Changing Tides

by Michael Thomas Ford

Book Overview

Ben, a marine biologist, has always felt more at home among sea creatures than among people. But now one of the most important people in his life - his 16-year-old daughter Caddie - is coming to spend the summer. She's all grown up, and she resents everything about him. Hudson is an ambitious graduate student with a project that he thinks Ben can help him with - but it becomes clear to him that Ben needs some help too, with Caddie and with his life...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0758210590
• ISBN13: 9780758210593
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 359 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

changing tides

Wonderfully written. I thoroughly enjoyed the attention to detail given the characters as well as to the setting. Wish we could see more of Caddie, Ben, Hudson. This is my first Ford book. He certainly has captured my attention.

Michael Thomas Ford/John Steinbeck almost one in the same !

I have read all of the work of Michael Thomas Ford. This piece was different from what he has written in the past and it is a welcome diversion (not that his other stuff was disappointing in any way). I have given five stars to most everything else I have read by MTF. The storyline here doesn't really focus on the main character, Ben, being gay, but rather it focuses more on his relationship with his daughter who comes to spend the summer with him in Monterey, California. Caddie, his daughter, believes that Ben left her mother because he thought he might be gay, however, she comes to learn the real truth as to why he abandoned her and her mother, and its not because of his sexuality. We also meet Hudson Jones who is in Monterey doing some research on a lost novel written by John Steinbeck. What I loved about this book is that Mr. Ford has written it so well, that as I was reading it I felt like I was reading a Steinbeck piece...it just gave me a sense of true literature. Having read some of Steinbeck's work myself, the similarities of the two author's styles was fascinating. This similarity was not evident to me in MTF's previous work. So I can only conclude that it was done intentionally with this piece, and it worked amazingly well. I now am looking forward to reading yet another MTF novel; its also given me the desire to read some additional works by John Steinbeck. If you are a fan of both authors, as I am, you will truly enjoy this one.

Michael Thomas Ford does it again!

Michael Thomas Ford is one of the finest gay authors of our time. This is the second book I have read, and both have been enthralling (the other one being FULL CIRCLE). Ford has an uncanny ability to feel into the characters he writes about. Especially interesting in this book is the thinking and dialogue attributed to Caddie, the troubled teenage daughter, and her relationship to her father, Ben. I haven't decided if Ben's evolving relationship with Hudson is completely credible or not, but overall this book is a wonderful read with more of the Ford insights into life and relationships as well as an engaging plot. Also, anyone who has had experience with deep sea diving will enjoy the descriptive passages as well. I highly recommend this book as it is a "cut above" most gay fiction. Ford is a gifted writer, and I hope there are many more novels to come from his pen.

Another winner!

Ford has another winner with Changing Tides. Ben is a successful marine biologist. However, he is a mature man who doesn't seem to know who he is because his life has been wrapped up in his research. He has not really had successful relationships. Then he meets Hudson who comes to the area to do research on Steinbeck. They strike up a friendship. Almost without them realizing it, their friendship evolves to a higher level. Ben is forced to rethink his past relationships and especially his views on his own sexuality. As a result, he emotionally matures and faces a much brighter future. Ford is an excellent writer. Anything he produces is worth reading. Changing Tides is no exception. His knowledge of diving and marine life is obvious as he creates an interesting backdrop to the story. He can always be counted upon to develop full and memorable characters. His development of the teenage daughter is this story is spot on.

MICHAEL THOMAS FORD'S MOST LITERARY WORK.

CHANGING TIDES is slower in getting off the ground than Michael Thomas Ford's previous novels. However, Ford has more to say about human strength and frailty here than he has in his earlier books, and like great literary masters of the past, he takes his time in setting up this seemingly simple but truly complicated story. All of Ford's novels have been beautifully crafted and well realized, but this time around he's scaled back the scope of the narrative to look more deeply into the nature of relationships, specifically between a father, his daughter, and a young man looking to expose a buried truth. Ben Ransome is a marine biologist, living in Monterey California, more comfortable with the denizens of the deep than human beings. He's shut himself off from others and in so doing, shut himself down. He has no real idea of his own true nature. His work is quite literally his life Into Ben's narrow world come two very different individuals, his sixteen year old rebellious daughter, Caddie, dumped in his lap by an ex-wife weary of dealing with her, and a young gay man, Hudson Jones, on an academic search for hidden truths behind the relationship between local legend, novelist John Steinbeck, and his best friend, scientist Ed Ricketts. Ben must deal both with Caddie's open hostility towards him, and his growing feelings for Hudson. This novel is a great deal more subtle than Ford's prior offerings, and many of his readers may find that fact disappointing. I must confess that it took me almost the first third of the book before I really understood where Ford was going. But once I began to look more closely at what Ford was actually saying and less at the surface story, I found his direction enthralling. There is a lot of symbolism here, between the worlds of sea and land, and it illuminates this novel in ways not previously seen in Ford's work. I have read all of Michael Thomas Ford's novels, and with each succeeding book he has moved further away from the summer or beach read format, and closer to deeper more literary material. I have loved each of his books, and I love his latest, CHANGING TIDES, as well, if admittedly in a different way.