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lukiut's review against another edition
3.0
This book was nothing but average for me. It indeed dealt with grief in a very real way, but didn't impress me that much. I would recommend giving it a try if you feel like it suits your fancy!
sausome's review against another edition
5.0
Beautifully quiet; despairingly, darkly, illuminatingly contemplative; tragically, silently, frustratingly fractured, lonely, and normal ... this book is like a quiet murmuring or muttering in the vacuum of space, or at the yawning expanse of the ocean. Sparse, deep, rich, whispering, sad, profound ...
aurorabulgaris's review against another edition
4.0
Beautifully written book, a novel idea. Enjoyed reading it a lot. I only wish I knew if he went back... :)
karieh13's review against another edition
2.0
The premise of “The Infinite Tides” seemed too awful, too heartbreakingly coincidental to bear. The idea that a man, at the moment his lifelong dream came true, would lose his only child, and after the fact, his wife, seemed an idea almost too big to write about.
That turned out not to be true. The main character, Keith, is so mechanical, so incredibly hard to relate to, that by the middle of the book, I’d lost all sympathy for him. The author does a good job laying out exactly how Keith’s mind works (think zeroes and ones, parabolas and straight lines) – and yet Keith is so far removed from nearly all human emotion that it feels almost like a waste of time and energy to try and connect with this person that seems more like a machine.
“It had been just at the moment of his greatness. Of course it had. Were the intersection of vectors to coincide with some other moment, some other instant that was here and then past, would anything have changed?”
The distantness of Keith’s thoughts about the moment of his daughter’s death fits perfectly with his location at the time of the event – but the reader never gets any closer to him than that. Every time he thinks about his daughter or his wife – or the fact that he’s lost them both – his thoughts are so analytical that it is as if he is examining his life under a glass slide. Which is fine, I suppose, but it does present difficulty for any reader who wants to connect with the character.
At some times, Keith seems close to a recognizable emotion…but it then dissolves into facts/equations/solutions. “He did not clearly know where he had been when she had careened into the oak tree in his car. In orbit, somewhere, above Earth. He had occupied some stretch of fluid miles, but what did such a location mean? He had been on the surface during most of her cheerleading activities and had failed to attend a single event. Perhaps that was the true calculus, here as everywhere: the calculus of location and the understanding that the numbers themselves were possessed of a fundamental gravity comprised not of fluid motion but of fixedness.”
The other characters in the book were a bit more human and the description of the sameness of suburban life were interesting, but overall, what seemed like the perfect setup for a touching and emotional novel turned into more of a math textbook instead.
That turned out not to be true. The main character, Keith, is so mechanical, so incredibly hard to relate to, that by the middle of the book, I’d lost all sympathy for him. The author does a good job laying out exactly how Keith’s mind works (think zeroes and ones, parabolas and straight lines) – and yet Keith is so far removed from nearly all human emotion that it feels almost like a waste of time and energy to try and connect with this person that seems more like a machine.
“It had been just at the moment of his greatness. Of course it had. Were the intersection of vectors to coincide with some other moment, some other instant that was here and then past, would anything have changed?”
The distantness of Keith’s thoughts about the moment of his daughter’s death fits perfectly with his location at the time of the event – but the reader never gets any closer to him than that. Every time he thinks about his daughter or his wife – or the fact that he’s lost them both – his thoughts are so analytical that it is as if he is examining his life under a glass slide. Which is fine, I suppose, but it does present difficulty for any reader who wants to connect with the character.
At some times, Keith seems close to a recognizable emotion…but it then dissolves into facts/equations/solutions. “He did not clearly know where he had been when she had careened into the oak tree in his car. In orbit, somewhere, above Earth. He had occupied some stretch of fluid miles, but what did such a location mean? He had been on the surface during most of her cheerleading activities and had failed to attend a single event. Perhaps that was the true calculus, here as everywhere: the calculus of location and the understanding that the numbers themselves were possessed of a fundamental gravity comprised not of fluid motion but of fixedness.”
The other characters in the book were a bit more human and the description of the sameness of suburban life were interesting, but overall, what seemed like the perfect setup for a touching and emotional novel turned into more of a math textbook instead.
leslielikesthings's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to read this one because it's by a local (to the Sacramento area) author and I had heard some things about it. It was very well written and worth reading. It kind of fell into what I think of as the "suburban ennui" genre, which is really not one of my usual areas of interest. The astronaut aspect brought it out of that a bit. It did have some real things to say about grief that were very well expressed. It was a pretty good read for me.
aurorabulgaris's review
4.0
Beautifully written book, a novel idea. Enjoyed reading it a lot. I only wish I knew if he went back... :)
knitter22's review against another edition
4.0
I began reading The Infinite Tides almost immediately after I finished Kiefer's 5-star book, The Animals. I think I was expecting (and hoping for) more of the same – exciting plot, a main character I loved, written almost like poetry. The author himself had warned me that “My first book is a much different animal. It’s meant to have almost zero velocity (like a Henry James novel) and spins in one place (purposefully, I mean), so you may have to get into it in a different way.” Of course, he was completely right, and at one point I had to put the book down for a few days. I ended up re-starting The Infinite Tides from the beginning, just reading, without any expectations, and let Kiefer's writing once again work its magic on me.
This book is a much different animal, and the fact that Kiefer is capable of writing such completely different books, each excellent in their own way, is part of why this is another 5-star read. I won't recount the plot, but it is imaginative, original, and horrifying. The main character, astronaut Keith Corcoran, is not a completely likeable guy, but how he deals with (or doesn't deal with) the bleak, grief-filled circumstances of his life form the basis of his this book. Several characters question Keith's devotion and single-mindedness in becoming an astronaut, and note that that path has ill-prepared him for life after he has reached this pinnacle. He has this truly interesting, synesthesia-like relationship with numbers, and relates to them much better than to people. I appreciated the juxtaposition of how math has answers and logic but human nature is often completely without logic or answers. Keith does end up in an interesting friendship with Peter, a Ukrainian astronomer who now works at Target, and it is Peter's wife Luda who provides a wonderful end to this book.
Just as Kiefer chose the perfect setting for The Animals, he did the same for The Infinite Tides. The empty ranch house that Keith returns to, on one of many culs-de-sac in suburbia, surrounded by big box stores and Starbucks, helps the reader understand and picture how grim and meaningless things are for Keith. There is something that happens in/to the house that was perfect for Keith's story, literally and metaphorically, but it feels like a spoiler so I won't give it away. Read The Infinite Tides and find out for yourself. I'm looking forward to reading Kiefer's next novel, knowing it will most likely be something completely different, but perfectly wonderful.
This book is a much different animal, and the fact that Kiefer is capable of writing such completely different books, each excellent in their own way, is part of why this is another 5-star read. I won't recount the plot, but it is imaginative, original, and horrifying. The main character, astronaut Keith Corcoran, is not a completely likeable guy, but how he deals with (or doesn't deal with) the bleak, grief-filled circumstances of his life form the basis of his this book. Several characters question Keith's devotion and single-mindedness in becoming an astronaut, and note that that path has ill-prepared him for life after he has reached this pinnacle. He has this truly interesting, synesthesia-like relationship with numbers, and relates to them much better than to people. I appreciated the juxtaposition of how math has answers and logic but human nature is often completely without logic or answers. Keith does end up in an interesting friendship with Peter, a Ukrainian astronomer who now works at Target, and it is Peter's wife Luda who provides a wonderful end to this book.
Just as Kiefer chose the perfect setting for The Animals, he did the same for The Infinite Tides. The empty ranch house that Keith returns to, on one of many culs-de-sac in suburbia, surrounded by big box stores and Starbucks, helps the reader understand and picture how grim and meaningless things are for Keith. There is something that happens in/to the house that was perfect for Keith's story, literally and metaphorically, but it feels like a spoiler so I won't give it away. Read The Infinite Tides and find out for yourself. I'm looking forward to reading Kiefer's next novel, knowing it will most likely be something completely different, but perfectly wonderful.
zachkuhn's review
2.0
Such a lovely mixture of lyricism and narrative drive for 200 pages. Then just a hot mess of long, meandering conversations between a character I already know too much about and one I could not care less about or for. Amazing how quickly I went from loving this to barely finishing it. Still, a promising debut.
mikolee's review
2.0
Quite melancholy novel about an American astronaut who returns home after a space mission to the loss of his daughter and dissolution of his marriage. Keith struggles with his feelings and gains a friend in the displaced Ukrainian neighbor. Very sad and at times slow moving. But characters felt real.
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