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Tide running

Oonya Kempadoo

2001201 pagesabout 3–5 hours
2001
first published
  • 2001Picador · 201 pages · ENGISBN 9780330482523
  • 2002PicadorISBN 9780330482530
  • 2003Farrar, Straus & Giroux · ENGISBN 9781429998796
  • 2003Farrar, Straus, Giroux · 215 pages · ENGISBN 9780374277574
  • 2004Beacon Press · 215 pages · ENGISBN 9780807083734

"Cliff and Ossi have grown up in Plymouth on the island of Tobago, their lives turning on the axis of small-town life: young men fooling outside Masta Barbar's shop, gangsta rap blasting; Baywatch and Oprey Winfree interrupted by frantic street calls from the preachers; a morning's fishing - and sex.". "One day they watch the arrival of a couple - Bella, a Caribbean woman, and Peter, an Englishman - 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, bright, 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."--BOOK JACKET.

How it feels

Emotional toneUnflinching

How it reads

Plot intensityCharacter driven
ComplexityLayered

Worth knowing

Romance levelCentral

When and where

ThemesLove
How do you feel?