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Tides
Tides | Sara Freeman
8 posts | 8 read | 4 to read
From an astounding new voice in Canadian literature comes an intoxicating, compact novel about a 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 Sheila Heti, 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.
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review
Kazzie
Tides | Sara Freeman
Pickpick

This was well written, thumbs up for that. It was difficult to be in this woman‘s terrible grief and pain of an unhappy childhood and subsequent self destruction. The love interest seemed interesting and cool, but then cowardly.

review
AmandaBlaze
Tides | Sara Freeman
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Mehso-so

A story about a woman who has lost herself. The writing was beautiful and lyrical, but I had a hard time staying with the story as the MC didn‘t develop that much. 3.5 stars.
#NovelNovember @Andrew65

Andrew65 Well done 👏👏👏 1y
29 likes1 comment
review
sarahbarnes
Tides | Sara Freeman
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Pickpick

I was swept up in the narrative style of this story written in brief sections that illuminate the ways the MC has been on a path toward self-destruction. I think some aspects of the story were stronger than others, but overall I enjoyed it.

batsy Haven't heard of this until now, but it sounds like my kind of book :) Love the cover. 1y
Cathythoughts Sounds good. Stacking 1y
sarahbarnes @batsy @Cathythoughts it really was lovely. 1y
merelybookish I know I read this but don't remember much about it now....🤔 Although it didn't capture the mood of an off-season tourist town. 1y
28 likes4 comments
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ExuberantCrow
Tides | Sara Freeman
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Pickpick

So perfectly written.
A book about loss and grief and memory written through the disjointed, hazy, confusion of dissociation. I understood this language.
The FEEL of the writing matches the inner feel of Mara.

#ptsd #grief #dissociation #runaway #disappear

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Lindy
Tides | Sara Freeman
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Mehso-so

“How could she explain it? That there was something whole she wanted severed. Something clean she needed soiled.” The grief-struck central character is in bad shape, having escaped her old life but unable to escape herself. I had difficulty feeling compassion as I witnessed her self-sabotaging behaviour. What I found missing from the prose is some up-and-downess, if you know what I mean. Something to relieve the bleak flatness. #shadowGiller2022

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Lindy
Tides | Sara Freeman
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There are those who leave and those who were left over. That was her mother‘s favourite phrase.

DivineDiana Is that photograph today‘s weather? ❄️ 2y
Lindy @DivineDiana It was yesterday evening. More snow fell overnight, which looked pretty in the sunshine this morning. It‘s melting now. 2y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders @Lindy we‘re going to have winter and summer all in one week here. We had a bit of a snowstorm earlier and by tomorrow the temps skyrocket. 🥴 So it‘s heavy sweaters to shorts weather! 2y
Lindy @Penny_LiteraryHoarders It‘s never dull 😉 2y
27 likes1 stack add5 comments
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merelybookish
Tides | Sara Freeman
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Pickpick

Story of a woman intent on escaping her life who lands in a seaside tourist town after tourist season is over. The novel describes Mara slowly finding a place for herself in the community while also slowly revealing why she ran away in the first place. This is a novel about healing and how it can be messy and surprising. The ending felt true to me and it is well-written. Still, I wonder if I will remember it in a year's time.

Suet624 Love the colors of the book though. 😌 2y
sarahbarnes I just picked this up from the library on a whim and see that you posted about it awhile back. Love the book universe. 🤓 1y
75 likes2 comments
review
squirrelbrain
Tides | Sara Freeman
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Pickpick

Mara flees her home after a devastating loss and ends up in an out-of-season seaside town. ( see spoiler and TW below)

This is a debut novel that I received on #netgalley. It‘s a soft pick for me. Clearly, with the subject matter, it was going to be a melancholy novel but there was also something missing in the writing that I just can‘t put my finger on. It‘s quite a short book and perhaps just needed a bit more space to be something more.

squirrelbrain TW for stillbirth 2y
Hooked_on_books What a pretty cover! 😍 2y
merelybookish I just finished this and also felt there was something missing. It just felt a bit...flimsy although it is well written. It just felt a bit forgettable too. 2y
75 likes3 comments