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| Breath | 
 enlarge | Author: Tim Winton
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
List Price: £14.99
Buy New: £8.99
You Save: £6.00 (40%)
New (20) from £7.76
Avg. Customer Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 3722
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 215
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 0330455710
EAN: 9780330455718
ASIN: 0330455710
Publication Date: May 2, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...
All you ever wanted to know about surfing . . . November 17, 2008
I was enthralled by this book even though I had no knowledge of, or interest in surfing before I started reading it. Bruce Pike - known as Pikelet - and his friend Loonie are both drawn to the sea for different reasons. Throughout their teenage years they spend as much time as possible at the beach perfecting their skills. But the first chapter of the book in which the 50 year old Bruce, now a paramedic, attends an apparent case of teenage suicide which he knows to be nothing of the sort, sets the scene for his description of his childhood and teenage years. Whilst there are many descriptions of the surf and the experience of surfing, the book is more complex than that. It is primarily about the element of risk in people's lives and how it affects them and the lengths some people will go to, to experience fear. The writing is unobtrusive and you are hardly aware of it whilst you're reading. The adult characters are seen through Bruce's eyes as he discovers more about them and about himself and his ultimately problematic relationship with Loonie is brilliantly portrayed. I did enjoy it - almost against my better judgement. It is extremely well written and accessible without being over literary.
 Started well and ended badly November 12, 2008
I was glued to this book for about the first half, couldnt put it down, thought it would be a kind of coming of age book and loved the descriptions of western australia and the surf. However, i felt it really unravelled in the second half, as if the author didnt quite know how to end it. The description of his relationship with the older woman didnt have substance and i really didnt see the point of it. The second part of his life was rushed through and none of the ideas were well developed. The most I can say is that i loved the first half of the book and was so disappointed with where it ended up.
 A gripping, page-turning tale for teenagers and older readers. November 10, 2008
Breath This is a gripping, compelling tale of a young Australian boy, Bruce Pike (aka Pikelet) who, along with his friend "Loonie", discovers the addictive nature of surfing in 70s Australia, when it wasn't the multmillion pound/dollar sport that it is today. It's a coming-of-age tale that covers three years of Pikelet's life, told from the point of view of the older Bruce, who now works as an ambulance man.
I found this book very hard to put down, but I don't want to give away too many details of why it's so gripping. I would simply say "Read it!", even if you're not interested in surfing (I'm not). I think it's one of the best books I've read so far this year.
Sad and beautiful November 9, 2008
Tim Winton's beautiful style carries you along through this sad and wistful look back at the adolescence of a lonely boy caught up in the excitement of surfing on the Australian coast. As he tries to get away from the ordinariness of his small town life and elderly parents, he and the one real friend he has come under the influence of an older man. Their mentor and coach, he leads them into new experiences and adventure, while eventually driving them apart. Pain pervades this book; physical, emotional and sexual. Although they achieve a remarkable level of skill in the water, they do so at a terrible cost. Pikelet, the hero, ends up involved in dangerous games with his guru's wife and Loonie, his friend, ends up drifting around the world doing shady deals which are his eventual undoing.
An interesting personal journey, brilliantly told, it nevertheless left me feeling very low and flat at the end, rather like a surfer being drawn powerfully up to the crest of a huge wave only to come crashing down again. What a shame we all have to grow up.
Breathless ! November 9, 2008
Although I know nothing of surfing and little of Australia I really quite enjoyed this book. It's one of those stories that the first chapter starts at the end, chapter two starts at the beginning and the rest of the book goes forwards in time until it meets up with chapter one at the end of the book. It's really a coming of age book based on the childhood and teenage years of two boys who love danger and daring. Their passion starts off as swimming and holding their breath underwater for as long as possible, frightening onlookers who think they have drowned, and the passion turns to surfing after meeting with older surfers and one particular mentor. Tim Winton is a wonderfully descriptive author and although there are two or three periods in the book where little actually happens, it is never so much as to make you bored or want to give up, quite the contrary, you need to know how the story gets back to the first chapter. There are parts when the boys are holding their breath or worse, being held down by the waves under the sea, and describing seeing stars and being at the point of going dizzy that I found myself holding my breath along with them and reading quickly.
It's not a book only for surf or sea lovers, it's a book for everyone and I would thoroughly recommend it.
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