Time and Tide

by Edna O'Brien

Time and Tide is a fragmented novel detailing the loves and catastrophes—and catastrophic loves—of Nell, an Irish woman trying to make a life for herself in the literary world of London.

"A whimsical beauty who has swapped the suffocating narrowness of her native land for the loveless brutality of England" (The Independent), Nell is in flight from bitter, controlling, and small-minded parents, yet risks becoming just such a mother to her own sons. She seeks comfort and acceptance, yet finds death, drugs, and "an orgy of humiliation" (The New York Times Book Review). She seeks companionship, yet finds one after another predatory man: sadists, alcoholics, unscrupulous doctors, and even child molesters. Can Nell extract from the "the vast inhospitality of a creaking world" some measure of beauty and grace? The answer, of course, is yes—but at the price of many illusions.

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Irish Literature, Mental Health, Family

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1992

About the author

Edna O’Brien was an award-winning Irish author of novels, plays, and short stories. She has been hailed as one of the greatest chroniclers of the female experience in the twentieth century. She was the 2011 recipient of the Frank O’Connor Prize, awarded for her short story collection Saints and Sinners. She also received, among other honors, the Irish PEN Award for Literature, the Ulysses Medal from University College Dublin, and a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Literary Academy. Her 1960 debut novel, The Country Girls, was banned in her native Ireland for its groundbreaking depictions of female sexuality. Notable works also include August Is a Wicked Month (1965), A Pagan Place (1970), Lantern Slides (1990), and The Light of Evening (2006). O’Brien lived in London until her death.

Reviews

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

IL CORSO DELLA MAREA


Alfred Thompson Bricher: Time and Tide (1873).

Ancora una bella donna irlandese che cerca di affrancarsi dal suo ambiente, di conquistare il suo spazio nel mondo, in questo bel romanzo di Edna O’Brien dal titolo originale diversissimo da quello della traduzione italiana: Time and Tide diventa Le stanze dei figli.
E qualche anno dopo il regista e sceneggiatore Nanni Moretti fece il suo film che credo a tutt’oggi sia il più premiato, che uscì con un titolo molto simile, La stanza del figlio, e anche lì si parlava dell’elaborazione di un lutto, di un padre che perde un figlio in un incidente nautico (dalla meccanica differente). Parallelo mi sembra un momento clou di romanzo e film, quello del riconoscimento della salma (per la cronaca, e per il gossip, l’ex moglie di Moretti, Silvia Nono, è proprio la traduttrice in italiano del romanzo della O’Brien).



Qui la donna protagonista, Nell, è sola, non può appoggiarsi sulla presenza di un partner. Ha lasciato l’asfittica Irlanda per approdare nella terra oltre il mare, l’Inghilterra, nello specifico a Londra, dove ha, sì, trovato spazio e libertà, ma anche freddezza e gelo umano. Si è lasciata alle spalle un padre che incarna tutti i pessimi soggetti maschili che Nell incontrerà nel corso del libro.
Nell ha un cuore che palpita di poesia e passione, e potrebbe essere proprio per questo motivo che il padre dei suoi figli l’apprezza poco: non per nulla il sensibilissimo maschio inglese la reputa mentalmente instabile, nonché sciatta e trascurata.
Nell combatte una lunga e dura battaglia legale per ottenere la custodia dei due figli.
Altri uomini entrano nella vita di Nell, ma non va meglio che con quell’altro.



Nell trova linfa e consolazione nell’amore dei e per i figli. Che però sono già cresciutelli, preferiscono vivere per fatti loro, con i loro amici, le loro ragazze, le droghe. D’altronde, Nell forse è troppo presente, troppo affettuosa, troppo mamma, troppo soffocante.
E poi uno dei due, come già detto, muore (nessuno spoiler, lo si può intuire sin dalla prima pagina). E le stanze dei figli per forza di cose rimangono vuote.
Nell lavora in una casa editrice, legge manoscritti, raccomanda quelli che le sembrano degni di pubblicazione. Ma sono molti di più quelli che cassa e rimanda al mittente. E, a volte, la lettera che accompagna il rifiuto si spinge troppo in là, regala troppi consigli, dice più di quello che dovrebbe una semplice formula di rito.



Qua e là si ha la sensazione che Nell attiri e inviti guai e disastri, che la O’Brien si applichi per andarli a scovare e sottoporglieli. Ma l’ironia, e la qualità della sua scrittura, sgombrano il campo da questa sensazione, riportando il racconto su un terreno di assoluta verosimiglianza.
A migliorare la mia lettura, se ce ne fosse bisogno, la forte piacevole sensazione che il romanzo sia composto da racconti collegati tra loro più che da un’unica fluida e compatta narrazione.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow, I had not read this book i was drawn in right away the tempest of domestic life and the shock of someone you thought you knew betraying you every way possible. Brilliant writing keep coming back to O`Briens novels to wade into others lives so well written it takes my breath away-

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Yet her heart had gone to gristle." That line shows one of the aspects of O'Brien's writing that I love: A fresh image, a unique emotional description, and the attention to the English language at the elemental level: the short words, the monosyllables, the alliteration. Of course that is not her only style, and that is what makes lines like that stand out. Right from the first page this novel is a torrent of anguish and never really lets up. Towards the end we get this: "She walks now with a vengeance, with a malice of the destinationless and the pounding of someone who will not concede that she has nowhere to go." No, this is not an uplifting novel—it's a virtual catalogue of all the emotions below the centerline. The pacing drags a bit in the middle, a probably necessary breath-taking before the unrelenting emotional carnage to come. The power of her language is just stunning throughout, she's always coming up with something surprising, something you haven't read anywhere else, something like a "howl that cut notches."

[Kris McCracken · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Time and Tide" by Edna O'Brien is a slow, tedious trudge through the life of an unlikeable protagonist, leaving much to be desired. O'Brien's celebrated talent for piercing insight and lyrical prose is absent here, delivering a narrative that feels both disjointed and devoid of meaningful engagement.

It revolves around Nell, a protagonist whose constant suffering and frustrating lack of agency make her impossible to sympathise with. She drifts through life as a victim, aggressively clinging to her misfortunes without ever showing the initiative to rise above them. Rather than drawing readers into the complexities of her emotional world, Nell repels with her relentless passivity and self-pity. It's hard to invest in a character who seems to prefer wallowing in her own misery, overtaking even the smallest steps toward change. This makes for an intensely unlikeable lead, one who evokes exasperation rather than empathy.

Then there's the pacing. To call it glacial would be too generous. O'Brien's penchant for florid prose works against her here, dragging the story to a near standstill. The narrative is a sluggish, wearisome journey with no clear direction and little incentive to care where it's headed. Staying engaged becomes an exercise in patience, as even the most pivotal moments feel bogged down in endless rumination.

Worse still is the confusing, disjointed narrative structure. Despite spending far too much time in Nell's head, I found myself grappling with the point of many of her actions (or rather, inactions). The lack of clarity doesn't add to the novel's depth; it simply muddies the waters, leaving the reader adrift in a sea of vagueness. The entire exercise feels like wading through a fog of existential ennui without the benefit of a meaningful destination.

⭐ 1/2

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

*spoilers (sort of)*

"'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' Untruer words never spoken."

How does one move through the world when her baseline existence is loss of identity? How does she define herself? What can she cling to? Nell is a daughter, then she is not. Nell is a wife, then she is not. Nell is a mother, then she is… struggling to hold onto this last aspect of her identity throughout the majority of this powerfully sad novel.

"She cannot pray, and yet she waits the way someone waiting to be sick waits."

She shows some true strength early on: we see a woman who forsakes her parents’ selfish wishes in order to be with the man she loves; we see her forsake her husband’s abusive actions to save herself, to rebuild her own sense of self-worth. But then we see her battle her own self-worth for the rest of her life for the sake of her children, or perhaps more specifically for the sake of her idea of motherhood.

"What pretty names we give to the carnivorousness that is called mother."

But Nell has a toxic view of parenting, due to her relationship with her own mother, culminating in a toxic view of herself. She loves her children deeply, but sees her main goal in life as making sure she is never abandoned by them. We see this time and again with each anxious interaction involving any other person stepping into her children’s lives.

"A phantasmagoria of ashes, plastic, paper, food, condoms, flowers, mush, the afterbirth of all hope, toil and aspiration merged into a grotesqueness which cannot itself be destroyed. She thinks that she is like that and calls out to her dead mother, the pity, the raving pity that they had never known that milky oneness; each in her trajectory of dark."

I couldn’t exactly tell how O’Brien wanted me to think about Nell. Should I sympathize with her? Pity her? Feel disgusted at her neediness? I certainly couldn’t root for the way she sought her own self-worth: it wasn’t even by living vicariously through her children, but more at the expense of their own need to be individuals in the world. And I think this was masterfully exemplified by O’Brien in that Nell’s two boys didn’t feel like individual human beings, but more like an environment that Nell needed to live in to feel safe.

"Being alone with someone you love when you are empty is quite the worst, most ghastly thing."

As they grew into adulthood and moved away, their mother sought other things to define herself- an array of ever-selfish lovers; a failed attempt at perhaps being a daughter again; an experience with psychedelics that brought on a very welcome bit of levity to a melancholic story. But in the end, it was always her children that she needed. Even when they grew outwardly tired of her need, and she tried to rein it in, there was so much resentment built up in her that she couldn’t but be the victim. Then, in the last fifty or so pages, true tragedy strikes, and she is forced to reckon with the worst loss she can imagine. To whom can she cling?

"Still more tears, as if all the sorrow of her life and the sorrow of life itself, the sorrow she knows and the sorrows she does not know have met and mutinied, asking to be heard. In many ways it is a kind of blessing, because she is devoid of thought. She had shed thought, all thought, all memory, transmitted into tears, that came from her eyes, her belly, her stomach, her sex. It had come to this and no one could do anything, not those who came to gaze and got bored, not the woman who sat patiently and said, 'Let it out . . . let it all out.' It must be the birth of something, she thinks, because after all that crying, it can never be as bad again, or can it?"

[Ash HC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such an unsatisfying read in every way. I just felt like I barely knew what was going on at any given time, even though we were supposed to be in Nell's head. Everything just felt disjointed and disconnected, from the divorce, to the large swathes of men who traipsed in and out of Nell's life, to the trouble with her sons. Actually, the only part I felt I had any connection or understanding of Nell was when Paddy died, but by that time it felt like it was too little too late . But characters just seemed to appear in the story with no introduction and then disappear as quickly as they had arrived, while I still was unsure of where they had come from or who they were. Maybe I'm just an idiot but at times it felt like I'd come into the story in the middle and was missing half of the context.
I also hated Nell! She had no redeeming qualities between an aggressive victim complex and what felt like taking absolutely no initiative while everything went to shit around her.
I liked O'Brien's prose but because the whole thing felt so disjointed and disconnected I really struggled to get behind it at all.

[Jo Birkett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed first 1/3 about struggle to get herself independent with two boys, but once they went away to school lost interest, as it became just a meandering series of encounters and experiences with men.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the book was overwrought. It just lurked from one bad choice to another. No bright spots. Not a great read for me.

[Rosaleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars ⭐️ The first third of this book was the best, after that there was a lot of rambling and it became very stressful to read.

[Len · Rating 3 out of 5]

On reading this novel I was left uncertain whether it was the story of a woman plagued by bad luck, poor choices, a disturbing lack of social communication ability, and a kamikaze approach to her own life, or a skilful use of almost Greek tragedy as a woman is pursued by the Fates, unable to escape her destiny no matter what her choices. It is certainly a challenging read and the prose does sometimes disappear up its own profundity. And where is the humour? Nell seems to be trapped in an existence devoid of all but carnal and drug induced happiness. Generally even the most desperate and destitute have something to look back on that can bring at least a rueful smile into their memory. If I were with Nell I think I would act as with a dangerous firework: buy her a final drink and then withdraw to a safe distance. I would only recommend the book if you are an Edna O'Brien devotee or in the mood for an emotional hangover. By the way, I read the first printing of the Farrar Straus Giroux edition – it must have one of the most depressing dustjacket designs ever produced. I can only think that the artist read the book before he produced it.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is an anecdote sometimes told about Bertrand Russell to the effect that he once told an interested listener that the basic premise of wisdom is to accept that life is terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE! Once one accepts this one is then free to enjoy such moments of beauty and pleasure that life affords. Whatever one thinks of Russell's alleged assessment it does seem to inform the ethos of many an Irish writer, and in the case of this novel at least, Edna O'Brien's. The protagonist, Nell, goes through divorce, a failed and humiliating love affair, alienation from both parents along with some other sorrows that I will not spoil for the Interested reader. No, not an uplifting tale this one, except insofar as Nell never allows herself to become deadly cold nor vicious, so there is an undercurrent of redemption sweeping by under the icefloes of existence. O'Brien is a master psychologist and emotional archeologist too, so she always teaches even at her most gloomy.

[Stevie Holcomb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this difficult to get into, but did--and then about page 113 it all kind of fell apart. I loved the survival story, but then it just got WEIRD. Unbalanced, and it was just like someone else picked up the writing. Just couldn't take it anymore. Feel kind of like I wasted my time, but I'm going to trick myself into thinking that I did read a nice story, at least, and make up my own ending in my head and call this one done.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book written my Edna O'Brien written in 1992 about a mother, a broken marriage, her two sons and motherhood. It is written in first person, so the woman's voice - born Irish but moved to London and works as an editor. She reflects on her own parents, her relationships especially with her sons. Very little conversation just all her inner dialogue. Frankly depressing. This woman could have used major therapy!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be more of a four and-a-half star review, but only because a section in the middle is not as strong and cohesive as the rest. O'Brien is a brilliant writer, and speaks to all women everywhere.

[Zachariah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made me realize my poor, small brain can't comprehend such formal writing. However I powered through and, despite not having a vocabulary as wide as this author's, the writing was beautiful and poetic as they told a tragic story.

[Marla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely sentences but depressing story. Had to keep putting it down, according to my notes.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woman is subjegated, has two sons, story has drugs and loss of one son. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. It kind of plods on.

[Trent · Rating 2 out of 5]

It became wearying to read about the somewhat unsympathetic protagonist's bad choices. And I didn't feel that I was learning anything interesting about the human condition.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erzählt wird die Geschichte von Nells Leben. Von ihrer freudlosen Ehe und der dramatischen Scheidung, über den Kampf um die beiden Söhne und die Schwierigkeiten, den eigenen Lebensunterhalt zu verdienen. In einer Zeit in der es für eine Frau schwierig war, unabhängig zu sein, muss sich Nell ihre Eigenständigkeit jeden Tag neu erkämpfen.

Nells Geschichte klingt banal, aber das ist sie nicht. Das Buch beginnt am Ende, beim Tod ihres ältesten Sohns. Dann springt es zurück zum Anfang, als Nell mit ihrer Familie Irland verlässt um in London ein neues, besseres Leben anzufangen. Wann genau das ist, wird nicht gesagt. Ich vermute, es ist irgendwann in den 60er Jahren. Das würde erklären, warum die Scheidung so schwierig ist, auch wenn Nell am Scheitern der Ehe nicht unschuldig ist. Sie hat ihren Mann betrogen, woraufhin er sie mit Schweigen straft. Bald scheint es, als ob sie nicht mehr zu ihrer eigenen Familie gehört. Andere Frauen hätten die Situation wahrscheinlich ertragen weil sie sich schuldig fühlten. Nicht so Nell. Sie verlässt ihren Mann und nimmt die Jungen mit. Sie ist bereit, zu kämpfen. Wie schwer der Kampf hat sie wahrscheinlich nicht erwartet. Ich übrigens auch nicht. Dass ihr Mann einfach so über die Kinder verfügen kann und die vor aller Welt als wahnsinnig und unmoralisch hinstellt und Richter und Öffentlichkeit ihm dabei auch noch zustimmen, hat mich erschreckt. War das damals wirklich so oder ist Nell nur ein besonderer Fall?

Nach dem Prozess beginnt ein neues Leben für Nell und auch ein neuer Teil im Buch. Diese Einteilung hat mir gut gefallen, weil sich die Geschichte so auf die wichtigen Zeiten in Nells Leben beschränkt. Auch wenn gerade zwischen dem zweiten und dritten Teil viel Zeit vergeht, über die man nichts erfährt, stört mich das nicht. In jedem Teil gibt es eine neue Nell. Im ersten Teil ist sie die Kämpferin, im zweiten Teil ist sie körperlich und geistig erschöpft und im dritten Teil ist sie die Frau, die sie wahrscheinlich nie sein wollte. Ein wenig verbittert, ein bisschen wie die eigene Mutter und viel zu verschlossen.

Die Geschichte bringt einige Elemente mit, die für irische Romane typisch zu sein scheinen. Nell hat Schuldgefühle, weil sie Irland verlässt, ihre Söhne nicht katholisch erzogen werden, sie den Kontakt zu den Eltern verliert und sowieso den falschen Mann geheiratet hat. Jedes Mal, wenn die Sprache auf ihre alte Heimat kommt, kommen diese Schuldgefühle wieder hoch, obwohl sie in Irland nie wirklich glücklich war. Aber Edna O'Brien thematisiert diese Schuldgefühle nicht. Für sie sind sie nur ein weiteres Puzzleteilchen, die das Bild dieser Frau so interessant machen.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another mother/daughter/son story with great heart, set in England.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read quite a few books by Edna O’Brien and this elliptical and fragmented novel does not come up to the standard of her best work. The story of a self destructive woman and her 2 sons the story is a pretty heavy slog that offers little solace or humor to the reader. O’ Brien is a skilled writer but I would like elsewhere in her long and distinguished list of writing before reading this one..

[Kallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edna O'Brien never protects her narrators or tries to make them look good. No writer should. This is a wrenching story about family, and how alienated we can become and how painful and even dangerous that can be. Reading this again, I observe that unique, lyrical O'Brien voice. This is a quality impossible to define. I can only say, no one writes like her and no one could. I will say also that she feels the tragedy in family inter-generational alienation and conveys that in a story resounding as a Greek tragedy; yet her use of language is so modern, so encompassing of how contemporary people live. Indirectly, we see how modern life does not reinforce family ties in the same ways that traditional ways of life did. That is a mixed blessing, because the latter did not afford women much privilege or means for exploring their talents. Nell is caught in between times; women have the means more, but do not always, and perhaps usually do not, receive the support and respect men can take for granted.

[Lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first Edna O'Brien since teen years when I loved Girl with Green Eyes and Country Girls, so I approached it with some adult trepidation. I need not have worried for she is a superb and lyrical writer.
This book is about motherhood - the joys and sorrows of a mother and her two sons through bitter divorce and single parenthood; the delicious delight of small children, the often painful challenge of teenagers, the devotion of a mother to her children and the ambivalence she feels about setting them free eventually, and a single parent's need to also find romance and love. A beautiful and sad story.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel reads moody and restless, however there is always a glimmer of light ahead. Hope always remains just within reach for Nell who just wants to live a satisfied life. Her wishful thinking of happiness for she and her sons leads to sporatic joys, stuggles and a bit of despair.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For mothers of sons.