A massive earthquake and a baby about to arrive
Book review: Tilt by Emma Pattee
Tilt by Emma Pattee
Published: March 25, 2025 by S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books
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Synopsis:
Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, there’s nothing to do but walk.
Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. If she can just make it home, she’s determined to change her life.
Rating:
Review:
This book is a difficult one for me to review and rate. Parts of the book I really loved, but throughout I just felt like it was missing something. I still can’t quite put my finger on what was missing, but it made me not enjoy the book as much as I wished to enjoy it.
This book is labelled and marketed as a thrilled and a suspense book, but it’s neither suspenseful or thrilling. The only thrilling part was the earthquake and the immediately aftermath. The rest was Annie walking through the city to try and find her husband. Much of the book is about Annie reflecting on her life choices, her marriage, her pregnancy and her complicated feelings about becoming a mother. All of this was extremely compelling but it didn’t fit the tone of the thriller that I was marketed with. This would have been better served as a literary fiction to properly set reader expectations.
The earthquake as a metaphor for Annie’s life was quote poetic in a lot of ways. Annie is the sort of person who feels like her life is out of her control. She didn’t feel that she had control over who she ended up married to. She didn’t feel in control of becoming pregnant. She doesn’t feel like she’s in control of her life. So, this earthquake is just another thing that she can’t control but has happened to her. This element of the book was fabulous and I could have read it for 400 more pages. In large part Annie is unlikeable and I was hoping that we’d explore her character enough to at least create some empathy for her, but it didn’t go far enough.
The ending of this book was also a letdown for me. I was hoping for a finality to the story. An ending where Annie chooses who she is going to be going forward. But she doesn’t. At least not that the reader is allowed to see. Such an open ended ending had to be intentional but it felt like the wrong choice. I needed something more concrete and defined. I was disappointed that I didn’t get it. So, at the end of the book it was enjoyable but flawed.