Breath - the new Winton masterpiece
May 24th 2008 06:54
I would have to be the ultimate Tim Winton fan and his latest, Breath is in my view a true masterpiece. With absolute precision Winton has once again laid bare the essence of growing up and growing wiser. Grant it, this is nothing new or ground breaking in fiction, but through Winton’s pen it becomes a kaleidoscope of beautiful visions and emotional turmoil spun into a diary of memories worth recalling again and again. And nobody does it like him!
There is nothing extraordinary about Bruce Pike (Pikelet), growing up in the fictional small town of Sawyer on the west Australian coast. He is an only child who both loves and is embarrassed by his parents, is totally average at school, but like many boys his age, discovers the thrill of danger with his risk-obsessed friend Loonie. Together they push one another to the brink of endurance in crazy school boy antics.
Then one summer brings them to the surf and an encounter with Sando, a reckless middle-aged surfer who finds a new, adrenaline-pumped high in urging the boys into exceedingly dangerous stretches of water and surfing.
Breath pays homage to youth and all the longing that comes with the struggle not to be ordinary … to feel the pulse of life rushing through you everyday. It’s Lockie Leonard on steroids!
I was lucky enough to get to Winton’s book launch for Breath in Sydney a few weeks ago. He is a quiet, humble man who simply loves to write about what he knows. That he can create treasures such as Cloudstreet (one of my all time favourite books), and The Turning and now Breath is truly a gift to fiction readers. He is also honest enough to admit to human failings (such as the need for reading glasses) and confessed that Breath came about simply because another book he was working on just wasn’t coming together, so using the solution of avoidance, he turned around and started anew, and he wrote …. “I grew up in a weatherboard house in a mill town …”
Along with Malouf, Tim Winton is writing the best of contemporary Australian fiction today, and if you are already a Winton fan, forgive the ramble. I am shamelessly Wintonized.
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