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Maggie Stiefvater's Reviews > Sea of Tranquility
Sea of Tranquility
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A claustrophobic nautilus of a novel. The summary touts this as a time travel story but to me, it seemed less interested in time travel and more in a novelist's wistful musings on the harrowing transformation from *a writer, quiet observer of the world*, to *a writer, performing being a writer*— on what it means for her identity and time to be consumed as well as her novels.
I understand why the summary lingers on time travel; there is plenty of it in this book. But to me the book really boils down to one scene, one moment: Olive, the writer, has to excuse herself from the hotel restaurant, where she is trying to charge her meal to her room, in order to ask the front desk to remind her what her room number is in this particular hotel, this particular city. She can't remember, all times are one, all times are unreal. That is what this book is about.
I understand why the summary lingers on time travel; there is plenty of it in this book. But to me the book really boils down to one scene, one moment: Olive, the writer, has to excuse herself from the hotel restaurant, where she is trying to charge her meal to her room, in order to ask the front desk to remind her what her room number is in this particular hotel, this particular city. She can't remember, all times are one, all times are unreal. That is what this book is about.
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Reading Progress
April 24, 2022
–
Started Reading
April 24, 2022
– Shelved
April 24, 2022
– Shelved as:
adult
April 24, 2022
– Shelved as:
recommended
April 24, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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M.J.
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rated it 5 stars
Apr 25, 2022 07:19AM
Having read Station Eleven, The Glass Hotel, and now this: Always there’s a fit of existential loneliness in a hotel, every single time. Her work is just so fun to read, even when it’s achingly sad.
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I agree with you totally. To say this is a book about time travel is to indicate how shallow the read has been. This book is about how profoundly alone we all are in the world and how painful that aloneness can be.
Normally I would have started to try to figure out the answer early in the book. This time I decided to go with the flow and get carried away wherever it took me. My reward was a keen appreciation of her writing skills. She did indeed carry me through the story and I loved every minute.
That scene sounds like those dreams we all have-full of frustration and impotence. Mine is always I have to take a test but I’ve never been to the class and can’t find it. (And I’ve been out of college for 50 years. )
Wow Nancy that describes similar dreams I’ve had exactly.
Without giving away spoilers (also why I’m trying not too read many comments) does this crossover with Station Eleven or The Glass Hotel?
@maggie it does crossover with The Glass Hotel a little bit!
That's a keen observation, about the unreality that absorbs Olive's life as she's doing her book tour and playing the role of celebrated author, but I would not say that comes close to being the totality of what this book is about.
I agree with Michael here, the book is not just about Olive’s dissatisfaction with the book tour. You could make a better argument that pandemics are the central theme, and this book is trying to warn us about the need to reconsider life because of the eventuality of pandemics.
Or you could argue that the fear of living in a simulation—like Neo in the Matrix—is the main point. (I’ve had nightmares like that long before the Matrix ever came out.)
But I don’t think any of these things is an over-arching theme. I think it is a fascinating story where all these timelines get jumbled because of the actions of one time traveler. And all these different stories and characters resolve in a single moment in the Oklahoma City spaceport. I simply enjoyed the creativity and lessons of it all.
Great review! This book is about so many different things, all of them perfectly written.
This is a great review, and exactly how I felt about it.
Great review and very good analysis!
I've just finished this book and was perusing the reviews on here. Your observation is right on, Maggie. Couldn't agree more.
“Claustrophobic nautilus “ Perfect description. I went with bleak and oppressive in my review but claustrophobic is a much more appropriate word for the atmosphere of this one!
Great review. Agree, the time-travel part is just the tool to explore humanity, mortality, loneliness and the meaning of life.
Weird review. Your words don’t match your star rating at all. This is the Goodreads version of click bait.
