Sea of Tranquility: Shared Experiences

By Mariam Nooristani

Sea of Tranquility Novel by Emily St. John Mandel

The narrative revolves around a haunting moment in time where the characters in the novel experience something unexplainable. Mandel’s storytelling is simply hypnotic as she seamlessly captures the gravity of global events in elegant prose. One event covered in the novel is the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic-related work may not be your cup of tea right now. Considering this, Mandel writes about the pandemic without causing a flutter of anxiety or panic. The narrative creates a gap of time that allows for time and space to have passed sufficiently enough to where the reader feels a safe mental distance from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to providing a safe distance from COVID, the theme of shared experiences is vital to the craft of storytelling and the most satisfying part of reading Sea of Tranquility. As the past looms gently over the novel, the future stands at the forefront of it. Mandel’s projections of the future illustrate her desire to set her characters and their vulnerabilities free. She is a thoughtful writer who will engage with your sense of humanity and surprise you. Sea of Tranquility is a story worth telling and one worth reading. 

Begin with Sea of Tranquility