A life lived in a simulation is still a life

Eventhough I miss Emily's early themes with no time travel or other sci-fi elements,I must admit this one is magnificent. Emily is always the same: isolated ambbients, people incapable of contacting each other, spiritual abandonment, a multi-layered, sinuous plot written in a flowless living new English. In addition it is always full of wit and humanity. I adored every revelatory paragraph of it. For me she is no doubt the most significant Canadian author of our times.
Even if you encounter characters of 'The Glass Hotel', this is definitely not a sequel. If you're new to the Emily universe or this would be your second after "Station 11" I recomend you to try "The Glass Hotel". And if you want a glimse of the early Emily, purchase the genial 'The Singer's Gun' for a start.
Voices were so expressive, loved them!

5 people found this helpful

What a plot!!

I loved this. The plot, the pace, the characters...all amazing.

The differing lengths of the chapters was refreshing and helped break up the book. I think that the amount of information being thrown at you at times required a bit of a change in pace.

Though admittedly, I'm not sure how I feel about reading about the Covid 19 pandemic in fiction...maybe it's too soon for me??

I was impressed by how everything was linked and how smoothly the story looped back. By the last quarter of the book my mouth was hanging open in shock and awe lol

This was definitely an example of the time travel trope done right

1 person found this helpful

Fantastic story line

Not my usual read / listen but was immediately immersed in the story and the character narration. The
multiple sorry tellers absolutely added to the enjoyment. Fully deserves the acclaim and awards this book has revived, best start again.

Brilliant !!

I have loved Station Eleven , the Glass Hotel and now this . Probably the best of them all

Good ambition but leaves you wanting

Loved the storytelling and performance of the readers. However the story falls short in focusing on less interesting parts of the story and not providing any satisfying answers to other parts.

Boring as hell

I’ve come to two conclusions about this book
1 why did I get it
2 how do I get rid of it

Boring and uninteresting

It seems to me that the author is just fulfilling an obligation to her publisher and using this “novella” as an opportunity to vent her frustrations and annoyances regarding her undertakings of obligatory book promotion tours. Pointless and insulting.

Excellent take on time travel

Stories about time travel can be convoluted, filled with holes, and with the writers trying too hard to be clever. Though short, Emily St. John Mandel's 'Sea of Tranquility' is captivating and does an excellent job of telling a closed loop time travel story mixed with the possibility of reality being a simulation, primarily because it's character driven, rather than being hard sci-fi.

The only criticism I have is the ending is somewhat abrupt, and the voice actor playing Gaspery sounds a bit odd which is a bit jarring.

Other than that. A wonderful human story, that has so much depth despite of being so concise. Well worth listening to.

Great book! A captivating listen

One of my favourite audiobooks of 2023 so far. The story is told the point of view of different narrators, across different time periods, who share a common experience with a misterious phenomenon. The multiple narrators structure requires some attention at first, but it's very easy to get into the story as the connections between the characters and events are drawn so carefully. And the more details I learnt, the more I wanted to know.
The book has elements of science fiction and time travel, but it also manages to have introspection and emotions at the same time, which is is something I really enjoyed. I also found it interesting that a character in this book appears in a different book of this author as well.
The underlying structure and histories between different times, people and even planets are perfectly designed and everything comes together at the end beautifully and with a surprise. This was my first book by this author and I really loved her writing and style. Overall, a great book!

Emily St John Mandel and time travel!!!

Station Eleven is one of my favourite books, but I’ve never gone back to any of Emily St John. Mandel‘s other works. I have absolutely no idea why as this is everything I could’ve possibly wanted. Great characters, really clever, fantastic work.