Quick to read and gripping
5 stars
Was easy to read - that's what I needed at this time, and enjoyed the characters and plot. A great author.
Paperback, 408 pages
Published May 17, 2022 by Random House Large Print.
4 stars
(11 reviews)
mouse reviewed Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Lovely
5 stars
I found this touching and hopeful, I liked how poignantly the characters were drawn, and the themes of kindness and the vicissitudes of life.
My main complaint was that I think the simulation theory stuff was basically an unnecessary macguffin and didn't add to the themes (at least as far as they interested me).
David H reviewed Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
A hopeful pandemic novel
4 stars
I liked the story of isolated humans trying to find meaning in their lives, all tangled together and touched by the miraculous. It left me feeling hopeful and reassured.
Review of 'Sea of Tranquility' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Nice short book. Nothing groundbreaking but adequately conveyed it's purpose.
Erica Molesworth reviewed Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
meh
2 stars
a little overrated
Enjoyable, even once you've guessed how it’ll all go down
4 stars
I liked it because it was well written and short. Longer would have been boring, shorter would have cut too much. I wonder how the author's experience during the pandemic influenced the Last Book Tour Before the End of the World chapter (at least one discussion in the book was real—but from 2015). I liked this book very much, but I liked Station Eleven better, hence the 4 stars.
Derek Caelin reviewed Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Incredible
5 stars
This book washed over me. I loved the story and the way it made me feel about family, about time. The way the different stories knit together, the moments of realization that the author flawlessly sets up and executes... all of it. Lovely.
Brian Plunkett reviewed Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Review of 'Sea of Tranquility' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Great, imaginative story. 4.5 stars. I was completely hooked right from the start. I would recommend reading The Glass Hotel first.
Rainer reviewed Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Rich in wonder and relatability
5 stars
Content warning Contains slight spoilers after 1st paragraph
Emily St. John Mandel is such an incredibly talented author and this book is richly written. The characters are intriguing and the plot will kind of blow your mind, put it back together, and then blow it again.
When Emily St. John Mandel wrote her first book about pandemics (Station Eleven), very few of us had ever lived through one. Now, we all have the experience of COVID lockdowns, being confined to career/education-by-Zoom, not seeing another human in person for weeks on end, not hugging family members for months on end...this book is highly informed by those experiences, and this author is the exact write person to write us through that shared experience (even if this pandemic is set a few hundred years in the future).
I am an Emily St. John Mandel fanboi for life.
Koven Smith reviewed Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Fun, lightweight
3 stars
A breezy, fun(ish, given some of the subject matter) read. The resolution of the book hinges, somewhat, on a twist that is revealed near the end, and I must confess that I was finding the book far more satisfying up to the point that the twist was revealed. It just felt a bit too “plotty” to me in a book that otherwise revels in nice details.
bbbhltz reviewed Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Absolutely Meta
5 stars
Fantastic to a point I did not expect. Very meta, and covers aspects that took me by surprise. I rarely read the descriptions of books written by authors that I have read before, and here it totally paid off. If you have read the previous two works by this author, you will like where this book takes you.