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'Breath', another gem from the gifted Aussie, Tim Winton Date published: 7/27/2008
UP UNTIL the 1980s J.M. Coetzee, who now calls Australia home, and Peter Carey, born in Victoria, are the only authors to have won the Booker Prize twice. And though Tim Winton has not received the accolades or international notice of Coetzee and Carey (although he has been short-listed for the Booker twice), many would argue that he is Australia's greatest talent. "Breath" is Winton's 20th book and it is the coming-of-age story of Bruce Pike amid the Australian surf culture. Since it is Winton, there is nothing typical about this bildungsroman and ultimately, though we want to like Bruce Pike, he doesn't make it easy for us. Winton's descriptions are almost always sure-handed, but his grasp and description of the surfing scenes in the book give a scary feel to catching waves or for waves catching the surfers. "Yet for all this mad acceleration there was still something ponderous about the movement of the water. On TV I'd seen elephants run beside safari jeeps, pounding along at incredible speed while seeming to move in slow motion, and that's exactly how it was: hectic noise, immense force driven up through the feet and knees, all in a kind of stoptime "I never did see the great slab of water that cut me off at the knees. Loonie said it came down behind like a landslip and simply flicked me away. I didn't even get time to draw a breath. I was abruptly in darkness, being poleaxed across the sandy bottom of the bay, holding onto the dregs in my lungs while the grit blasted through my hair and my limbs felt Winton is an author strongest in character, and one that likes to delve deep into the good but flawed character. And Bruce Pike is no exception and probably more flawed than most, but in a Winton novel he passes for close to normal. "Breath" is a slender little novel but a good introduction into Winton, though not nearly as nuanced or ambitious as his best-known "Cloudstreet." "Breath" shows off what Winton does best--he doesn't bore, he doesn't philosophize, he just digs deep enough to expose the people he has created, who bear a striking resemblance to the humanity around us. Drew Gallagher is a freelance reviewer living in Spotsylvania
Date published: 7/27/2008
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