A time travel pandemic story – Broomfield Enterprise

“Sea of Tranquility” by Emily St. John Mandel

Do you like science fiction? Do you understand time travel and the skipping back and forth between centuries? Can you understand metaphysics even a little bit? Then this book is for you.

I, on the other hand, struggle with all of the above, which made this book a challenge for me. I liked Mandel’s earlier book “Station Eleven,” which had some strangeness to it, but this one kept me scratching my head throughout.

The main character is a man named Gaspery, who lives in one of the three domed cities on the moon. Through connections with his scientist sister, he gets a job as a time traveler. His assignment is to go back and “fix” glitches in history. These anomalies may decide whether a person lives or dies, so the work is important.

But Gaspery takes pity on one person and warns here about the fate that is coming her way (a pandemic). She manages to escape, which screws up the fix Gaspery was supposed to make, and gets him in serious trouble with the Time Travel Committee.

I have greatly simplified the plot of this novel, but, hopefully, there is enough to tempt you to read the book. Maybe afterward you can explain it to me!

Kerry Pettis is a retired elementary school teacher and children’s librarian who has lived in Broomfield since 1975. Reading is her favorite occupation.