Jonathan Arnold reviewed Breath by Tim Winton
Review of 'Breath' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Kinda meh.
Full review soon.
This Australian novelist, touted on the back blurb as the "greatest living Australian novelist", was not on my radar screen at all until recently. Then, in that way of things, he popped up in like 3 or 4 different social media conversations as someone I simply must read. So, being that kind of guy, I promptly put a few of his books on my To Read pile and requested this one to be sent to my library.
It is a pretty slim novel about a boy's adolescence in Western Australia. He falls in with a slightly older wild child and they both fall under the spell of a laid back surfer dude, where they proceed to shred some waves, talk big talk and, eventually, he gets laid.
Now I didn't know this was how the book was going to work out. I didn't read much …
Kinda meh.
Full review soon.
This Australian novelist, touted on the back blurb as the "greatest living Australian novelist", was not on my radar screen at all until recently. Then, in that way of things, he popped up in like 3 or 4 different social media conversations as someone I simply must read. So, being that kind of guy, I promptly put a few of his books on my To Read pile and requested this one to be sent to my library.
It is a pretty slim novel about a boy's adolescence in Western Australia. He falls in with a slightly older wild child and they both fall under the spell of a laid back surfer dude, where they proceed to shred some waves, talk big talk and, eventually, he gets laid.
Now I didn't know this was how the book was going to work out. I didn't read much about it before cracking it open and, even in the beginning of the book, there is no hint this is going to be a "coming of age" book. And, I gotta be honest, I am not a big fan of "coming of age" books. Been there, lost the t-shirt, have no desire, really, to go back. I had a perfectly fine childhood, and a perfectly fine adolescence, and I would just assume leave it there.
And this book does nothing to change my mind. It was written in a perfectly "fine" style, but there were very few great sentences. The boy wasn't all that interesting. Probably the Wild Child would have made a better story. The sex part was weird, like any 15 year old boy's fantasies, with some odd quirks. It just wasn't that interesting in the end. The last chapter kind of brought us up to date on his life but really, it isn't that interesting.
Thankfully, at only a little over 200 pages, it was a fairly slim novel. Not sure I could have taken much more of it. Now I am a little apprehensive to tackle more of his books. Not really my kind of writer, I don't think. But maybe I'll give his big success, [b:Cloudstreet|343881|Cloudstreet|Tim Winton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441969972l/343881.SX50.jpg|1154594], a try.
