We Run the Tides

Ah, the miseries of adolescence and mean girls, even in most affluent Sea Cliff, a beachside suburb of San Francisco. Eulabee,14, is in thrall to the fabulous Maria Fabiola, her gorgeous and powerful bestie and leader of a band of judgmental private school girls. Of course, there are big problems (murders, suicides, kidnapping, a near-rape) behind most of the mansion doors, and Eulabee is a most keen observer, striving to stay sane when her posse exiles her due to a fabrication by Maria. The everyday adventures in this insular world are beautifully observed, as are the interactions with parents and teachers. The novel is as relevant to its time (mid-1980s) as was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A Wrinkle in Time, and The World of Henry Orient show more to theirs and should be considered for immediate classic status. show less

This was a top read! Intelligent, emotional, funny, acerbic, gritty, with a main character who was very likeable and brought me right back to my own private girls' school days of the early 1980s. Told from the eyes of a precocious 13 year old, this book could been cliched, but it totally wasn't. So much about this book felt fresh: the characters' names alone were unique and brought no preconceptions to the story (e.g. Eulabee, Maria Fabiola, Ewa, Svea, Axel). The teachers were mostly ridiculous and condescending, but that's how some of them appeared to me when I was a teenager. I even loved the Swedish slant: Eulabee's mother is a Swedish-born nurse, with her own ideas about American rich white culture. She cycles to the hospital each show more day, then cleans her own house, and cooks the meals, etc, while passing down her own cultural traditions to her daughters and catching up with her Swedish friends to bitch. The relationship between Eulabee and Maria Fabiola is the fulcrum of the story, and without giving anything away, how excruciating is it to be 100% invested in what peers think and do. Teenage years can be breathtakingly exciting and devastating at the same time, and Vendela Vida has nailed it. show less

The remembrances of a 13-year-old girl growing up in the Sea Cliff area of San Francisco circa 1984 are both funny and heartfelt. The girl has a best friend who is developing in a way that gets attention from men, one who becomes an adversary when she doesn’t back her up in a story she’s fabricated, adding considerably to the pressures of being an adolescent. I loved how Vida gave us this perspective without forcing things or relying on the usual sorts of melodrama in this genre. There is a fantastic sense of balance and precision to her writing, and the way she finished the book in the present was very well done. I’ll definitely be checking out more of her work.

It's 1984 and Eulabee lives in a high priced neighborhood in San Francisco. She's 13 years old and goes to a private school with her best friends - Julia and Faith and her very best friend Maria Fabiola. Maria is very popular and the girl that everyone wants to be friends with and Eulabee is thrilled to be her best friend. Until...one day on their walk to school, the girls see a man in a car and Maria says that she saw him doing something bad. The other two girls agree with her and claimed that they saw the same thing and when Eulabee refuses to back up her story, the friendship is over. It's not just over but the three girls, led by Maria, turn the girls at the school against her and Eulabee, once a popular girl becomes an outcast. show more Despite the pain of being an outcast, she remains true to herself and refuses to lie for her friend.

This is a beautiful coming of age story set in San Francisco before the tech bubble took over the town. Life is simple and free and teenagers are filled with conflicting emotions. I loved the way the story ended in 2019 so that we were able to find out how the four friends were doing.

This book was unlike most books that I've read. Yes, there was some action but the plot was simple and free and it made me smile as it brought back memories of being a teenager - both the good and the bad. I plan to check out this author's earlier book because I enjoyed this one so much. show less

~mild spoilers~

I grew up in a similar set of circumstances to what's laid out in this novel, though in a very different time and place, and I think this book brilliantly captures girls-school drama, sort of like a San Franciscan "My Brilliant Friend (the Compulsive Liar)".

I think many readers will have known a girl with at least a touch of the Maria Fabiola about her and will feel the immense relief I did at remembering that you never have to be a teenager again. For fans of the "where are they now?" at the ends of movies, I also really liked the epilogue - it provided a closure re: the inevitability of why Maria did what she did. Overall a solid book and I'm looking forward to reading more by this author!

We Run the Tides is a coming-of-age, loss-of-innocence novel set in Sea Cliff, an oceanside suburb of San Francisco in the 1980s. The narrator is thirteen-year old Eulabee but the real protagonist is her glamorous, rich and beautiful friend Maria Fabiola – “Maria Fabulous” to her male admirers – who is by turns envied and idolised by all around her. Maria Fabiola’s mysterious disappearance, and the upheaval this brings to the community is a watershed moment for Eulabee and her generation, one that will mark her journey to adulthood.

I am a sucker for coming-of-age novels, and although I was still a boy in the eighties (and lived on the other side to the world to San Francisco) I still strongly got the feeling of nostalgia show more evoked by the author. Admittedly, lately we seem to be getting several novels using the missing person “hook” in the context of a coming-of-age story (I’m thinking, for example of "Marilou is Everywhere" by Sarah Elaine Smith or The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McClean). I came to We Run The Tides expecting a riff on the same themes. What I didn’t expect was the humour behind the narration – at times eliciting a wry smile, at others sparking a laugh-out-loud moment. This was a pleasant surprise, and one which gave the novel its particular flavour.

OK, the book might not be perfect. For instance, I’m not sure that the “knowing” voice of Eulabee sounds like an authentic young teenager – it is probably more fitting to Eulabee’s older and wiser persona. Similarly, the event-packed narrative tests readers’ ability to suspend their disbelief, particularly considering that this is ultimately a “realist” novel. But it was still a gripping read – an intriguing mix of drama, mystery and humour.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/06/we-run-tides-by-vendela-vida.html show less

This is a San Francisco born author I was completely unfamiliar with, although the book I just read was her sixth release in 20 years. Her parents were both immigrants, her mother Swedish, and that is reflected in the Swedish mother and influences in this book. She has a rather famous husband, Dave Eggers.

I picked up this new release almost, but not quite, at random. The title teased me. The cover teased me. I remember "running the tides" when I was young. When there was a low tide you could run around some of the coastal bluffs very quickly if you watched the waves closely. It could be dangerous.

The story is set in San Francisco around 1985, a time and place I am quite familiar with. Diane Feinstein is the mayor. It is a San Francisco show more that I remember. Our main character Eulabee lives in the most prestigious and exclusive area in San Francisco. This is a coming of age story for a 13 year old girl but I can't quite call this a young adult novel - there are some serious and mature things in here. When I started to casually read this I didn't stop until more than a third of the book was done. I wanted to see where this was going to go. I'm glad I did. The last chapter is set in 2019 and it was a very good finish.

Eulabee does indeed run the tides. Very good book that will be on my favorites of the year list. There were a few bits in here that keep me from really praising this and giving it more than 4 stars. It was the strong ending I think that made this for me.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a good review of this book: https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/books/review-privileged-teens-take-on-1980s-san...

Read in February 2021 show less