High Tide in Tucson

It was my first class at Marylhurst University, the general writing class every department requires you to take to ensure you've attained basic skills required to survive the remainder of college. Part of my required reading was Barbara Kingsolver’s High Tide in Tucson, a national bestselling book of personal essay from Now or Never.

If you have have ever read anything by Kingsolver you will know of her magnificent way with words that is inspiring and intimidating at the same time. Man, if only I could see and describe the world the way she does. This was a common thought running through my head as I passed over perfectly constructed sentence after perfectly constructed sentence.

In her first essay, aptly titled High Tide in Tucson, Kingsolver tells of a hermit crab whom she brought home from a Bahamian vacation for her daughter thinking it was an ordinary shell only to be surprise when it moves about the table. “If you ask me, when something extraordinary shows up in your life in the middle of the night, you give it a name and make it the best home you can.” (Kingsolver p. 2).  Over time Buster the crab proved to be a great housemate however Kingsolver and her daughter became confused by his behavior or perhaps it was Buster that was confused by his own internal clock still synced with the tides of the Bahamas even though he was in Tucson.

Somehow Kingsolver is able to relate the life of a tiny crab to the spirit and nature of a person in conflict with an opposing culture. How do we as humans adapt to a situation that goes against our animal instincts? “Every one of us is called upon, probably many times, to start a new life...a marriage, a move, loss of a job or a limb or a loved one, a graduation, bringing a new baby home: it’s impossible to think at first how this all will be possible.” (Kingsolver, p. 15)

This is one of Kingsolver's collection of essay consolidated in this book. Its the type of book that you can pick up, open to any chapter and just read which makes it great if you read multiple books at a time. If you are a writer, be prepared to highlight a lot of inspiring passages. I highly recommend giving this book a read!