Sarah Moss

Adam is a stay-at-home dad who is also working on a history of the bombing and rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral. He is a good man and he is happy. But one day, he receives a call from his daughter's school to inform him that, for no apparent reason, fifteen-year-old Miriam has collapsed and stopped breathing. In that moment, he is plunged into a world of waiting, agonising, not knowing. The story of his life and the lives of his family are rewritten and re-told around this shocking central event, around a body that has inexplicably failed. In this exceptionally courageous and unflinching novel of contemporary life Sarah Moss goes where most of us wouldn't dare to look, and the result is riveting unbearably sad, but also miraculously funny and ultimately hopeful. The Tidal Zone explores parental love, overwhelming fear, illness and recovery. It is about clever teenagers and the challenges of marriage. It is about the NHS, academia, sex and gender in the twenty-first century, the work-life juggle, and the politics of packing lunches and loading dishwashers.

The Tidal Zone

Amanda Wells

I took a long time with this book - not because I wasn't interested, and not because it wasn't a good read, but because I borrowed the audiobook from the library, didn't finish it in time (because of life things) and then had to wait for the copy to be returned by the subsequent listener... I think this break did me good though. Because coming back to it, I found myself eager to hear what happens to Mimi, to Rose, to Adam, to Emma. 

I don't know if I would normally pick up a book like this if I had been aware of what it was really about. But I'm glad that I did. The narrative of the present day - the not knowing, the pervasive fear of loss and death - weaved in with stories of the personal past, and the history of places, built up for me a real understanding of what these moments are like for Adam. And as always, I brought to this book the experience of a very trying year where death was constantly on my mind. And I very much related to Adam.

The fear, the overthinking, the guilt, the attempts to put your own emotions and experience into the context of history in order to lessen the deep-set yawn of panic and despair... I get it.

And I'm glad the author resisted the temptation to tie the book together in a more dramatic fashion. I'm glad the book ends as it does, because it feels more true. You don't get things nicely pulled together really... and sometimes things are not foreshadowing, they just are.

So I woul not recommend this book to someone looking for a quick read, with a traditional arc. I would recommend this book to someone looking for a thoughtful book that might make you contemplate how you deal with uncertainty, death, loss of control, etc., and how we as a society fit these realities into our understanding of the world.

Jade Flynn

Read for the 'Tis' the Damn Readathon' prompt - Reputation: Look What You Made Me do - Read a recommended book.

Discard the unavailing sub-plots and you have a five star read.

Adam is a stay-at-home dad who is also working on a history of the bombing and rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral. He is a good man and he is happy. But one day, he receives a call from his daughter's school to inform him that, for no apparent reason, fifteen-year-old Miriam has collapsed and stopped breathing. In that moment, he is plunged into a world of waiting, agonising, not knowing. The story of his life and the lives of his family are rewritten and re-told around this shocking central event, around a body that has inexplicably failed. In this exceptionally courageous and unflinching novel of contemporary life Sarah Moss goes where most of us wouldn't dare to look, and the result is riveting - unbearably sad, but also miraculously funny and ultimately hopeful. The Tidal Zone explores parental love, overwhelming fear, illness and recovery. It is about clever teenagers and the challenges of marriage. It is about the NHS, academia, sex and gender in the twenty-first century, the work-life juggle, and the politics of packing lunches and loading dishwashers. It confirms Sarah Moss as a unique voice in modern fiction and a writer of luminous intelligence.

The Tidal Zone

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