"Breath" by Tim Winton

[Beanpole]

The whole problem is the impossibility of a profound ending. Kem Nunn I really like reading until it turns into schlock at the end. I'm kind of half way through The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks but its basically sitting around to be picked up on some holiday sometime. As it has been for a year or so.

I reckon my favourite Australian Writer is David Foster. I can't put one down when I start reading but he's pretty left field. Moonlight is a good starting point if youve never read him. He sounds like real people to me even though its in a sureal landscape. I definitely understand it if you don't like him though.

The lack of conclusion can be explained away but basically it is a predicament of our time. The desire to tell a story is left without a punchline or purpose in most movies and literature.

[Beanpole]

I love telling english teachers you dont like Winton much
I'll usually say "Have you read any Lez Norton books? Now thats writing."

[mattyd]

So how many of you crits have actually read Breath yet???

Finished it yesterday. Fantastic. Not literature (yet) - time will tell. Dogleg ending but he does wrap it up well I think.

A non surfing mate of mine read the book at the same time. He was blown away by how beautifully Winton describes the whole process of riding waves - from scoping out spots to local knowledge to paddling out, getting smashed up and the stoke of just being out in the water. He asked if it was really like that and I said yep, there are elements in there that every surfer can relate to.

For mine, it isn't the actual storyline or ending that makes this book so good to read. It's the way he uses language to describe a feel. That's the thing that permeates throughout the entire story.

Haven't read any other Tim Winton books, but on the strength of this, I'd be keen to give The Turning, Dirt Music and Cloudstreet a go. His children's books are supposed to be good as well.

[moreorless]

"Tim Winton is massively overrated.

No, but Peter Carey is.

At least with Winton you get the sense that he is writing from lived experience, which I think is essential for all great writing.

Carey's writing, on the other hand, seems all made up, like an overlong commercial. It's not convincing.

Winton convinces me and gets me involved. That's what good writing is all about.

[Lucky Al]

in 1985 or 1986 there was a day at waimea bay when one wave closed out the bay, breaking right in front of the four surfers still in the water: mark foo, james jones, ace cool and a bodyboarder whose name i forget. there were articles about this day at the bay in all the mags. i seem to remember a shot of the lone closeout in tracks, sort of breaking left and towering darkly over one of the boards. three of the surfers lost their boards, or their boards broke, and the helicopter picked them up out of the lineup. only mark foo still had his board in one piece, and he waved the helicopter away: he was going to catch a wave in. he paddled into a 25-footer inside the boil, air-dropped out of the lip and got smashed. i could be wrong but i think the helicopter picked him up after that. he would have been pretty worn out, i imagine. anyway, i'm bringing this up because it occurred to me last night that the first surfing scene in kem nunn's the dogs of winter, when the two pros and the photographer meet up with the legend and go surfing with him in the bay around the corner from the rivermouth, is based on that day at waimea bay. and the young pro catching the first wave of the set is mark foo catching that 25-footer inside the boil. this is a trivial matter, i know, and i feel like a real idiot for bringing it up. it just got stuck in my head.

[2nd Reef]

The lid rider was J.P Patterson and it was straight after that session that Foo penned the story 'The Unridden Realm', the title of which was often quoted in subsequent big wave stories.

[2nd Reef]

And yes, you are an idjit Al...

[2nd Reef]

Why don't big-wave events like that capture our imagination anymore?

Is it cos there's too many big wave sessions going down and being reported on that we've become blase?

Or is it cos no-one gets caught inside by 50 foot closeouts when jet-ski's are available?

[Lucky Al]

i have an idea for an australian children's surf story: jimmy, a warlpiri boy from yuendumu travels to sydney for the first time at the age of ten in the company of his father who's in a dance troupe and has a gig at the opera house. fed up with watching rehearsals one morning jimmy goes wandering around the quay, and at one point he gets on a bus and takes it to the end of the line - maroubra beach. on seeing the sea for the first time jimmy's gobsmacked, mesmerised... and then he notices the surfers. he spends the afternoon sitting on the sand watching them. after sunset one of the surfers on leaving the water trudges past and says g'day to jimmy, and jimmy gets up and follows him up to his ute, checking out his board and legrope and wetsuit, all incredibly new and fascinating to him. the bra boy reckons jimmy's pretty funny. he asks the boy his name, and where's he from? jimmy's answers are barely audible. the bra boy has never heard of yuendumu: 'is that near black rock?' two monaros cruise through the parking lot, windows tinted, music pumping. the bra boy bristles and steps in front of jimmy as if to shield him, at the same time reaching into the tray of his ute for a metal pipe. but the complexities of urban australian life don't interest jimmy: all he wants now is to surf...

how's that, worth continuing?

[puurri]

i have an idea for an australian children's surf story: jimmy, a warlpiri boy from yuendumu travels to sydney for the first time at the age of ten in the company of his father who's in a dance troupe and has a gig at the opera house. fed up with watching rehearsals one morning jimmy goes wandering around the quay, and at one point he gets on a bus and takes it to the end of the line - maroubra beach. on seeing the sea for the first time jimmy's gobsmacked, mesmerised... and then he notices the surfers. he spends the afternoon sitting on the sand watching them. after sunset one of the surfers on leaving the water trudges past and says g'day to jimmy, and jimmy gets up and follows him up to his ute, checking out his board and legrope and wetsuit, all incredibly new and fascinating to him. the bra boy reckons jimmy's pretty funny. he asks the boy his name, and where's he from? jimmy's answers are barely audible. the bra boy has never heard of yuendumu: 'is that near black rock?' two monaros cruise through the parking lot, windows tinted, music pumping. the bra boy bristles and steps in front of jimmy as if to shield him, at the same time reaching into the tray of his ute for a metal pipe. but the complexities of urban australian life don't interest jimmy: all he wants now is to surf...
how's that, worth continuing?

Pehaps, talk to Walpiri Media or for Kimberley KALACC mob.

[Lucky Al]

i would love to work on something like that with people from warlpiri media one day, if they thought it a good idea. maybe not a book but a film, or a song and dance. what would jimmy make of surfing?

bra boy: 'if ya wanna learn to surf, ya gotta go to black rock. they're your people down there.'

jimmy (thinking): 'my people?'

after the final show at the opera house jimmy talks his old man into delaying their return to yuendumu so they can drive down to black rock...

[AlbyAl]

Hmmmm, when you think about it - Aussie blackfellas + urban youth + Aussie surf + locals vs localism has a certain appeal. You'd have to watch out for the cliche romantic dangers ... you know ... "let's do some authenticity stuff with a message about racism" But surely the time is approaching, after a boring decade of conservative arts in Australia, that some fresh ideas can get a run. I'm hoping I get to see a decent Oz film again soon, after the weak underfunded efforts over the last few years.

Grizzle gripe whinge ... being a critic is even more fun than complaining about the surf.

[Lucky Al]

what about dances (by jimmy's dad's troupe, for example) at certain stages throughout the story? an obvious one would be jimmy's bus ride up from circular quay and first sight of the sea, then his initial impressions of surfing. the bra boy could do a dance as the monaros pass in the carpark, and the young men in the cars could stop get out and dance with him. the local kids at black rock could dance as they take jimmy rock hopping, and so on...

[collnarra]

Kem Nunn's whole oeuvre sucks.

but this is coming from a man that didn't rate William Gibson's fabulous Pattern Recognition....

[Nick Carroll]

'kem nunn's whole oeuvre sucks' - those words are like music to my ears (which admittedly never stop ringing and are often full of gritty, smelly crud)! how about an axe-wielding review essay for our journal, nick?

I would LOVE to become your ongoing reviewer, Al!

But only of stuff that's just been released. Ie Breath in this case. Or whatever surf "movie" has just been whipped out.

Re Kem Nunn ... I can wait till Kem (what kind of a f**ken name is that anyway, "Kem"?) releases his next turgid masterpiece of cold water machismo before axing it into a pile of cowchips.

[Gibbs]

I love telling english teachers you dont like Winton much
I'll usually say "Have you read any Lez Norton books? Now thats writing."

Totally agree...but your talking about his (R. Barrett) more recent stuff right His early work was crap

Seriously tho, love hearing english teachers bag his work. Then I tell them about several mates who previously only read sport pages of SMH before giving Barrett a go. Now it's unusual for them not to be in the middle of a book and have widened their reading interests further.

[Beanpole]

Totally agree, except I reckon the first Les Norton is the defining novel. I started reading him cause I came home to Kingscliff when I was at college and all these guys I used to hang out with were raving about the books. I found this odd since I didn't know some of them could read let alone read books for pleasure

[Gibbs]

Totally agree, except I reckon the first Les Norton is the defining novel

Yep, first Les Norton is a ripper and next 3-4 arent too bad. There's something about a boof-head country boy who scores lots of roots, is able to walk a fine line between illegal activities and having a conscious, and knows how to look after himself

From fith novel on they get very ordinary though. I'm hoping that Barrett will get some of the old magic back soon.