The Incoming Tide marks another entry of Cameron Pierce’s latest and more mature work, following on from the spectacular Our Love Will Go The Way Of The Salmon. It exists somewhere in between the world of a short story, a short story collection and a poetry collection – none of these labels I would deem incorrect for this short book, even though they are usually used to contrast anything. This is all a long-winded way of saying that Pierce’s latest book is one that you can easily read in one sitting, and it’s well worth your time no matter how you read it.
Perhaps maybe his most personal book yet, the novel is based around fishing. Lots of these stories stand on their own like little microcosm pools, around the big theme of family and love that unites and divides them. The real-life parallels are strong, Pierce’s personal life is reflected – but that doesn’t make this book exclusive to those who know Pierce or his work – because the book hits so often on the touching universal human emotions that you wonder if any other targets matter.
Poems, stories, ideas for advertisements are all narrated in a thoughtful and elegant voice. This feels like the kind of words that a wise person would give looking back on their life, but also looking toward the future in a smart analysis, seeing the beauty in the world and the power that life holds. It’s hard to describe Pierce’s book in anything but vague tones, because it appears to be the kind of book that holds a different meaning to whomever decides to read it. Like it is some sort of technology from the future, and unlocks in certain ways depending on your brain and where you are in life. It grips onto you, crawling straight through your eyes and tickling your brain. It doesn’t stop there, though, it isn’t a one trick pony. It goes down further until it finds your heart, and there it latches on, refusing to leave until we accept it as our own.
The Incoming Tide is a brief and delightful book about fishing, fatherhood, love and ideas. Like life, it takes many different shapes and forms, and may just be a sign that even though Pierce has been a great talent in the writing world for some time, he’s far from giving us the small catches.
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