![]() At first, Sando is enigmatic and aloof but later takes the boys under his wing. Bruce and Loonie are drawn to the sea, and whilst there they meet Sando, an “aging” surfer (he’s in his mid-thirties!). Though when it does, it is perhaps not what we imagined at the start of Bruce’s story. We know from the outset that SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN. Suicide or something else? Bruce says something else, and begins to recount the story of his experiences, opening with how he met his crazy, daredevil friend, Loonie. The novel opens with Bruce as an experienced hard-bitten paramedic, arriving at the scene of young teen found hanged. It tells the story of Bruce Pike, a teenager in small-town Australia during the late 60s. Breath is a slender novel, coming in at under 300 pages with largeish print and plenty of page breaks. I guess at its heart, it’s a coming of age story. ![]() ![]() ![]() I hesitate, therefore, to “recommend” the book, but Breath contains some lyrical writing that gently examines its difficult themes. In the latter stages, it also has strong sexual themes and probes into the devastating effects of abuse. ![]() It’s a meditation on teenage rebellion, and is fully capable of giving GeekDad readers sleepless nights. Breath by Tim Winton is not for parents who are faint of heart. Still not much non-fiction here at Word Wednesday towers, so, like last week, I thought I’d write about the fiction I’ve been reading. ![]()
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