Land, one of my favorite books of 2021. I love a writer who can imagine life in a completely different realm but make it is believable.

In Sea of Tranquility we meet a wide range of characters, in a wide range of time frames, starting with Edwin in 1912 to Olive two hundred years later and finally Gaspery-Jacques another several centuries in the future. How these people are connected, and reconnected through time travel, is the crux of the story. Can the past be changed, should it be?

You’ll find yourself questioning your own daily reality, as questions are explored that we are grappling with on earth today including climate, pandemic, and violence. Thank you for reading my Book Review Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.

*****Five stars for Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Read last week’s review of So Brave Young and Handsome by Leif Enger

My current read The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Book Review Station Eleven

Reading Wednesday

April 25, 2018

Laureen

Location: Book Review

Book Review Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

I loved this book. I had added this book to my list ages ago, finding it on a must read 2017 list. But it took forever for it to show up available on Kindle and I had forgotten about it.

But wow. Worth the wait. One of my favorite reads so far this year. Another book I expect to see become a movie. But read the book – don’t wait for the movie.

Mandel creates a cast of likeable characters with a variety of interests and histories including a wide range of ages, talents, abilities, ethnicities, genders and economic backgrounds. These characters unwillingly become entwined when the entire earth is subject to a pandemic flu. The flu ends the world as we know it and kills 99% of the population.

Whoa say what? And I loved this book? I truly did. Frightening because it’s very believable, captivating because you feel for the characters, frightening because it’s plausible, well-written with an interesting and well thought out plot development and oh did I mention Frightening??

My husband read this book and also loved it. The funny thing is if I had been told the plot of this book I may not have read it. But I am really glad I did. A perfect mix of sci-fi, drama, mystery and suspense.

Go read Station Eleven! Five Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

See last week’s review of Little Fires Everywhere.

This post includes affiliate links and I may be compensated if you purchase this book. Any money earned will go back to the maintenance and upkeep of this blog. Thank you.

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