The Gilmore Guide to Books

Connecting Books and Readers One Review at a Time

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Reviews by Genre
  • More Books
  • Policies
    • Review Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Policy

We Run the Tides

February 24, 2021

tides

We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida
Published by Ecco
Publication date: February 9, 2021
Genres: Coming-of-age, Contemporary, Fiction, Literary
three-half-stars
Your Local Book Store, Amazon

I’m not sure it’s an actual publishing trend for 2021, but it’s fairly unusual for me to read three novels on the same subject in one year. In this case, it’s private girls’ schools—always fascinating to me, but to the general public? I guess so. In January, there was The Divines and this month, All Girls. The final novel in this trifecta is today’s review: We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida.

 

The setting is Sea Cliffs, an exclusive neighborhood known for its clear views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s here in We Run the Tides that 13-year-old Eulabee and her best friend, Maria, are queens of all they survey. They know everything about the neighborhood—all its secrets and hidden lives, but even more about the nearby cliffs and beaches. They’ve been best friends since kindergarten, part of a popular clique with two other girls at the Spragg School for Girls. Now, as they enter 8th grade, everything begins to shift, including their relationship.

Eulabee is the confident calm in the friendship while Maria is the sparkling centerpiece. The dynamic works until one morning on their walk to school, they witness something. Or so, Maria says and Julia, one of the other girls, quickly agrees. Eula remembers things very differently. The incident plays out with the school and the police. Eula’s version earns her immediate social isolation and the total severing of her friendship with Maria. A month later Maria disappears, throwing the community into a panic. Only, Eula, disillusioned by what’s she’s learned of friendship, questions everything.

If the title All Girls is apropos for a novel that truly focuses on the inner lives of girls and their school then We Run the Tides is a telling statement about two teenage girls testing the boundaries of their own power. Power that is capricious—only available against the weak and the willing—and only temporarily.  By settling Eulabee and Maria in a world of wealth and freedom Vida creates the boundaries against which both will push. From an adult perspective some of the circumstances spiral into absurdity, but for her characters it’s all too real.

Thankfully, Veda grounds the novel with Eulabee’s family. The normalcy and Eula’s behavior around them (even as a sullen teenager) provides respite from the drama. She goes even further by setting the closing chapters in the present day when the girls are almost 50 years old. She writes these so well the trepidation about facing the past is palpable, making We Run the Tides  an intriguing look at the power exerted by teenage friendships and how the past continues to hold on even when we’re old enough to know better.

 

This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I get a small commission (at no cost to you).

 

*I received a free copy of this book from Ecco in exchange for an honest review.*

 

three-half-stars

Related Posts

  • Related Posts
  • Same Genre
  • 3.5 Star Books
  • By Vendela Vida
everyone knows
Everyone Knows How Much I Love You
october
October Under-the-Radar Reads
heart
The Heart’s Invisible Furies
mystery
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
Love Bomb
Love Bomb: A Novel
mother
Mothers’ Week: Mother Country
monogamy
Monogamy: A Novel by Sue Miller
power
The Power by Naomi Alderman
secret
The Secret Keeper
care and feeding
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
last
Last Bit of Summer: Mini-Reviews
winter people
The Winter People
almost
Almost Everything: Notes on Hope
other americans
The Other Americans: A Novel
beauty
The Beauty of Your Face
september
September Reading Wrap-Up
diver's
The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, friendship, literary, San Francisco

Comments

  1. Laila says

    February 24, 2021 at 12:33 pm

    Sounds interesting! I’m getting Cat’s Eye (Atwood) vibes from your description – a novel I love.

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      February 28, 2021 at 10:26 am

      I read that so long ago I don’t even remember the plot! But now, you’ve got me intrigued and I’m adding it to my backlist TBR.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Save time and subscribe via email

No time to keep checking for new reviews? Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. No spam!

Currently Reading

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
by Emily Nagoski
The Dutch House
The Dutch House
by Ann Patchett
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
by Adrienne Brodeur

goodreads.com

Affiliate Disclosure

I’m an affiliate for Indiebound and Amazon. If you click on a link that takes you to any of these sites and make a purchase I’ll earn a small fee, which goes towards the costs of maintaining this site. Your support is appreciated. Thank you!

Archives

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2021

Copyright © 2021 · Beyond Madison Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in