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    We Run the Tides: A Novel
    We Run the Tides: A Novel
    We Run the Tides: A Novel
    Audiobook6 hours

    We Run the Tides: A Novel

    Written by Vendela Vida

    Narrated by Marin Ireland

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    An achingly beautiful and wickedly funny story of female friendship, betrayal, and a mysterious disappearance, set in the changing landscape of San Francisco

    Teenage Eulabee and her alluring best friend, Maria Fabiola, own the streets of Sea Cliff, their foggy, oceanside San Francisco neighborhood. They know the ins and outs of the homes and beaches, Sea Cliff’s hidden corners and eccentric characters—as well as the swanky all-girls’ school they attend. Their lives move along uneventfully, with afternoon walks by the ocean and weekend sleepovers. Then everything changes. Eulabee and Maria Fabiola have a disagreement about what they did or didn’t witness on the way to school one morning, and this creates a schism in their friendship. The rupture is followed by Maria Fabiola’s sudden disappearance—a potential kidnapping that shakes the quiet community and threatens to expose unspoken truths.

    Suspenseful and poignant, We Run the Tides is Vendela Vida’s masterpiece depiction of an inimitable place on the brink of radical transformation. Pre–tech boom San Francisco finds its mirror in the changing lives of the teenage girls at the center of this story of innocence lost, the pain of too much freedom, and the struggle to find one’s authentic self. Told with a gimlet eye and great warmth, We Run the Tides is both a gripping mystery and a tribute to the wonders of youth, in all its beauty and confusion. 

    Editor's Note

    Thrilling and nostalgic…

    Set in 1984, “We Run the Tides” centers on 13-year-old Eulabee and her three friends as they galavant around Sea Cliff, their wealthy San Francisco neighborhood. One day, they stumble upon a mystery that threatens to change everything. A thrilling, nostalgic novel celebrating the complexities of female friendship by Vendela Vida, who co-founded 826 Valencia along with Dave Eggers.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateFeb 9, 2021
    ISBN9780063067967
    Author

    Vendela Vida

    Vendela Vida is the award-winning author of six books, including Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name and The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty. Her new novel, We Run the Tides, will be published by Ecco on February 9, 2021. She is a founding editor of The Believer and coeditor of The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers and Confidence, or the Appearance of Confidence, a collection of interviews with musicians. She was a founding board member of 826 Valencia, the San Francisco writing center for youth, and lives in the Bay Area with her family.

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    Reviews for We Run the Tides

    4/5

    256 ratings20 reviews

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    • 4/5
      “Maria Fabiola” what a name!! Every time the narrator says her name, I break out in a grin ?Eulabee is quite a character too.
      1984 in all of it’s glory ? Fiorucci and Esprit, The Kinks & The Psychedelic Furs ?
      A coming of age story, where childhood friendships are often tested & strained over the slightest of infringements. If you grew up in the 80’s you’ll easily relate to this one.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I was led to this audiobook by searching on the narrator, who is one of my favorites. I found most of the story very engaging and had a hard time putting it down. But I felt a little disappointed by the last chapter; it just didn't seem to fit well with the rest of the story.
    • 5/5
      Strangely exciting for being a slice of life type coming of age story. Very enjoyable and well narrated.
    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed the teenage humor of this story. The descriptions of people and places. It was slow moving but made me laugh out loud at parts. What I didn’t understand or enjoy was the ending. The entire story is about events that occur to the narrator at age 13, but then it skips to her being nearly 50 years old. That in my opinion was not necessary at all. It should have ended with the revelation about Gentle, because that was sad & poignant. It tied together the false danger, with real peril.

      The story lost two stars because of my disappointment in the unnecessary time jump.
    • 1/5
      The book was pointless and the narrator emotionless. Worst audiobook I’ve listened to.
    • 5/5
      I don’t give five star reviews blithely, but this book deserves it. The plot is intriguing and has the perfect pace, drawing me in and developing the story quickly, but without rushing at the same time. The narration was also excellent. I look forward to reading more of this author’s writing.
    • 4/5
      I have previously read a book by Vida over ten years ago. This is a coming of age novel that is totally different than the other book I read. It takes place in Sea Cliff area in San Francisco in 1984. I lived near that area for 27 years so I appreciated the details of the book(probably whey I decided to read it). I enjoyed the narrator, Eulabee, who is a 13 year old going to a private school in this exclusive area. She is funny, insightful, but also a 13 year old an it is fun hearing and seeing the world through her eyes. The story concerns her friends and specifically Maria who is a young beauty and an "heiress" and as it turns out can tell a tall tale. The plot has a few problems but overall this is a worthwhile read that reminds you what a tough time it is to be a 13 year old but also what a great time. Not a long book but very good even better for one who lived in that neighborhood.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      ~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!
    • 2/5
      I went into it wanting to like it, even though comments from the other members of the committee made me a little dubious. Not far in, I was in strong dislike with most of the supporting characters other than Eulabee's mother. It read like a bad CW-style teen drama, and I sort of wanted some sort of responsible adult to notice all the crap going on and to intervene. Sadly, there were no responsible adults anywhere (except Eulabee's mom, maybe her dad). By halfway through, I was in strong dislike of ALL the characters, including Eulabee (well, except for her mother, but I have no idea where the hell she was when everything was raining chaos, or how she didn't notice any of it, so maybe she doesn't get a pass after all). Everyone in this book is at least a little psychotic (and I mean that in the literal medical sense, not as hyperbole), and I can't decide whether the author realized that or not.Huge brickwall modulation (musical term, go with it) near the end, when out of nowhere, it was as if the author said, "Eh, I'm tired of this. Let's fast forward over the consequences of her actions; we'll just mention them obliquely in passing." I get that she wanted to get to the 80's freeze-frame closing epilogue, but huh?I may be being generous with the extra half-star. At least it had well-written dialogue.
    • 3/5
      Found this on Hoopla after seeing it on the ToB longlist.It's the 1980s. Eulabee lives in the Sea Cliff neighborhood of SF and goes to an exclusive girls' high school. This story chronicles some typical 80s high school experiences: as the daughter of an immigrant (her mother is from Sweden), friendships gone sour, boys, the neighborhood. And three missing girls, one of whom is Eulabee, though she was surprised to find she was "missing". And then, 30 years later, as she returns to SF with her husband and son, and begins meeting with some of her long-ago friends.I enjoyed this, but honestly I don't think I'll remember this book in 6 months. And if I did not live in the Bay Area in the 80s--and yes, if I hadn't gone to the Fillmore in the 80s--I'm not sure I would have enjoyed this much at all.
    • 5/5
      Vida captures the uncertainty and angst of being an teenage girl on the outskirts of the in crowd.
    • 3/5
      Dunno. It just felt like...not enough. Like it was really close, almost there, but ultimately dissatisfying. This is tragic to me because her earlier novel, Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name, is a stunning masterpiece.
    • 4/5
      It’s the middle of the 80s and San Francisco hasn’t turned into the tech/IT hotspot it is today. Teenager Eulabee grows up in a more well-off part close to the beach and attends an expensive all-girls school with her best friends Maria Fabiola. The girls are still somewhere between being kids and becoming visibly female and with this transformation also come the problems. Maria Fabiola is the first to attract attention from the opposite sex, but her radiant appearance also charms women which is why she gets away with almost everything. Eulabee is far from being that self-confident and therefore sticks to the truth what leads to her being excluded from the girl circles of her school. When Maria Fabiola vanishes, the whole community is alarmed, but Eulabee from the start does not believe in a kidnapping, she has known Maria Fabiola for too long and is well aware of her former friend’s greed for attention.Vendela Vida still isn’t as renowned as her husband Dave Eggers even though she has published several books by now and has won the Kate Chopin Award. I found her last novel “The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty” quite exceptional in the choice of perspective and therefore was eager to read her latest novel “We Run the Tides”. This time, she goes back in time and has chosen teenage girls as protagonists. The story is told from Eulabee’s perspective and captures well the mixed emotions a girl goes through when becoming a woman. Also the ambiance of the 1980s is convincingly depicted.The most central aspect of the novel is surely the friendship between Eulabee and Maria Fabiola and its shift when one of the girls develops a bit quicker than the other. Maria Fabiola is well aware of the effect she has on other people and uses this for her own advantage. Eulabee, in contrast, is still much more a girl, insecure in how to behave and what to do about the situation. She does not fight but accept what’s happening. Her first attempts of approaching boys seem to be successful but end up in total disappointment. She is a close observer and can well interpret the relationships she sees, between her parents, her mother and her sister and also the other girls and teachers at her school. Without any doubt she is a likeable character and treated highly unfairly. But that’s how kids behave at times.I liked how the plot developed and how the vanishing of the girls turned out quite unexpectedly. Yet, I didn’t fully understand why the author has chosen to add another chapter set in the present. For me, the story was perfectly told at a certain point and admittedly, neither was I really interested in Eulabee’s later life nor in another encounter of the two women as grown-ups. Still, I do not really know what to make of Maria Fabiola when they meet for the first time decades later. To sum up, wonderfully narrated, a great coming-of-age story with a strong protagonist.
    • 5/5
      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 to theirs and should be considered for immediate classic status.
    • 4/5
      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, wanting to belong to something, someone. Oh yes, I remember though no ones memories,experiences are the same.Bet we all know a Maria too, the girl who developed before the others, the one at which the boys stared. Excuded self-confidence, a major drama queen always craving attention. The time period of the eighties was spot on too, with swatch watches, clearasil, shoulder pads. For me, this was an easy coming of age story in which to relate. Loved that at the ending the author catches us up on the girls, fifty years old now, some changed, some not. Oh yes, eighth grade was a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to go back. Been there, done that!ARC from Edelweiss.
    • 5/5
      Clever, witty, subtle humor. A very intelligent author.
    • 4/5
      Set in a wealthy San Francisco neighborhood in the 1980’s, the story of private school friends takes us into the minds of schoolgirls where the world centers around them. When the friends start disappearing, Eulabee tries to figure out what happen. The story is light up until a classic white car shows up in the neighborhood. The mystery is never solved. In 2019 a chance meeting sheds new light on what could have happened forty years ago. It’s the story of a dissolving friendship that begins when Eulabee says she didn’t see the man in the white car fondling himself as her three friend scontend happen. Labeled both a traitor and a slut, Eulabee feels isolated and even more so she wants to figure out what happened. This is a quick and engaging story.
    • 5/5
      I was glued to this book from the moment I picked it up. The main character, Eulabee, was very easy for me to like (and, at times, feel so very sorry for). I wanted to like her best friend, Maria Fabiola, but a part of me couldn't bring myself to do it. The two were like night and day but also had some strong similarities. Theirs was a volatile relationship from the start, even though it might not have been so obvious. I felt as though I couldn't read this fast enough, as I hurriedly turned the pages to find out what was going to happen next. There's a few adult scenarios scattered throughout this book, so I think it's more geared towards adults. All in all, this was a great book and I hope to read more from the author.
    • 4/5
      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. 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.