Tim Winton, Breath

'Breath' by Tim Winton mainly follows the formative years of Bruce 'Pikelet' Pike, a young surfer boy growing up in a small Australian town. The story mainly follows his relationship with a danger-addict friend, Loonie, and their surfing mentor 'Sando', as well as Sando's wife Eva.

The novel mainly explores the concept of fear and the pleasure certain people take in pushing the limits of their own fear. The boys are constantly trying to outdo each other with feats of bravado, from when they first meet trying to see how long they can stay at the bottom of a river bed, to their attempts to surf huge, inaccessible waves that no-one else dares to try.

I found Breath very well written, I really like Winton's honest storytelling style. He has a habit of making the prose flow beautifully whilst keeping the language genuine and the result is a very believable reverie. Would definitely recommend this book to others.