Sea of Tranquility

One of the greatest pleasures of being alive is reading Emily St. John Mandel.

I tried - I really did - to savor this; I read and reread it in one sitting.

How can I describe it? When I was young, my Greek Sunday School teacher asked us to share the most awe-inspiring thing we'd ever experienced. I think she was hoping for an answer alluding to the religious, but I talked about looking out the window of a plane, seeing the vastness and the specifics - one red-roofed house here, a winding road with cars like ants there - all at the same time. Grasping that (to paraphrase) there was so much world, and that each and every person in it had their own inner thoughts and wants and fears just like I did. Reeling, simultaneously stunned and soothed by the universality of it all. Having just finished it for the second time, Sea of Tranquility - set across and within times and spaces and lives - feels something like that.

I love Emily St. John Mandel's previous novels so much I worried this one couldn't possibly continue to live up. It did, and more.