Reviews with content warning for Murder - We Run the Tides

I would love a good discussion on this book, because I can definitely see great conversations coming out of it. But I did not particularly like Eulabee, although I could definitely relate to her quite a bit with the teenage angst and problems that feel gigantic at the end of middle school but are not in the scope of a longer life. I ached for her wanting to stay or return to the orbit around Maria Fabiola. It was a sad reminder of the terrible cliches and popularity seeking that happen in the dreaded middle school years.

It was very slow moving and the plot seemed secondary to the story of growth we suppose Eulabee gets out of it. From the description I was expecting a lot more plot and mystery, I did not find much. I think if I had gone into without that preconceived notion I would have enjoyed the story a lot more.

I was happy we got a flash forward to 2019 to see what had become of all the kids. I wish we had heard about web toed Keith though. The sad state of Maria was unsurprising but satisfying. And I was happy Eulabee was able to make a bright future for herself. It made for a tidy ending for the book. Although I wish she had told Maria’s husband a little about her trouble making past because I felt sad for the reality of his life with Maria.

Content Warnings

girlonbooks's review

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dark funny mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

🛹🛹🛹 (three stars as rated in the oblong shape of Keith's skateboard floating in the waves)

Eulabee has never thought of her life as terribly exceptional. Like every other latchkey kid in the 1980's, Eulabee spends the hours after school and on weekends roaming the neighborhood with her best friend Maria Fabiola. Maria Fabiola is one of the richest kids in Sea Cliff, the upscale San Francisco neighborhood where they both live. Maria Fabiola is pretty and popular and Maria Fabiola always gets her way. When Maria Fabiola goes missing on her way home from school one day after a falling out with Eulabee, everyone in the neighborhood is naturally sick with worry. Everyone except for Eulabee, that is. The police call it kidnapping, the news calls it a local tragedy. Eulabee calls it the biggest sham her former best friend has ever pulled off.

"Separately we are good girls. We behave. Together, some strange alchemy occurs and we are trouble."

I first came across this book when researching new releases in February and fully intended to eventually read it but, full disclosure, seeing that Marin Ireland narrated the audio book is what pushed it to the top of my list. As with Leave The World Behind, Ireland's voice carries this book to an entirely different level and I can't imagine experiencing the story without it. She is just that good.

This book is written exquisitely. The prose itself is dynamic, illustrative and even harrowing at times while expertly maintain the whimsical ethos of a teen aged narrator living in a sheltered upper-class American neighborhood in the 1980's. For that I am in genuine awe of Vendela Vida's ability to capture the nostalgia of time and place - one which I have no personal experience with, at that - and forget it into something so perfectly familiar to me that I devoured the entirety of her novel in less than 24 hours. I saw myself in so much of Eulabee and even, truth be told, in Maria Fabiola at times. I think there are relatable traits in the worst of this book's cast of character which is precisely what made the entire thing so deliciously alluring to me.

This book is described as a mystery and even as a thriller. I would, however, classify We Run The Tides as contemporary fiction the likes of Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and Trust Exercise by Susan Choi. It is a story of teenagers that is written as much for adults to enjoy and relate to as for their younger counterparts. And, admittedly, that is my absolute favorite genre of fiction.

✨ Rep in this book: n/a

✨ Content warnings for this book: death, suicide, kidnapping, drowning, murder, sexual content, bullying, vomiting, blood, fatphobia, trauma, death of a parent, drug use, pedophilia, sexual violence, toxic relationship

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