Getting to that Place

 

Emily St. John Mandel novel Sea of Tranquility is certainly an accomplished work.  Obviously people are buying and enjoying this book (15K review on Amazon as of this writing). This is an unfair thing to write, as I should judge the work by the work, or by similar works, but this novel does not live up to such hype.  Certainly, it is a good novel, but like nearly of Emily St. John Mandel’s work (with the possible exception of Station Eleven) there is the sense that she is holding back.  Her writing could be deeper and more emotionally resonant, but something prevents her from getting to that place.