A review by reggikko
The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss

3.0

It seems that most readers like this novel more than [b:Night Waking|13034366|Night Waking|Sarah Moss|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1367780374l/13034366._SY75_.jpg|14853092], but that isn't true for me. Moss explores many of the same themes of parenting, division of labor in families, and marital relations. Moss does a fine job here when exploring gender roles and norms, but this novel lacks any of the charm of Night Waking. In that novel, Moss conveys some of the frustrations of parenting by providing the protagonist with two very challenging, but endearing children. Miriam and Rose, by contrast, just come across as rather whiny and bratty.

Mild spoilers:

Part of my frustration is that there is no closure to Miriam's incident. Yes, sometimes medicine can't provide answers, but I felt the complete lack of any information was not believable. The doctors think the incident was caused by a reaction to food, but they have NO IDEA what it was. We know that Miriam ate breakfast at home that day and that she ate the school lunch (later Adam mentions that the girls will now be taking packed lunch from home). School lunches are planned and recipes are followed, so why couldn't anyone figure out what Miriam ate that day? If they did allergy testing of all of the food and nothing caused a reaction, then shouldn't they be looking at another cause? Argh.

Where did Adam get the idea that his mother died as a result of the same condition? Did I miss something or did that come out of the blue? Did he just extrapolate that she drowned because of illness rather than an accident because she was "a strong swimmer?"

This is my third novel by Moss and while it's not a bad book, it is definitely my least favorite of the three.