Scan barcode
A review by _dunno_
The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss
4.0
There are books and there are books. Books you enjoy because they’re warm and cozy, or there’s a clever plot, great characters, brilliant writing or all of the above, plus more AND books you read and find uncomfortable, because they put on the table issues you don’t really want to deal with, because they might hit too close to home, and hey, fiction is for escapism, right?
The Tidal Zone was one of those uncomfortable reads for me. As a parent, you find yourself in new, worrisome situations starting with day one, and, correct me if I’m wrong, it never stops. Never. Sometimes you deal with simple issues like which diapers are the best?—and of course I’m saying “simple” just because that era is way behind me—or trying to make your daughter understand that there are other pretty colours besides pink (the struggle is SO real!), but then, one day you might just get a call that your kid fell on the playground and their heart just stopped beating. And that's when the shit gets real.
Sarah Moss writes (beautifully and quite convincingly) from the perspective of a man, choosing to reverse the traditional roles: we have an almost stay at home dad and a full time (always tired, never enough fed) medical doctor mom. What Moss also does brilliantly is the parallel between the life of the family dealing with and trying to recover after the daughter’s illness and the Coventry Cathedral, bombed in WW2 and later rebuilt (Adam, the dad - an art historian, is researching and writing a book about it).
I can’t believe I actually enjoyed a book dealing with illness and hospitals (Moss’ merit) and found so much common ground with Adam and unless you live in Canada or some utopian place, the health system issues will sound way too familiar and relatable.
Also, Miriam is probably one of my favourite teenagers in fiction right now.
***
"Stories have endings; that's why we tell them, for reassurance that there is meaning in our lives."
The Tidal Zone was one of those uncomfortable reads for me. As a parent, you find yourself in new, worrisome situations starting with day one, and, correct me if I’m wrong, it never stops. Never. Sometimes you deal with simple issues like which diapers are the best?—and of course I’m saying “simple” just because that era is way behind me—or trying to make your daughter understand that there are other pretty colours besides pink (the struggle is SO real!), but then, one day you might just get a call that your kid fell on the playground and their heart just stopped beating. And that's when the shit gets real.
Sarah Moss writes (beautifully and quite convincingly) from the perspective of a man, choosing to reverse the traditional roles: we have an almost stay at home dad and a full time (always tired, never enough fed) medical doctor mom. What Moss also does brilliantly is the parallel between the life of the family dealing with and trying to recover after the daughter’s illness and the Coventry Cathedral, bombed in WW2 and later rebuilt (Adam, the dad - an art historian, is researching and writing a book about it).
I can’t believe I actually enjoyed a book dealing with illness and hospitals (Moss’ merit) and found so much common ground with Adam and unless you live in Canada or some utopian place, the health system issues will sound way too familiar and relatable.
Also, Miriam is probably one of my favourite teenagers in fiction right now.
***
"Stories have endings; that's why we tell them, for reassurance that there is meaning in our lives."