By Larissa Page
I have been a fan of Emily St John Mandel’s writing since reading Station Eleven a few years ago. I was thrilled to read The Glass Hotel last year when it was released, and Sea of Tranquility has been my most anticipated read since I heard it was in the works. It did not disappoint—much like the other two, it floored me. When I finished the novel, I reflected on how Mandel gives us these seemingly unrelated and yet incredibly linked narratives, characters, and backstories so expertly.
Sea of Tranquility gives us a diverse cast of characters: an exiled young British man living on Vancouver Island in 1912, a bestselling author of a pandemic novel on a book tour when an actual pandemic breaks out, a young Vincent (you’ll remember her from The Glass Hotel) videoing her walk through the Caiette woods as well as her friend Mirella, and a time traveller who battles with whether or not to take actions in the past that will impact the future. Each character is given a small section of this story, and yet, each character and setting are developed just as much as we need as the reader.
The ultimate plot of Sea of Tranquility is not immediately clear, in fact, it is not clear until after halfway into the story. It is clear there is a thread of connection through each section but what and how isn’t explained until our story reaches its farthest dive into the future world and I for one was shocked at the direction it took. Unlike Mandel’s other books, this one takes a step into the sci-fi genre while remaining in the literary fiction genre. I was very impressed with how this was done. There was not so much sci-fi as to make me feel confused but enough to make me understand how important to the storyline it was. I loved the future world that was built and felt like I could see and understand the setting.
I wasn’t excepting certain sections of the story to be so heavy on a pandemic world either. I guess I sort of assumed that since Mandel had already done the pandemic topic in Station Eleven, it wouldn’t be so heavy here. Olive, the author character, gives us a picture of what it is like to live through a lockdown with virtual meetings and school, being unable to leave your house, and stockpiling groceries. These are things that all of Mandel’s readers will now, of course, be intimately familiar with. Especially the fact that the author had previously published a pandemic novel and was on a book tour when a pandemic started and subsequently in lockdown. I am so curious as to how much of that section is autobiographical. Mandel is the bestselling author of a pandemic novel that was being produced for TV and the author of a new book right at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. I really felt the emotion behind this part of the book and wonder if that may have been an outlet for her own feelings that she experienced during our own pandemic.
The ending ofSea of Tranquility surprised me, and I felt it was a satisfying conclusion. I briefly wondered in the middle of the novel whether I’d like it as much as her other works, and I have to say yes, I absolutely do. I already want to read it again, and I will absolutely be recommending it to others.