Breath: A Novel by Tim Winton Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Breath: A Novel
Book Review: The Perfect Wave
Summary: 5 Stars
This lyrical novel about surfing (and autoasphyxiating sex) takes the coming of age novel to new heights. The writing reminded me of Meg Rosoff's book What I Was, but by the time you get to the end, this is even darker and more disturbing. Can't shake those final images. Take a deep breath.....Book Review: Tim Winton is my new favorite author
Summary: 5 Stars
BREATH is a mesmerizing reverie about the meaning of courage - and life itself - that sucks the reader in from the first page to the last. This bittersweet coming of age story set on the wild coast of Western Australia follows two boys as they become obsessed with surfing and are both themselves compelled, as well as encouraged by their charismatic mentor, to pit themselves against ever more dangerous waves.
Deft, delicate characterizations set against a big country and its rugged people are vivid, but the scenes starring the whitewater monster waves sweep you into another realm altogether, whether you want to go there or not. Unforgettable.
Book Review: Tim Winton is one of the best writers working in English
Summary: 5 Stars
Achingly beautiful writing, thrilling descriptions of surf, powerful narrative that captures the highs and lows of an extreme sport lifestyle, and an endlessly insightful coming of age story. I loved The Turning, and I was relieved to find that Winton's follow-up lived up to my expectations.Book Review: `I've bored people in bars and lost a marriage to silence.'
Summary: 5 Stars
The novel opens with the middle-aged Bruce Pike, then a paramedic, attending the scene of a death that everyone else considers (or wants) to be a suicide. Bruce doesn't believe that it is and thus begins the body of the novel where Bruce recalls his youth (during the 1970s) in a conservative logging town near the coast in Western Australia. In less than 220 pages, Tim Winton creates the angst of growing up, of finding your own way when those around you seem to be lost and captures the beauty and cruelty of the natural world while sketching in characters who seem to be constantly searching the external world for what can surely only be an internal form of happiness.
Who you end up being and what you end up seeing depends a lot on where you've been. Bruce Pike (`Pikelet') and Ivan Loon (`Loonie') form a competitive type of friendship in the double digit years just before teenagehood. Their friendship is both enhanced and complicated by meeting up with Sando, an aging surfer, and his wife Eva. This is a novel about life, friendship, experimentation and regret. It is also about boundaries, risk-taking and (for some) survival.
Tim Winton is a great author. His fictional worlds can be uncomfortable and some readers will find aspects of this novel confronting as I did. Despite this (or perhaps because of this), I'm glad I read this novel and some of the imagery will remain with me for a very long time.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Book Review: another classic
Summary: 4 Stars
Took me a little while to get into it but in the end it was great. I am a big fan and was not disappointed. Maybe it helps I am a surfer as well.