Judul Buku: The Highest Tide (Pasang Laut)Penulis: Jim LynchPenerjemah: Arif SubiyantoPenerbit: Gramedia Pustaka UtamaTebal: 328 halamanCetakan pertama, tahun 2007Miles O'Malley seorang remaja berusia 13 tahun yang menderita insomnia berat. Ia sering menjelajah teluk di Puget Sound dengan kayaknya untuk mengisi malam-malamnya. Di malam hari ia menyaksikan keindahan laut dengan segala makhluk hidup yang hidup dan tumbuh di dalamnya. Ada remis, siput, bintang laut, dan berbagai makhluk laut lain yang menarik minatnya. Ia juga tergila-gila pada Rachel Carson, penulis buku Under the Sea, seorang ilmuwati yang memutuskan hidup melajang karena jatuh cinta kepada laut.Minatnya yang besar pada laut juga mendatangkan keuntungan bagi Miles. Beberapa tangkapannya laku dijual. Sampai suatu malam Miles mendapati seekor cumi-cumi raksasa terdampar di Puget Sound. Cumi-cumi raksasa itu telah mati, dan ia memang bukan hidup di perairan yang dangkal. Ia tentunya berasal dari suatu tempat yang jauh, dari laut atau samudera lain yang lebih dalam. Berita ini membuat Miles tenar. Namanya diliput oleh koran dan stasiun-stasiun televisi lokal. Dan yang membuat Miles kemudian disegani adalah pernyataannya atas kejadian itu: "Mungkin bumi ingin mengatakan sesuatu kepada kita."Tiga minggu setelah penemuan cumi-cumi raksasa itu, ia menemukan ragfish yang besar dan mirip binatang purba. Akibat hal ini ia semakin menjadi sasaran reporter dan wartawan. Namanya kemudian menjadi bahasan di berbagai surat kabar dan televisi, bahkan ada yang mulai menyembah-nyembahnya.Kisah Miles dalam novel ini diramu dengan indah leh Jim dengan menghadirkan beberapa tokoh lain yang sebaya. Jim Lynch yang jelas tampak memiliki wawasan yang luas tentang laut, tak terjebak menghadirkan novel yang melulu bersifat ensiklopedis. Ia memilih menghadirkan seorang remaja puber, Miles, yang mulai suka pada lawan jenis. Miles mempunyai sahabat bernama Kenny Phelps yang sangat tergila-gila dengan wanita. Miles juga mempunyai pujaan hati bernama Angela Rosemary Stagner atau sering dipanggil Angie.Dua tokoh pendamping ini sangat jauh beda karakter dengan Miles. Miles tampak selalu serius dan penuh rasa ingin tahu; Phelps tak bisa serius dan selalu membicarakan organ-organ kelamin; sementara Angie seorang gadis yang urakan, kecanduan obat bius dan memiliki kelainan psikologis. Jadilah kisah ini tertutur kocak di banyak halamannya; namun Jim tetap ajeg menarasikan berbagai hal tentang laut sebagai menu utama.Narasi-narasi yang dibangun Jim dalam lembar-lembar novel ini mewakili kemampuannya bercerita dengan lihai. Tak banyak orang yang mau tahu dengan laut, namun kehidupan di Puget Sound yang ia kisahkan amat merangsang setiap orang untuk ingin tahu lebih banyak tentang laut. Ia mengisahkan berbagai hal yang terjadi di laut dengan filmis.Saat Miles dan Angie menyaksikan cumi-cumi kecil yang disebut cumi-cumi kupu-kupu menetaskan telur, misalnya, kita akan terpesona dengan narasi yang menggambarkan perubahan warna yang terjadi pada telur-telur itu dalam sekejap. Atau saat Miles mengayuh kayaknya malam-malam, lalu ia melihat berbagai binatang dan tumbuhan laut yang berwarna-warni di tengah kegelapan malam, kita serasa diajak untuk menghampiri misteri laut. Jim mengisahkan semua itu dengan sangat hati-hati. Ia mengajak kita melihat dari dekat seperti apa kehidupan di laut itu.Terjemahan atas novel ini juga dilakukan dengan sangat teliti. Kita nyaris tak menemukan kesalahan tulis yang berarti. Terjemahan atas novel ini dibuat dengan pilihan diksi yang indah dan mudah dicerna. Di beberapa bagian malah ditambahkan catatan kaki untuk memperjelas apa yang sedang diterjemahkan -- contohnya seperti apa itu ragfish; apa itu kelainan bipolar yang diidap oleh Angie; dan masih banyak penjelasan lainnya. Penerjemah telah berhasil menghadirkan bacaan yang nyaman diikuti dalam bahasa kita.Jim juga menambahkan bumbu cinta dan romantika dalam novel ini. Tentunya, hal-hal ini berkaitan dengan Miles dan Phelps yang sama-sama sedang bertumbuh menjadi remaja. Miles memiliki cinta yang hening dan tulus -- baginya cinta sejati kita miliki kalau kita mau mengorbankan apa saja untuk yang kita cintai meski kita tak mendapatkan balasan. Sementara Phelps beranggapan bahwa bila kita membawa seikat bunga untuk seseorang yang kita cintai, maka ia harus membuka bajunya.Bukan hanya cinta, dua remaja ini, terutama Phelps, suka sekali membahas tentang organ-organ wanita dan seksualitas seperti g-spot, payudara, posisi persetubuhan, dan lain-lain. Namun, perlu dicatat bahwa semua itu disampaikan dengan penuh canda dan sebagai selingan; bukan seperti novel stensilan Nick Carter masa silam, misalnya, yang menjadikan itu sebagai menu sampingan yang porsinya juga besar.Dinamika psikologis yang terjadi di masa puber Miles dan Phelps, yang berkaitan dengan perkembangan rasa ingin tahu mereka atas seksualitas, terkisahkan begitu gamblang, bahkan terbilang cukup vulgar di beberapa bagian. Inilah yang tampaknya membuat Gramedia selaku penerbit memberikan label "novel dewasa" di sampul belakang novel ini, padahal The Highest Tide dibuat untuk dibaca remaja. Tak bisa dipungkiri, ini terjadi karena perbedaan kultur yang ada di negeri kita dengan Amerika.Selain kisah cinta dan hal-hal erotis, Jim juga mengisahkan tentang seorang peramal tua bernama Florence. Florence yang menjadi sahabat Miles suatu ketika membuat pernyataan yang detil tentang kapan akan terjadi pasang laut tertinggi. Ramalan inilah yang sebenarnya menjadi awal bagi terbentuknya konflik utama di novel ini -- selain beberapa konflik kecil lainnya. Miles mengucapkan ramalan Florence setelah ia semakin populer. Saat itu ia sedang diundang untuk berbicara tentang hal-hal yang ia ketahui tentang laut. Ia bahkan diundang dalam acara-acara yang digagas beberapa profesor kelautan, bahkan menjadi sosok yang disembah-sembah oleh sebuah kelompok pemujaan.Begitulah Miles, sosok remaja yang tinggi badannya susah bertambah, tak berdaya untuk menyatakan cinta kepada Angie, merasa diri tak tampan dan penuh kekurangan, pada akhirnya menjadi sosok yang akan disukai para pembaca.Tak banyak orang atau remaja seperti Miles. Hingga kini kehidupan di laut rasanya tak banyak mengundang rasa ingin tahu banyak orang. Mungkin penyebab utamanya adalah karena kita sendiri bukan spesies-spesies yang menjadikan laut sebagai habitat. Namun tak dapat dipungkiri bahwa dua pertiga bagian bumi ini ditutupi air laut dan begitu banyak asal-muasal kehidupan yang berasal dari laut. Keragaman spesies di laut jumlahnya jauh lebih tinggi daripada di darat atau di udara.Rasa ingin tahu yang mendalam atas sesuatu yang masih menyimpan banyak misteri tampaknya menjadi obsesi terdalam Jim untuk menulis kisah tentang laut. Setelah membaca novel ini kita akan sepakat dengan pernyataan Rachel Carson, seseorang yang telah mendedikasikan hidupnya buat laut: "Kalau Anda temukan puisi dalam buku-buku tulisanku, itu bukan karena aku sengaja menulis puisi, tapi karena tak seorang pun mampu menulis dengan jujur tentang lautan, tanpa menorehkan puisi." (*)Sidik Nugroho
Aw, this book touched me in my special place. No, not that special place you filthy minded bunch. I am referring to that happy childhood place that was preserved within my heart before it became glacial with the hoare frost of the general cynicism that comes from working with idiots and generally being alive in the UK in the 21st century. Life is a beach for wee Miles O'Malley. Although the wee moniker is a minor sticking point because he's nearly fourteen now and yet cruel fate, and genetics have left him trailing behind in the height stakes. Oh yeah and his Mum and Dad might be getting a divorce, and his best friend is a really old lady called Florence who, if we are being honest from the outset, is really really unlikely to survive to the end of the book. So this is a big boo hoo fest then?Well, not really, although if you are prone to a bit of a sniffle then maybe keep a box of tissues handy. But it is a beach based bildungsroman charting the literal and metaphorical growth of Miles O'Malley as well as the changes which one short summer wreaks on the physical and moral geography of his home town. The main focus of the book is Miles love of all things environmental, especially his passion for the slipping, sliding and swimming occupants of Skookumchuck Bay. The summer kicks off with him finding a giant squid washed up in the bay and this catapults him to the status of local celebrity. The papers and TV hail him as some kind of mini David Attenborough and the local cult think he might be the messiah (although maybe he is just a very naughty boy...).Despite my better judgement and the fact that I at first spent a lot of time thinking, this is YA, it's got to be YA - but it got listed on the Richard and Judy book club and they don't read YA do they? - I actually really liked this. For those of you who are wondering at this stage who in the name of Christ are Richard and Judy then here they are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_... . I've not included any pics because I'm not clever like all the other people who put pictures in their reviews and also I don't think it is fair to inflict images of Richard on unsuspecting folks. To give you the capsule version they are a gaff prone married couple who used to present morning television here in the UK. Kind of like the Queen and Prince Philip except Judy is the older of the two (although not older than Prince Philip) and Richard is famed for the same kind of social and political cringers as Phil, which have always left the public wondering why there is not some kind of ASBO just for posh people and people who are inappropriate on the telly. Anyway, they said this book was good on their TV book club and they were right. Tarted up with cute little line drawings of sea creatures, the pithy observations of thirteen year old Miles and his hormonal chums as they attempt to navigate the pitfalls of adolescence without first exploding like some kind of giant excess sperm-bomb. Throw in some drugs, some death and a natural disaster and you've got a surprise winner on your hands. If you're looking for your first summer read then I recommend this one!
What do You think about The Highest Tide (2006)?
Miles O'Malley is thirteen, small for his age, and obsessed with Rachel Carson. He knows more than anyone else about the intricate workings of the small stretch of tidal mud flats along his part of Skookumchuck Bay. His best friends are Phelps, a wannabe bad-boy 13-year-old who blows smoke rings and plays air guitar like it's an artform; Angie, his former babysitter and current crush who's now a screwed-up young woman with a rock band; and Florence, an elderly neighbor and wildly inaccurate psychic. When Miles discovers a giant squid beached on the flats near his home, suddenly everyone is as fascinated by the mud flats as he is, and it precipitates a whirlwind summer that will change everything for Miles.I loved this book to pieces! I'd heard great things about it, but I approached it cautiously, as I do for all books labeled "brilliant" and "life-changing." I wouldn't quite call it "life-changing," but I did think it was brilliant. Miles is a wonderful, falliable narrator; if he was just a hint more precocious, he would be unbelievable, and if he was just a hint more average his intelligence and obsessions would seem out of place. Instead he just feels like a very intelligent kid who is nonetheless a thirteen-year-old boy.
—Kirsten
This remarkable debut novel is one of the reasons people keep reading: occasionally, a book by a new author comes along and knocks your socks off. Lynch, formerly the Puget Sound correspondent with Portland's Oregonian, knows his terrain and describes the Puget Sound ecology with a poetic touch. Even more impressive, he has mastered the voice__and emotions__of a teenage boy. Finally, though this novel clearly conveys the beauty and fragility of the earth around us, Lynch is never preachy or heavy-handed. Critics nitpicked only with Miles's stereotyped friend Phelps and factual dialogue that could better have been inserted into the narrative. In short, The Highest Tide is one of the best surprises of the season. This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.
—Bookmarks Magazine
This is a lyrical coming-of-age book about Miles, a Rachel Carson-obsessed, autistic-spectrum 13 year old boy who lives on the tidal flats at the southern edge of Puget Sound. It might also be a natural history; it is so infused with both love for the constantly changing world of the Sound and stunningly precise descriptions of both the sea life and the boy's internal states and growth.With his parents growing apart in ways he doesn't understand, and his best friend an elderly woman who is rapidly losing her battle against a mysterious (to him) neurological disorder, Miles is surrounded by encroaching adulthood and the awareness of death that comes with it. He spends his escape time on the water and the flats, keeping his eyes open, where he makes a series of what seem unlikely discoveries: a giant squid far out of place; a Japanese street sign; invasive, foreign crabs. Meanwhile the love of his young life, an older young woman growing up and growing distant from drugs and a bipolar disorder, taunts him from the verge of that clearly frightening adulthood.Some other reviewers did not like that Miles had such an encyclopedic knowledge of sea life. Having been that sort of autistic-spectrum, extremely observant 13 year old myself, I did not find him unrealistic. But he is unusual, and in more ways than just his obsession with rattling off the names of molluscs, and the author makes it clear that Miles has little in common with any other children. I personally found Miles's journey both realistic and moving. If you can make the leap that Miles is not an average or ordinary 13 year old, you will enjoy this more than if you constantly try to compare him to average.An aspect of Miles's maturation that the narrative captured very well was his feeling of being trapped between fascination and disgust, enthusiasm and embarrassment that is often left out of "romantic" youth narratives. The theme of the book is hope (and the impetus to live and reproduce) in the face of inevitable and uncaring death. Miles finds the prospect of leaping into that stream--like the beaten, dying salmon he sees returning to their spawning grounds--terribly and realistically frightening.I would say that the only weak writing for me was in the climactic scene. Given all the things that came together for it, it was by necessity rushed and thus a little confusing, but for all that, it had great power for me.I highly, highly recommend this. The author manages to infuse poetry into the most accurate and mundane descriptions, and each element of the story was fascinating to me.
—Simone
