KEY POINTS:
BREATH
by Tim Winton
Penguin, $50
The central character in Breath is someone we all know. The kid called Pikelet, who is always trailing behind the more outgoing, more daring and more talented friend called Loonie.
The two of them spend long summers in Sawyer, near Perth in Western Australia, in the 70s, daring each other to various feats of madness, from holding their breath under water until they nearly pass out, to eventually surfing 6m waves.
This is a childhood so familiar to Australasian readers that it is easy to get halfway through the book and wonder why you have just read 100 pages about surfing. But you persevere because when Winton writes about surfing, it's gorgeous.
When the boys meet a mysterious older man, who they later discover was a pro-surfer, the story changes pace into one of fear, competition, coming of age, and ultimately the lives of people who are estranged from normality.
