Tide Running
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Book Overview
Cliff and Ossi have grown up in Plymouth on the island of Tobago, their lives turning on the axis of small-town life. One day they watch the arrival of a couple and their child at a luxurious house overlooking the ocean. The couple invites Cliff into their home and lives, and in that cool'flim-style' house, the harsh, brittle life of urban Plymouth is kept briefly at bay, desires obscuring differences in class and race. But then things begin to go wrong-money vanishes, the couple's car disappears-and those differences are brought suddenly to light, raising unsettling questions about relationships, wealth, and responsibility.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0807083739
ISBN13:9780807083734
Release Date:June 2004
Publisher:Beacon Press
Length:215 Pages
Weight:0.55 lbs.
Dimensions:0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"
Customer Reviews
4 ratings
Lovely rhythm, interesting slice of life
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 16 years ago
Tide Running was recommended to me by a friend last spring. At the end of my semester, I eagerly purchased a copy for a leisurely summer read, but found myself tearing through it at break-neck speed. In retrospect, I sense that part of what kept me reading was its wonderful sense of rhythm, both in its sentences, and in the narrative. I enjoyed the different perspectives gained in reading this book about a place I know little to nothing about, and enjoyed this introduction to a very talented writer. The story has stayed with me, and I sense I will be returning to this writer to dip into the lives of her other characters.
Authentically Caribbean
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
With the realism of a documentary film maker, Oonya Kempadoo chronicles the lives of two economically challenged Tobagonian brothers , Cliff and Ossi. Fascination with a well off couple living on the island , soon reels the older of the two brothers , Cliff , into a maze of sex , deceit and chaos. The accurate dialect and vivid descriptions used by the author , mentally transport the reader to the tiny island of Tobago.
Sexy and Poetic
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
I stayed up all night with this one. Once I started I couldn't put it down. A menage trois' on a Carribean island with a married couple and a young man who appears innocent and naive(at first). The suspense, the eroticism, all quietly sneak up on you until you're holding your breath until the very last page. A MUST READ!
Gorgeous, evocative and profound
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
This novel about a poor young Tobagon man and his encounter with a wealthy couple who draw him into their lives, blithely, without considering the consequences, is one of the best portrayals of contemporary Caribbean life I've ever read. Brilliant, sensual, and ultimately disturbing, Tide Running is, like Kempadoo's first novel, Buxton Spice, an exploration of the effects of class and wealth on a young nation trying to come into its own in the shadow of its wealthy neighbor to the north.
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