The Highest Tide

“See as much as you can see, I guess. Rachel Carson said most of us go through life "unseeing." I do that some days...I think it's easier to see when you're a kid. We're not in a hurry to get anywhere and we don't have those long to-do lists you guys have.”

“...that's the nature of marine life and the inland bays I grew up on. You'd have to be a scientist, a poet and a comedian to hope to describe it all accurately, and even then you'd often fall short.”

Miles O’Malley is a smart, gifted thirteen year old. He is an only child living with indifferent parents and he finds solace and wonder exploring the tidal flats of Puget Sound. One day he discovers a rare giant squid, washed up with the tide. He becomes a bit of a celebrity show more with locals and the scientific community. This is a coming of age novel, as Miles tries to grapple with approaching adulthood and understanding the mysteries of his beloved ocean and the warning signs it has been projecting. Lynch is a good writer but this one doesn’t quite reach the heights of his classic Border Songs. I still recommend it. show less

A bit of a disappointment after Border Songs, but taking into account that this was Jim Lynch’s first novel it’s understandable that the writing wasn’t as polished. Also, I’m not a big fan of coming of age novels and this one threw in all the standards, especially the adolescent male fixation on sex trope. But the descriptions of the marine life and ecosystem of Skookumchuck Bay, where this is set, were fascinating and I got thoroughly caught up in the friendship between Miles and Florence and her prediction about the highest tide. It was easy to feel the author’s deep attachment to the northwest coastline and its sea life through Miles, the teen Rachel Carson fan whose quotes from the famous environmentalist led me to add The show more Sea Around Us to my TBR list. show less

This book was such a sweet break from all the heavy topics surrounding me (Racism, Covid-19, parents with Dementia) and I loved it. Miles is a young boy who absolutely lives for his daily ocean shoreline discoveries. That and his crush on his next door neighbor. And his best friend, the elderly housebound woman. He is awkward and utterly brilliant and I loved the mix of wry humor, human connections, and the beauty of tidal marshes and its strange inhabitants. As Miles makes astonishing discovery after discovery, the local news station takes note and he soon becomes a celebrity, whether he wants to be or not. It didn't hurt that the book takes place in the state next door to me, Washington.

“I was a fluke in a classroom full of flukes on a planet overpopulated by flukes.”

This is a beautifully evocative coming of age story. Who as a child has not visited rock pools along the beach turning stones with a net and bucket and marvelled what was lying beneath? Well this is a book that rekindles those halcyon days.

Miles O'Malley is something of the class freak preferring to spend time on the local mud flats rather than playing with school friends or on computers etc spending every moment that he can out there unfettered by parental control. He loves to read about marine life and a famous ecologist Rachel Carson is his heroine. He has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of marine life within his bay collecting and selling clams show more that he digs up to a local restaurant and other more exotic marine life to local aquariums. Then one summer just before his 14th birthday he discovers a giant squid, normally only found in the ocean depths, along with some other discoveries along the way,saves a dog's and a friend's life and suddenly fame and cult celebrity is thrown his way. When asks 'why is he the only one making these discoveries?' he answers with childish ignorance 'because he is probably the only one looking' so we see the curiosity of youth but he is also a lad going through puberty

He soon realises that his life is changing in unimagined ways. His parents are discussing divorce, his best friend an old woman psychic is dying of a variant of Parkinsons and the girl whom he worships from afar ODs. Thus he is forced to face some very grown up aspects. However,there are also some elements of humour which did not make me laugh out loud but did make me smile.

This is quite an easy read but that is not to say that it is not well written because it is and I felt that the character development particularly Mile's relationship with his parents is well done. This is a charming book and a reminder of our own long lost youth. show less

Miles O'Malley is a precocious and bookish 13-year-old with a passion for marine life. He lives in Olympia, WA, in what we locals call the "South Sound" region, and he knows more about marine animals, especially those living in the shallows and the mud flats created by low tides, than most of us will ever even hear about. He has a crush on the girl next door, who is older and used to babysit for him, and his best friend is a horny, rude, somewhat "typical" 13-year-old (who turns out to have a good heart when all is said and done). His other best friend is an elderly lady with rapidly progressing Parkinson's and a fierce self-reliant streak. His parents are considering a divorce. You know. Early adolescence at its most classic.

Miles show more finds a Giant Squid on the flats one day and the rest is, as they say, history. His discoveries of several rare marine life finds in the mud flats that summer lead to uncomfortable fame, disillusionment, and redemption. He is possibly Rachel Carson's greatest fan and a quote (not confirmed by me) from her acceptance speech for the National Book Award is a shining moment in the narrative: "If there is poetry in my book about the sea it is not because I deliberately put it there but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out poetry." Fair enough.

Another quote worth sharing is from Florence, the fiercely independent old woman who sees and admires Miles more genuinely than anyone else: "Life is something you do alone, Miles. You can only help and be helped but so much." That resonated for me.

I know the South Sound mud flats about which Jim Lynch has written. His evocation of the setting, including the town of Olympia, was true and enjoyable. For one who knows the region and has walked along those mud flats. I'm not sure it would translate effectively for someone who is unfamiliar with the idiosyncrasies of the flora, the fauna, the weather, and the atmosphere of the South Puget Sound region. The book has shining moments but Lynch's storytelling is too specific. If you've never been to the South Sound region, this is not the book to sell you on a visit. If you have, and if you love it, or even if you just think it's interesting, this book is a worthwhile read. show less

The Highest Tide is a love story on several levels. Superficially, it is about the romantic love thirteen year old Miles O’Malley feels for his former babysitter Angie; his caring love for his older neighbor Florence; his comradely love for his friend Kenny Phelps; and his conflicted love for his parents and their conflicted love for each other. But overarching them all is a love for the beauty of life in the sea, and how much there is to see around you if only you take the time to look.

This lovely paean to marine life turns tidepools into treasure chests, as we accompany Miles on his nightly collecting forays into Skookumchuck Bay in Puget Sound. We learn about the dazzling beauty of the Nudibranch, the mating habits of barnacles, show more the defensive strategies of sea cucumbers, and the nesting patterns of butterfly squids. We become acquainted with the addictions of razor clams, the male parenting skills of sea horses, the navigational hazards of sand dollars and survival tactics of sand fleas. No dry encyclopedia is this, but rather a picture book of words that evokes such images as “pulsing moon jellies” in “an endless gaggle of fringed, see-through flowers packed so tightly together… they changed the texture and color of the bay in the silvery glare of the forgotten sun.”

Miles escapes to the sea when he feels troubled: …”it was hard for me to feel fear or sadness at dawn on that bay, especially when I knew the sun wouldn’t set for another fifteen hours and thirty-two minutes, and the water was so clear I could see coon-stripe shrimp in the eelgrass near the tavern and the bottomless bed of white clam shells pooled across the sunken tip of Penrose Point.”

In this summer that marks Miles’ coming of age, the transmutations that come into his life are echoed by the changes in the ocean, yet Miles understands that it is all part of an ever-flowing process; that life is both unique and timeless. From his study of Rachel Carson, he learns the lesson to “see as much as you can see.” Adults, caught up in their long “to-do lists” tend to forget the beauty and magnificence of nature, and even, of each other. show less

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I can't remember where I got this book, it's been a while - I think I got it from a Little Free Library, or found it abandoned on a bus or park or something. What a fortuitous find it was! My only complaint is that the book wasn't longer, as the issue with his parents are not resolved, but I will say that this book is an overall satisfying read, and the author describes the tidal flats and sea life very well, to the point where you can almost feel as if you're on the coast of the Sound.