Slack-Tide

by Elanor Dymott

'When two people meet is it need, fantasy or love? Slack-Tide takes us on an urgent journey and kept me reading late into the night.' Esther Freud

‘By midsummer the thing between us was finished, and it was as if a storm had torn the roof from over me.’

It is four years since the loss of a child broke her marriage, and Elizabeth is fiercely protective of her independence. She meets Robert – exuberant, generous, apparently care-free – and they fall in love with breath-taking speed.

Slack-tide tracks the ebbs and flows of the passionate, coercive, intensely sexual. When you’ve known lasting love and lost it, what price will you pay to find it again?

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

160 pages, Paperback

Published January 16, 2020

About the author

Elanor was born in Chingola, Zambia, in 1973. She was educated in the USA and England and also spent parts of her childhood in South East Asia. After studying English at Oxford University, she qualified as a lawyer before becoming a law reporter. Her short fiction has been published in Stand, The Warwick Review and Algebra. Every Contact Leaves A Trace is her first novel, and was longlisted for The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award. Elanor lives in London where she plays jazz flute and is writing more novels.

Reviews

[enqi ☾⋆˚*̣̩✩ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Essentially a book about a woman who falls in love with a man who strings her along for sex, nothing more.

After her marriage dissolves due to a miscarriage and failed pregnancy, Elizabeth has been single for four years. She has friends, places to go to, and family to love, and is perfectly comfortable in her independent, single lifestyle. Besides, she's had problems becoming emotionally intimate with anyone ever since her ex-husband left. Yet when she meets Robert, she dares to let herself hope he could be different, and that she will have a child with him. But as time passes, she begins to realise that Robert is only in the relationship for companionship and sex. He has no intention whatsoever of having another child with her, because he already has a son.

I remembered again his description of what he wanted from a relationship, when he'd recited his litany of "someones". Lying there in bed, listening to his small-cat breathing, it struck me that that was what I'd been to him from the start, when I'd gone to meet him as Susie's stand-in: a someone, filling in for someone else. I wondered then how many relationships were structured in this way, so that people everywhere were doing what Robert had done, and making a life alongside another person without much minding who they were, as long as they filled a gap which would otherwise be empty.

The story navigates the ups and downs of middle-aged dating, which perhaps was something I absolutely couldn't relate to, but I found the characters annoying. Elizabeth refuses to listen to her friends when they tell her all the red flags about Robert, because "she loves him". But then she proceeds to spend a few pages analysing how she only loves him because it's nice to feel wanted, and she wants someone, anyone, to have a kid with. You'd think that at that age, a woman would be able to spot red flags in a partner and run far away, or at least learn to take the advice of her well-meaning girlfriends. As for Robert, I thought he was the most manipulative ass ever. He resembled a man-child to me and it was so evident a few chapters in that he was only leading Elizabeth on for his own pleasure. I have no words, except that if any of my girlfriends were dating someone like that, I would probably step in and physically drag them away from the guy.

The breakup is quiet, and eventually they both drift, with a hopeful ending to round off the story. But it's really nothing spectacular, and I was mostly bored or annoyed reading it.

[Beth Bonini · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

A dear friend gave this book to me - with a laughing warning - for my recent birthday. It is entirely about the fraught nature of midde-aged dating, and therefore probably most interesting (and most unsettling) for those readers whose lives mirror those of the two main characters. The book takes place in London, and is quite detailed about London places: restaurants, cinemas, neighbourhoods, Tube lines, flower markets, etc. Again, there is a striking verisimilitude if one lives in London, is educated, middle-class, etc. The novel was so close to home for me (and I mean that both symbolically and literally) that I cannot really judge if all of its specificities mean that it will, conversely, lack a more universal appeal. However, I suspect that might be the case.

The protagonists are Robert (52, an architect, father of one son, separated but not divorced) and Elizabeth (40, a writer, divorced, longing for a child). The story is told in first-person, from Elizabeth’s point of view, and from the beginning we know that the relationship hasn’t worked out. There is no suspense in the plot-line, needless to say; instead, the author examines how the emotional accretions of previous relationships affect and limit each character’s ability to ‘bond’ (for lack of a better word) with a new partner.

One of my favourite things about this book were the chapter headings which were taken from various field guides. Each of them, (mostly to do with navigation), parallels a development in the plot of this romance, and appropriately so, as this is a novel about being orientated and disorientated in emotional relationships. For instance, one chapter heading addresses itself to scullers who have difficulties having their boat run straight. It’s suggested that many scullers develop the habit of looking over their shoulders; a neat way of describing how both Robert’s and Elizabeth’s tendency to look backwards into the past affects their ability to move ahead into the future. Robert’s preference for control is also expressed in a sailing analogy: “I’m on starboard tack. I’m approaching you. You give way. It’s just how it is. I have right of way.”

Robert is a sailor and a pilot and he delights in sharing navigational information with Elizabeth. One of his first ‘lessons’ in navigating comes in the form of explaining that a pilot learns to rely on his instruments and ignore sensory messages. It’s a nice insight into his character, and a helpful bit of foreshadowing for Elizabeth - and the reader. Although this book is entirely about a short-term failed relationship, it is very artfully written.

[Bookish Bethany · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although this book is short it's really not worth it. I feel so cruel giving a 1 star and maybe it doesn't deserve it, maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea.

A woman - still young, fit, attractive - falls for a wealthy older man who swindles her and toys with her emotions in order to get sex on tap. A lot of this story is about her falling back into the lap of a man who is sleazy, buys her nice things and attempts to apologise again and again for his behaviour - only for him to be rewarded once again with her body. This is sold as a love story? In what world is this love?

[soph · Rating 2 out of 5]

unfortunately this is a 1.5. this is not a story that teaches anything about love, or grief, or life. it just tells the surface level story of a strange and off-putting man stringing a lonely woman along. it’s only redeeming quality was a few moments of nice prose, but not once was i rooting for the story or the characters. the most interesting part of this was the backstory of the narrator, which is the part that is completely ignored.

[Runningrara]

A relationship in its 6 month entirety where the man is a scumbag and she can't see it.

[Santhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was like plunging into a free fall of a heady affair... An affair, just like the one in the story - at times intense and passionate, at times disquieting and knowing fully heartbreak is impending.

I will pick myself up, and I will begin again. - E

[Miina Lindberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this one. And I can’t explain why I liked it so much. I guess it’s just I interesting to read about relationships and how the evolve and why they end.

[Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.
This book was very different to what I thought it was going to be. In hindsight I see that the blurb is quite misleading. The story follows Elizabeth and Robert, a middle aged couple, who have just started dating after separating from their respective spouses.

According to the blurb "they fall in love with breathtaking speed. Slack Tide tracks the ebbs and flows of the affair: passionate, coercive, intensely sexual." From this I expected an exploration of those early heady days of a new relationship where everything is rose-tinted and feelings are intense. I thought I was going to swept away with the romance of it all.
But no.... that was far from the case although, actually, I think the book is all the more meaningful and well observed because of it and the blurb does it a disservice.

What this book actually is, is an exploration of the many conflicting feelings experienced by Elizabeth and Robert as they date for the first time after many years of marriage and subsequent heartbreak. The intensity is from Robert who is jealous and controlling, but I wouldn't call their relationship "passionate" or "intensely sexual" by any stretch. They both take a while to discover their true feelings for each other and work out what they want from a new relationship and from their future. So many of their feelings, conversations and behaviours were acutely observed and believable. For this reason the characters really came to life and I found this to be a really interesting story of their relationship from beginning to end and the "ebbs and flows" of their emotions. That is the one part of the blurb I agree with!

[Duncan Chadwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. An unexpected gem. Wonderful and powerful exploration of a relationship between two people and their respective friends and family.

[holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

decently written but like ..what was the point? i just read 200 pages of a man being a jerk

[Taz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to be out of my own life so I read about her being in her sad life that’s that

[Kelly Osborne · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only redeemable aspect of this book was the occasional peek into the narrator's past--her recollections of the dissolution of her marriage after the loss of a child. That was the book I wish I had been reading as it was far more engrossing and believable than any scene of the main narrative.

Apart from those paragraphs of respite, I struggled to care even the tiniest bit about Elizabeth and Robert's relationship. The writing did nothing to make me believe that Elizabeth was actually invested in this person (so over-the-top in his self-obsession, desire for control, and unwillingness to compromise so as to render him parodic), nor was I ever convinced of the connection between these two. The dustcover summary states: "They fall in love with breathtaking speed...Slack-Tide tracks the ebbs and flows of the affair: passionate, coercive, intensely sexual"-- I'm sorry, when????

I could just be entirely missing the point; the book is titled "Slack-Tide" after all, which describes a period during the tide where there is little to no current or movement of water at all. In hindsight maybe that is the author's point (in which case, brilliant): a story in which the reader's emotional ebbs and flows mirror that of the characters', which is to say, there are none.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehhh....not bad, but I found the relationship of the American boyfriend with the protagonist to be a bit unlikely, he was clearly a pretentious jerk right from the start. It also irritated me how he also turned out to be be very rich (by marriage) and I couldn't help rolling my eyes about why this 12 years younger woman would take any interest in this man who bought her expensive gifts and took her to fancy restaurants...hmmm

[Hollie (she her) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I didn't do too bad to say I read this in just over 24 hours!
I enjoyed this overall, I liked the authors writing style however I wished it had explored different areas of the plot which it had set itself up for. There were so many scenes of which I questioned and wished they had expended on further, such as when Robert introduced different lady friends to Elizabeth, dynamics with her friends and family, and the scene of when they're in Cornwall together
Robert I knew from the start , was a pig. I could tell he was going to be manipulative from their first meeting and continued to play Elizabeth throughout their relationship to the point where early on I was like ELIZABETH JUST LEAVE HIM ALREADY !! I mean, to just constantly go on about his ex wife 'Lena' all the time, you'd just get fed up about it, wouldn't you??

This book just goes to show how codependent you can be on somebody if you allow them to control you and not give you the proper love you deserve. This man was clearly in a time where he needed to be a lad again, but it's just a shame how he treated Elizabeth.
This book also made me question whether Robert actually divorced Lena, but there again, we will never know!!!!

[Lara A · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a short novel about the short romance between Elizabeth who is just 40 and divorced following the loss of her baby and Robert, 52 and estranged from his (much wealthier) wife of twenty years. The reader is informed within the first chapter that the romance is doomed, so this is not so much as a What Will Happen, but a Why Does It Happen.

However, the why is immediately very obvious. Robert wants to not be alone, Elizabeth wants a baby. The two are not mutually compatible. Despite this lack of tension, the two characters are convincingly written and it is this which makes this an absorbing read, if not an entirely satisfying one. In particular, Elizabeth is rather underwritten and her descriptions of the loss of her baby read rather like faded facsimiles of more vivid depictions elsewhere. It is also noticeable that her ex-husband is never even named. This may be intended as a symbolic choice but it reads as rather a clanger in a novel that otherwise strives for realism. To conclude with a maritime metaphor, this book may aim to be a grand voyage, but as read, it is more of a rowboat ride.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by this author.
She has a good style of writing that makes the story extremely well paced and easy to follow. I don't want to give too much away but if you're looking for a traditional story with a beginning, middle, end structure and an actual plot, then this isn't the book for you.
Whilst it doesn't really go anywhere, the fact that the protagonist/narrator is telling you the whole thing like a stranger at a party it is still very intriguing, odd, sometimes creepy and often funny. Funny enough I would add, to make you keep reading until the end.
I would be interested in reading other books by this other to see what else she has to offer.

[Chloë Fowler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book to read just after Crudo...both novels about the beginnings of relationships and in this book's case, the end. It's got a very particular target audience and I guess that I'm one of them. It's an uncomfortable read, you know from the start that Robert isn't going to be entirely 'the nice guy' so you read knowing that things don't end happily. I suppose, with the knowledge that it will end, it's hard to keep the suspense going and I did start willing the protagonist to get on with it. It's a short book so won't take long to get through, which in my view, was a good thing.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't even know why, but I liked it. This book is written in such a manner I haven't encountered before - the flow of momentary actions, thoughts, and words. I hated both antagonists, honestly, but I could sometimes relate to Elizabeth and definitely could understand her motivation. Robert was a complete shit show for me and I was basically annoyed every time he spoke lmao. Idk, I may have been biased, but these people are the exact age as my parents and behaving like literal high-school students.
Anyway, that was a nice book and a very interesting experience for me showing that you can hate the characters and still like the book. Nice quick read if you want out from your reading slump

[Mia Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this book was trying to be a story about grief, it was not successful. If it was trying to be a story about delusions in love, it was not successful. If it was trying to be a character study, it was not successful. It felt like it was trying to be profound but the resulting novel is superficial, lacklustre and could have been condensed into one chapter. The characters are dislikeable and not relatable. It also feels packed with forced literary techniques that don't assimilate smoothly into the writing. I wouldn't recommend.

[Henry Hirschberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original

I have read all three of ms dymott’s novels. Liked them all but the first is my favourite. A more interesting story . This one is well written with an original background.
The common denominator with all three is sadness. In all three the main character is sad.
I look forward to the next novel.

[Sara R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Underbar historia om två vuxna personer som försöker få ett förhållande att fungera. Men deras bakgrund, deras framtid och deras väldigt olika syn på livet står emellan dem. Lågmäld realism när den är som bäst.

[Emily Laslett · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t stand this book to the point that I couldn’t even bring myself to finish it. Both characters I found unlikable and also unbelievable. Not sure why Elizabeth would have ever put up with Robert for so long... his weird behaviour made it a difficult read that I just could not get in to.

[Lizz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny in ways I suspect it wasn’t meant to be - and that’s the only reason it’s getting two stars. Some truly CRINGE sex-scene writing including: ‘when he came he roared and juddered like a killer whale’ ... ‘my ears might have been pierced my his roar.’

[Megan S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated the depiction of a controlling relationship - how many ways you can be undermined or corrected or wheedled into something. Also enjoyed the familiarity of the London setting. At the same time, some parts felt distant because set in quite a moneyed world.

[Eileen Uihlein Donohue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different. The story was the character's thought process as she evaluated her new relationship. She weighed deep private thoughts that one wouldn't share even with closest friends. I rooted for her as she progressed to the solution best for her.

[Florence Dolle · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the start of the novel, we find out that the relationship will end.
Then, like in an episode of Columbo, we find out why.
Great read.

[Melanie Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous cadence

I loved the cadence of this book - the evolution of the characters and their relationship - and enjoyed the fond ending which was not expected at all.

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bet Robert is a Capricorn

[Miriam Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so calmly and honestly written. It felt like a true story despite being fiction - I felt I could have lived it. Felt sad to finish it.

[Sue Albu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tender exploration of the ways in which age difference and sex difference impacts on relationships. In someways soulful and sad for its female protagonist but all too true.