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4.8She has me in the palm of her hand…When this book got high marks from a couple of Goodreads friends, I was all in, begging Edelweiss for a copy like my life depended on it (acquiring books can be quite dramatic)! But good thing I didn’t read the blurb before I dove in, because I would have been turned off. Yet another coming-of-age story told from the point-of-view of a 13-year-old girl? Pleazzzzz, we’ve been there, done that, a thousand times. There’s the angst, the tumultuous friendships, t...
I tend to read more literally than many readers, and for me a first-person, present-tense voice demands a high level of consistency or it falls apart like a house of cards. We Run the Tides is told in a narrative voice doesn't work for me because of its inconsistencies. It keeps making me aware, sentence by sentence, that it's words on a page; a manipulation. At times the voice is literary and almost elegiac, and at others it's too naive and too young even for a 13 year old girl. The inconsiste...
This is a dark, honest, and oddly funny coming-of-age story. It takes place over the span of the 1984-1985 school year; 8th grade for Eulabee and her BFF Maria Fabiola. The girls have been childhood friends, but it's during this school year that it becomes apparent they're completely different.This is a story full of teenage angst, drama, and mystery. Told through Eulabee's POV, it's her thoughts and observations that make this story unique and engaging. While I would've been happy if the story
Book blurb: We Run the Tides is about young teenage girls in 1984…Me: Outta my way!There’s really no faster way to sell me on a novel than to tell me its set in the ‘80s, unless you also mention the protagonists are of my generation (Gen-X, represent!). That basically means there was no way I wasn’t going to read Vendala Vida’s latest book, even if early reviews have been somewhat mixed.The thing about We Run the Tides though is that it is perhaps so accurate in its depiction of being a 13-year-...
"On the street where you live, girls talk about their social lives - They're made of lipstick, plastic, and paint - a touch of sable in their eyes All your life all you asked when is your daddy gonna talk to you -But we're livin' in another world, tryin' to get your message through . . ."-- lyrics to 'Runaway' by Bon JoviNow here was a spellbinding novel that kept me so engrossed that I read it completely within a 24-hour period. Vida's We Run the Tides - referring to the young protagonist's boa...
Vendela Vida writes like no one else. She writes in a distinct style with an ability to get far under the skin of her characters. Most of this book is a memory piece of growing up in privileged circumstances in the early 1980's San Francisco in the community of Sea Cliff where everything "... is about the view of the Bridge." What truly sets Eulabee and her friends apart is that they don't see their situation as being anything but normal, that the exclusivity of their lives only becomes apparent...
Although reading about adolescence is not my top choice, I found this novel about the turmoil of girlhood very entertaining. I loved Eulabee's quirky personality and was invested in her struggle to navigate a difficult friendship. And the 1980s setting in San Francisco was great. (I lived there then!) A warm, satisfying novel that felt authentic.
I loved this unexpected little gem! Beautifully written from the perspective of a thirteen year old girl in 1984 San Francisco who is trying to navigate so many things - developing her sense of self and identity, her budding sexuality, peer pressure, and realizing that adults can be imperfect and totally disappointing human beings.Vida creates truly memorable characters. There’s the wonderfully fierce but vulnerable narrator, Eulabee; her enigmatic, troubled friend Maria Fabiola; her idiot Engli...
I LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS NOVEL!!!...LONG .....BUT NO SPOILERS: Dedicating this review to Lisi, Renee, and Barbara.....( best friends since Junior High School). My friends will understand the dedication. ***Nostalgia***....is felt.....I took a trip down memory lane in “We Run The Tides”.For many women around my age (I’m 68)....this will be a VERY ENJOYABLE PERSONAL GUT LOVING BOOK CHOICE!!!!IT’s DREAMY—wonderful, heart-warming- page turning addictive, sad, ( I want to cry and I don’t ‘fully’ know...
A richly textured novel about thirteen year old girls growing up in the upper class neighborhood of Sea Cliffs, San Francisco. Known for its mansions and ocean views, protagonist Eulabee and her arresting best friend, Maria Fabiola know its streets and its inhabitants fully. Using the pronoun ‘we’ in the first chapter, author Vendela Vida, inhabits the hive mind of four teenagers, Eulabee, Maria, Julia, and Faith. Vida differentiates them in looks and characteristics, but together they become th...
In a word, wistful. For a time lost in time, a place that is now out of reach, a young girl straddling the edge of adolescence and adulthood. This is a captivating and entertaining story of lost innocence and female friendships on the precipice of change.Our narrator Eulabee’s distinctive voice is observant, quirky and often very humorous and managed to keep this reader focused despite several narrative threads. Adolescent cliques, Queen Bees and the recklessness of youth are handled deftly and
"We Run the Tides" by Vendela Vida was an amazing Coming-of-age story!'We are thirteen, almost fourteen, and these streets of Sea Cliff are our own.'Eulabee and her friend Maria Fabiola have been BFF's since kindergarten. Their four person clique also includes Julia & Faith. They all live in the wealthy Sea Cliff neighborhood in San Francisco, California, high above China Beach, overlooking the ocean, with perfect views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin County.They attend an upscale all-girls
Took me right back to eighth grade, which I vividly remember. When this book first started I thought Eulabee, and I love the and, seemed younger than she was supposed to be. As the book went on though, and due to some fairly serious situations, she grew. This book was spot on in highlighting the dramas, the angst of these early teen years, peer pressure and how standing for the truth may alienate you from your friends. One day you're in, the next you're out. Experimentation, lack of confidence,
I absolutely adore the voice of Marin Ireland when she reads stories about apathetic women. If you have heard her narration of “Nothing to See Here” and “Anxious People”, you will know what I’m talking about. She narrates “We Run the Tides” by Vendela Vida, giving voice to thirteen year-old Eulabee. Eulabee narrates the story of her middle school friendship with her best friend, Maria Fabiola. That is how she is called, by her full name, Maria Fabiola. Ireland does a stellar job getting the almo...
It’s the mid-1980s and Eulabee and her friends are at the age between childhood and adulthood. Not yet in high school, but ready to spread their wings and enjoy some more freedom in their upper-middle-class neighborhood of Sea Side overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s the time where girls turn on each other and long-term friendships fall apart for seemingly the smallest of reasons. A time where one misstep can get you labeled a freak or a slut. A time where one girl’s disappearance leaves qu...
4.5 Stars ’We are thirteen, almost fourteen, and these streets of Sea Cliff are ours. We walk these streets to our school perched high over the Pacific and we run these streets to the beaches, which are cold, windswept, full of fishermen and freaks. We know these wide streets and how they slope, how they curve toward the short, and we know their houses.’ Living in a somewhat close knit community of houses in San Francisco, where such notables as Paul Kantner from Jefferson Airplane / Starship
This is a coming of age story, about two 13 year old girls, that is very well written and kept my interest. However, the story had some elements (character and coincidence) which I couldn't believe. . Perhaps this book suffered by comparison to the book which I'd read just before, Cat's Eye, which deals with some of the same themes in a remarkable and seamless manner. There are many stronger reviews for this book so please read those and take my few words with a grain of salt.
A high 4 starsThere was something mesmerizing and addictive about We Run the Tides. The story is set in San Francisco in the 1980s, told from the perspective of 13 year old Eulabee. Eulabee is both so so smart and so so deluded as only 13 year old girls can be. She goes to an elite private school, feels on top of the world, in awe her best friend Maria Fabiola. In no time, everything turns upside down. I loved how Vida managed to convey the melodramatic headspace of a thirteen year old girl with...
Vendela Vida’s We Run the Tides is a coming-of-age tale set in the 1980s, about two teenagers and their experiences growing up in the privileged, wealthy enclave of Sea Cliff in San Francisco. Eulabee and Maria Fabiola are best friends who’ve known each other since Kindergarten – more than that though, they also know every nook and cranny of the oceanside neighborhood they grew up in, even down to the history of each house and its current as well as former occupants. Now in eighth grade, the...
I feel really bad saying this, I'm kind of underwhelmed by this book based on the many glowing reviews I've seen. I guess I went in thinking there would be more? I love coming of age stories, but this one lacked that certain something to take it to the next level. I think the writing was good and the deep dive into the many aspects of how girls interact with each other was pretty spot on. I also enjoyed Eulabee's dark sense of humor. The book moved quickly and I read it in a day so it definitely...