For most of the book, the drama is all in the ocean – the waves, the reefs, the dangers and risks, and the injuries. The story is a simple coming of age tale, following Pike from his meeting with Loon until their final parting. Along the way, they confront their fears and take to unknown waters.
Mentored by the guru-like figure and angered by his ill-tempered wife, they become ever-more ensnared in his world view. Tagging along with the local surfer gang they then fall in with an ageing hippy (does 36 count as ageing? probably, to a teenager) who surfs like a dancer…alone, elegant, beyond the norm. Their friendship develops around water, initially the river and then the ocean. When he's eleven years old, he meets Ivan Loon…a year older and full of bravado.įor the next few years, the boys grow up together, grow together, grow apart. And because of that, or because of something else unknown the beach, the ocean, the thundering waves, is where he longs to be. His parents are older than you might expect and perhaps because of that, perhaps because of something else untold, are more protective than is good for a growing boy. He takes us back to the days when he was Pikelet, growing up in the sawmilling town where you can't see the ocean, but at night you can smell it and sometimes hear it. Thus starts Pike's long explanation of what he knows and how. In a while the police will come, and there's not much for Bruce to do in the meantime other than to agree with the mother that people will not understand, and try to tell her that the best she can do is tell the truth anyway.īut Bruce does understand. Upstairs a mother is tending to her son…who is dead. Inside the daughters are hunched and silent, separate. In a squeal of sirens and lights Bruce Pike arrives at the suburban home to find a middle-aged guy broken and huddled on the front steps. An elegant, powerful narrative takes a deep unexpectedly dark dive into murkier waters. Summary: A young boy takes to the surf, faces his fears and slowly enters an adult world he is totally unprepared for.
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