Book Review: Sea of Tranquility (5/5)

Disclaimer: 

If you're one of those who read my reviews, please be advised that the following isn't like any ordinary review I make. This time I give a part of my heart, but looks like I don't. Believe me. You might be seeing a cheese cupcake, but I'm actually giving you a 3-layer chocolate filled cake with cherries, crushed almonds, and chocolate curls on top. 

(I don't actually eat chocolates, but give one to Mrs. Leighton and you win her heart.)

Book-iography

Title: The Sea of Tranquility

Author: Katja Millay

Published: September 5, 2012

Publisher: Atria Books

Format: E-book 

Pages: 488

Type: Stand-alone

Bookshelves: Inspirational, Contemporary YA, Mature YA

Read: December 18-20, 2012

Links: Goodreads 

 Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 Rating: 

What can I say?

If I tell you my first experience with the book, it might just scare you off and get away from my blog as far as you could. You could miss three fourths of your life, but I'll say it anyway. The first night I read The Sea of Tranquility was during a Christmas Party. Yup. C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S.P.A.R.T.Y. I'm pretty sure it still spells that way. I was around page 40 and I still didn't know what to get from it. Everything's a blur, but I continued anyway. Yes, I continued reading this I'm-in-page-40-and-I-don't-understand-anything-yet-book during a Christmas Party. You might be wondering what's gotten into me, but all I was thinking about was what's with the book that made me turn pages after pages. The 2nd day I read it was during our Christmas shopping. Yes, Christmas shopping. While my best friend was rummaging fashion stores after fashion stores, I was at the corner frustratingly trying to read the teeny weeny words from the failed version of an e-pub reader on my cellphone. Then again I was around page 100-something and I was as confused but intrigued as ever. The third day was a self-inflicted insomnia that I actually have, but worked better last night than any other day. I was supposed to sleep after a day's worth of walking 5 miles inside a mall. That's what normal people do, right? Well I'm not one of them. I cleaned myself, went to bed, opened my laptop and READ. Yep, I'm pretty sure  that's what I did from ten in the evening to seven in the MORNING. I just read. Then I fell asleep, woke up, did what I had to do, and READ. Again. 'Til it was finished.

Yes, my experiences with this book deserve to be on the FIRST--hopefully not the only--PARAGRAPH you'll read.  

I love this book and NO ONE CAN MAKE ME SAY OTHERWISE.
It is "distractingly pretty", if you know what I mean.

Every page is a glimpse of some part of a musical piece, whispering it's way to my ears and challenges me to stay put until all pieces are put together into a beautiful melody that I'll never forget. Unfortunately, whatever glimpse of that melody the author slips right into my ear is something I'd rather not listen to. That little melody is too painful. NO. Painful doesn't do it justice. Every single note is drenched in pain. Yes, they're heartbreaking. I can't seem to open my ears to listen to the pain, but my ears are open anyway. 

My ears are open because I recognize the pain. I've reached rock bottom just as Nastya and Josh did. I'm not giving a hint about what happened, but they've reached the deepest part of rock bottom, if there's even one. Every page is painful--no--it's full of pain. One because whatever's happening there is true. There always comes a time in our lives when we reach rock bottom and bam--we're never the same again. Either we changed for the best or for the worst. Second because--somewhere in my past, your present, or probably somebody's future--we have our own version of Nastya's vow of silence and Josh's 10 years of building to escape the pain. We just simply tune out the world and tune in to our newly created world...of pity, self-loathing, and regrets. 

Nastya and Josh did just that. Only it turns out far worse than they could imagine. The ending wasn't grand. The book isn't grand at all! There's no insta-love. No sparks. No swooning. There's just reality. It's so painful because I know it is real. The ending could have been one of the simplest, yet powerful last pages I've read this year. I hate it for it. It's simple, but it's true--it's real. There are no over-rated dramas or slow motion or sparkle in real-life pain. There's just an awful lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth, but afterwards there's just acceptance, forgiveness, surrender...and The Sea of Tranquility...

I think I know just where my Sea of Tranquility is...I think I know where yours is, too. And yes, I know that you know it. There's just one barrier in-between: DENIAL. Both of the characters subtly acknowledge this. I pray that someday you will, too. 

Enjoy reading! God bless you. 

P.S. 
After sometime, I just got tired of the world I created. There's too much pain, anger, regrets, pity, guilt. I'm the complete carbon copy of Nastya. I, too, lost something I love doing and it damaged a big part of me. But just like Nastya, I did find my Josh--my salvation. Don't worry. He's not just mine. I'd be more than happy to share Him with you. Just like Josh His name means salvation. He is JESUS. In Him I am complete, filled, and loved. He is my Sea of Tranquility. He is yours, too. You know, no matter how many times we deny Him, we'll always have a place in His heart. You will always have a special place in His heart. I pray that someday there's no more denial...only acceptance, forgiveness, surrender...and The Sea of Tranquility. ♥

laurice-with-love ♥

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