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A review by sjklass
The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss
4.0
First of all, the book jacket image is a painting, not a photo. (Artist - Paul Gaskell). This moving, melancholy novel is full of trickery and things are not what they seem. 15yr old Miriam dies at school one random day. Her heart and lungs just stop working. She is resuscitated but the doctors can't say why it happened or give assurances that it won't happen again.
Miriam's mom works 60hr weeks as a GP while her dad, a writer/researcher is a stay-at-home dad. He is writing a piece about the WWII bombing and post-war reconstruction of Coventry Cathedral (a surprisingly interesting side story). From the day of the 'incident' forward, their lives no longer go according to plan. After all, "a plan is just a story of the future". "It is simply not possible to live in a state of acute fear and shock for more than a couple weeks, and so the mind finds a path, a story, a way onwards. Shock is by definition transient, even when the shocking thing is here to stay". This is a thoroughly modern, beautifully written coming of age novel about gender politics, parenthood and the randomness of life and death, in wartime and in times of peace. Thanks for the recommendation, Jen Campbell!
Miriam's mom works 60hr weeks as a GP while her dad, a writer/researcher is a stay-at-home dad. He is writing a piece about the WWII bombing and post-war reconstruction of Coventry Cathedral (a surprisingly interesting side story). From the day of the 'incident' forward, their lives no longer go according to plan. After all, "a plan is just a story of the future". "It is simply not possible to live in a state of acute fear and shock for more than a couple weeks, and so the mind finds a path, a story, a way onwards. Shock is by definition transient, even when the shocking thing is here to stay". This is a thoroughly modern, beautifully written coming of age novel about gender politics, parenthood and the randomness of life and death, in wartime and in times of peace. Thanks for the recommendation, Jen Campbell!