Tideland
by Mitch Cullin
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Description
Moving from Los Angeles to rural Texas with her junkie father after her mother's death, Jeliza-Rose drifts from the harsh reality of her childhood into a new life. Escaping into the fantasies of her own over-active imagination she discovers fireflies with names, bog men who awaken at dusk, and monster sharks swimming down railroad tracks. Her collection of disembodied Barbie heads share in her adventures along with her real friend Dickens. In the tradition of such cult classics as Iain show more Banks's THE WASP FACTORY and Patrick McCabe's THE BUTCHER BOYy, and playfully recalling ALICE IN WONDERLAND, TIDELAND, Tideland is a brilliantly dark and ingenious creation. Set in a landscape populated with singular characters and stark imagery, TIDELAND illuminates those moments when the fantastic emerges from seemingly common occurrences and lives - and a lonely child discovers magic and danger behind even the most mundane of events. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is a dark but well written book featuring a very memorable character and voice. Jeliza-Rose is a young girl living in a run-down house on the Texas plains and adrift, mostly, in her own imagination. That imagination includes, for example, her friendships with several severed Barbie doll heads. The supporting characters are quirky, to put it mildly, and in a way that perfectly supports Jeliza-Rose's expectations of life. The writing, here, is hypnotic and compelling. This novel is essentially a reverie on the lengths a young mind may go to to escape from misery and sadness. I know there's a movie of this book, but I won't be seeing it, as I doubt it could do justice to this fine work.
An incredible slice of life. I love the gritty realism of the setting and characters, and the authentically childlike fantasies and rationale of Jeliza-Rose. The whole story takes place after she has already arrived in What Rocks, and presumably ends when she leaves with the nice woman from the train accident. I would almost call this one of my favourite books, but there are some things I would change if I could.
While I love how we get inside Jeliza-Rose's head and become a young child again, the writing vocabulary took me out of the fantasy at first. Her speaking vocabulary is spot on, just as a kid her age would speak, and although the internal dialog in spirit is also spot on, the words and phrases themselves are far beyond what it show more should be. If this is a reflection on her childhood as an adult, that would make sense, but that is never indicated.
My second issue is the ending. It's so abrupt, and we never know what happens to her Captain, or what might be waiting for Jeliza-Rose after she leaves What Rocks. Granted many events in real life are like this, we often lose people and have no idea what happens to them after we have moved on from them. Still, I wish there had been some hints. It left me wanting more! show less
While I love how we get inside Jeliza-Rose's head and become a young child again, the writing vocabulary took me out of the fantasy at first. Her speaking vocabulary is spot on, just as a kid her age would speak, and although the internal dialog in spirit is also spot on, the words and phrases themselves are far beyond what it show more should be. If this is a reflection on her childhood as an adult, that would make sense, but that is never indicated.
My second issue is the ending. It's so abrupt, and we never know what happens to her Captain, or what might be waiting for Jeliza-Rose after she leaves What Rocks. Granted many events in real life are like this, we often lose people and have no idea what happens to them after we have moved on from them. Still, I wish there had been some hints. It left me wanting more! show less
What in the blazes did I just read? I have no idea how to describe it...or what to say about it. It was well written, but bizarre. Thanks bookclub!
children don't go crazy
Sep 24, 2009Finnish
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Read the book and saw the movie
1,170 works; 195 members
2000s (the decade, not the century)
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Most Disturbing Books
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Favorite Books from the 2000s
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Author Information
11+ Works 1,118 Members
Mitch Cullin lives & works in Tucson, Arizona. He is the author of three previously-published novels: "Tidelands", "Branches", & "Whompyjawed". (Bowker Author Biography)
Work Relationships
Has the adaptation
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2000-08-20
- People/Characters
- Jeliza-Rose; Noah; Dell; Dickens; Classique
- Important places
- What Rocks
- Related movies
- Tideland (2005 | IMDb); The Making of 'Tideland' (2007 | IMDb)
- Dedication
- For Mary and Barbara
- First words
- That year when I was eleven, on my first evening in the back country, I skipped down the porch steps of the farmhouse—leaving my father inside and the radio playing and my small suitcase decorated with neon flower stickers ... (show all)unpacked—and wandered toward the upside-down school bus I'd spied from an upstairs window.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I brought my head to the woman's breast, snuggling myself into her, and finished the orange—licking my lips after the last bite, aware of the lingering sweetness on my tongue and the stickiness on my chin—content as the fireflies welcomed the night.
- Blurbers
- Terry Gilliam
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Statistics
- Members
- 177
- Popularity
- 182,055
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.46)
- Languages
- 6 — Dutch, English, French, Greek, Italian, Polish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 1
