Review of SEA OF TRANQUILITY
The third and best novel in a prescient well-written trilogy
Mandel is a beautiful writer. This novel is graced with her seemingly effortless style. It is, in fact, better written than the previous two. The trilogy is one built on stilts but may remain in place for quite a while. Certainly, one reason is its topical nature. She wrote about a pandemic well before COVID and it returns in a clever and indirect way in this novel’s equally clever plot. That is the rub. I am writing this well after I read it a couple months ago and I found myself struggling more than usual to locate it in my memory. The plot returns first, the rest of the book remains in my 67-year-old misty mind. It is hard not to admire its originality, its place in a very good trilogy and its spare but evocative writing. It is worth reading though I wonder if its cleverness was achieved at the expense of its purpose. I might be unfairly tainting this excellent read with a built-in suspicion of science fiction in general. I keep the door open for dystopic literature and Mandel remains uncomfortably, for now, in that tenuous space. I wish she would take a stab at a more traditional genre … maybe a la Jane Gardham.
SEA OF TRANQUILITY
Emily St John Mandel
2022 272 pages