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Longing for What We Never Had: A Review of Emily St John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility

/ Ben Berman Ghan

Ancillary Review of Books

Longing for What We Never Had: A Review of Emily St John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility

Ben Berman Ghan

Under Review:
Sea of Tranquility. Emily St. John Mandel. Knopf, April 5, 2022.

Within Emily St John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility, time is a mountain you climb, callouses forming along tired and bloody fingers, giddy from the knowledge a long fall might await you, dread building. However, when at last you reach the peak, you find your toughened hands the perfect tools for descent. Climbing back down again can be done with confidence, enmeshed in the surety that soft ground awaits, and everything that was once unknown can now be seen with comfortable perspective and clarity.

This isMandel’s sixth novel, building on the themes and premises of Station Eleven(2014) and The Glass Hotel(2020). Its connection to those previous works is sometimes deeply meaningful, and sometimes only…

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I’m going back to school again, again!

/ Ben Berman Ghan

I am proud to share that I will be beginning a Ph.D. in English Literature this coming fall at The University of Calgary in the fall of 2022! I am very grateful for the opportunity to resume and further my studies, especially in a department so keenly interested in the critical and creative sides of … Continue reading I’m going back to school again, again!

Untangling the Cassette (At Audible.com)

/ Ben Berman Ghan

When I was tiny, I still read before I could read. In the dark and under blankets, voices whispered from foamy, tinny speakers, telling me of other worlds, pirates, monsters, and talking mice.  Then everything would go "ssshhhhhwipwip," and I'd have to spend ten minutes or so reaching into the bowels of the sony walkman, desperate … Continue reading Untangling the Cassette (At Audible.com)

The Visitation Seeds have landed! (Novella links)

/ Ben Berman Ghan

Tonight, the 2020 chapbooks of 845 Press, Rose Garden Press, and Baseline Press were set loose! and along with them, my novella Visitation Seeds has been officially unleashed onto the world! You can buy 3 different digital formats right here from from the 845 Press Catalogue as well as picking it up as a kindle … Continue reading The Visitation Seeds have landed! (Novella links)

Writing in times of crisis

/ Ben Berman Ghan

Hello everyone, It’s sort of shocking to realize that my last post was barely a month ago. March was 80 years long. In case you missed it, you can read my poem A Bird of Flesh and Futures in Cypress Poetry Journal as their first piece. They are quickly building a wonderful little catalogue that … Continue reading Writing in times of crisis