Sea of Tranquility

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (2022) I said I was through with time travel stories, but I guess not, since I knew that going in—plus, I like the title so much. Every few years someone comes out with a book or movie with this title, which is understandable—though if this book makes a big splash (maybe it has) the next might have to wait for a while—or else go back in time and publish it. One problem with time travel, the more you think about it, the less fun it gets—so you’re tempted to just turn your brain off and accept the fantasy—but where’s the fun in that? The fun here, though, is that it’s presented as a puzzle, so there’s that mystery element of putting the clues together, so that’s pretty satisfying. Also, it’s funny—there’s a depiction of one of the central characters who is a novelist and is on a book tour, and it’s hilarious. As far as the time travel storyline, one of my favorite bits is that time travel is facilitated by the “Time Institute”—a powerful organization whose main objective seems to be seeing that the time travel that does happen doesn’t ultimately affect the timeline of the Time Institute. The storylines involving all this are pared down to a few incidents over several centuries, and the events themselves are lowkey and seemingly inconsequential. It kind of reminded me of the effective approach by that indie movie a few years back (can’t remember its name) where not much happened, but there was a lot to think about. The book is pleasingly sparse, and unlike the bloated, maximalist approach of some science fiction. Besides also being a mystery, it owes something to detective fiction—out of which comes the main character who is not the smartest person in the story, but very relatable. Ultimately, the heart of the novel is the choices he makes— legitimately tough decisions that come alive for the reader—and his actions have real consequences.

7.5.23