Harare Review of Books

256 pages.

First published on Jan 16, 2022.

Finished reading on Jan 22, 2022.

Genre: Fiction.

Supplied blurb: An intoxicating, compact debut novel by the winner of Columbia’s Henfield Prize, Tides is an astoundingly powerful portrait of a deeply unpredictable woman who walks out of her life and washes up in a seaside town. After a sudden, devastating loss, Mara flees her family and ends up adrift in a wealthy seaside town with a dead cellphone and barely any money. Mired in her grief, Mara detaches from the outside world and spends her days of self-imposed exile scrounging for food and swimming in the night ocean. In her state of emotional extremis, the sea at the town’s edge is rendered bleak, luminous, implacable.

As her money runs out and tourist season comes to a close, Mara finds a job at the local wine store. There, she meets Simon, the shop’s soft-spoken, lonely owner. Confronted with the possibility of connection with Simon and the slow return of her desires and appetites, the reasons for her flight begin to emerge.

Reminiscent of works by Rachel Cusk, Jenny Offill, and Marguerite Duras, Tides is a spare, visceral debut novel about the nature of selfhood, intimacy, and the private narratives that shape our lives. A shattering and unforgettable debut.

For me, a beautiful book almost always means a book that devastates me; this book is both incredibly beautiful, and also devastated me. Elegantly and sparsely written, its passages are crisp and concise, like reading the omniscient narrator’s diary entries. I could not put it down (and, in fact, put away other books to finish it over the course of less than 24 hours).

I felt little sympathy for Mara at first, even after realising quite early on what must have happened to her. Somehow, the author pulls off the trick of making Mara completely real and heartbreakingly human, taking you directly into the heart of her pain (and rather triggering me in the process, it must be said). Her triumph in the end feels like your own, too.

Pick this up if you’re into beautiful writing, and to marvel at this writer’s craft. The style is completely perfect. Also read if you don’t mind crying, as I very nearly did. Tides will probably be the most perfect book I read in 2022, and will stay with me a very long time.

Rated: 10/10.

Read if you liked/ If you liked this, you’ll also enjoy: Winter in Sokcho

Thank you to NetGalley and to Grove Press for this ARC.