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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Four and a half stars. Beautifully written, timely novel. Commentary on NHS and healthcare was particularly interesting. I think the experience of reading this as a parent would probably nudge it up the extra half star.
7/10
Really quite moving in places, and very in touch with modern paranoia. Could have done with a bit less "oh no! I can't let my daughter use the toaster or she'll DIE"
Really quite moving in places, and very in touch with modern paranoia. Could have done with a bit less "oh no! I can't let my daughter use the toaster or she'll DIE"
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I loved this book. It drew me in and held me inside its story in that way that really good novels do: I thought about it all the time I wasn't reading it and I didn't want it to end. But don't let this delude you into thinking its subject matter is happy, or escapist. It isn't. The Tidal Zone is about how closely we live with death each and every day, how fragile our physical lives are, but how we don't think about death or its proximity until and unless something happens to make us. The Tidal Zone makes us.
Here are some words from the first chapter:
Here are some words from the first chapter:
Suddenly, your heart began; suddenly in the darkness of your mother's womb there was a crackle and a flash and out of nothing, the current began to run. Suddenly you began to breathe. Suddenly, you will stop, you and me and all of us. Your lungs will rest at last and the electric pulse in your pulse will vanish into the darkness from which it came.And from about the middle:
It is a pity that the things we learn in crisis are all to be found on fridge magnets and greetings cards: seize the day, savour the moment, tell your love - May we live long enough to despise the cliches again, may we heal enough to take for granted sky and water and light, because the state of blind gratitude for breath and blood is not a position of intelligence.And one from near the end:
Everything felt fragile again on the train home, all the work on the new normality jeopardised. Hospital visits would become normal, I thought. It is simply not possible to live in a state of acute fear and shock for more than a couple of weeks, and so the mind finds a path, a story, a way onwards.Find this path, this wonderful story about family and love and life and our closeness to death, this way onwards ... it will help when - because it is when and not if - death enters your life next.
The Tidal Zone was a highly anticipated read for me, as it was the last outstanding Moss I had to read. I love her writing, and have been engrossed in every single one of her books to date. I am so pleased to say that The Tidal Zone was the cherry on rather a delicious cake. I love the way in which the novel's plot circles around a singular moment, drifting back and forth in time. From the first, Moss' writing is beautifully poetic, and the entirety of the novel is profound and compelling. Moss masterfully ties so much together here - history, biology, geography, relationships, the NHS, and the Second World War - whilst making it an unfailing human novel. Wonderfully paced, with an authentic narrative voice and an achingly realistic cast of characters at its heart, The Tidal Zone is a sheer masterpiece.
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5
This book.....-every sentence felt so personal to me. I honestly had to read this book over about a month- simply because I could relate to it so much. After spending two stints in the hospital with my daughter- I felt right back there- with the way the author had described the hospital, nurses, doctors, and the constant worry you feel. That ending paragraph though...perfection.
I docked a half a star because I wasn't a huge fan of the chapters Adam was writing about the Coventry Cathedral.
Overall, one of my favorites of 2018.
This book.....-every sentence felt so personal to me. I honestly had to read this book over about a month- simply because I could relate to it so much. After spending two stints in the hospital with my daughter- I felt right back there- with the way the author had described the hospital, nurses, doctors, and the constant worry you feel. That ending paragraph though...perfection.
I docked a half a star because I wasn't a huge fan of the chapters Adam was writing about the Coventry Cathedral.
Overall, one of my favorites of 2018.
4.5 stars. Sarah Moss writing blew me away. I will be reading her other books in the future.