Under the Wave at Waimea
-
-
3.5 • 4 Ratings
-
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
From renowned writer Paul Theroux comes a dazzling novel following a big-wave surfer in Hawaii as he confronts ageing, privilege and mortality
'It was as if in surfing he was carving his name in water, invisibly, joyously.'
Joe Sharkey knows he is passed his prime.
Now in his sixties, the younger surfers around the breaks on the north shore of Oahu still revere him as the once-legendary 'Shark', but his sponsors have moved on, and Joe wonders what new future awaits him on the horizon. Uninterrupted quality time with the ocean, he hopes.
Life has other plans.
When he accidentally hits and kills a man near Waimea while drunk-driving, he fears he will never rebound. Under the direction of his stubbornly loyal girlfriend Olive, he throws himself into uncovering his victim's story. But what they find in Max Mulgrave is entirely unexpected: a shared history - and refuge in the sea.
Set on the stunning Hawaiian coast, Theroux captures the glory and nostalgia of looking back at a rich and adventurous past, whilst learning to ride out life's next unexpected wave.
'[Paul Theroux's] writing skills are disciplined and muscular, his ear as finely tuned as a musician's, his eye sharper than any razor' Daily Mail
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Theroux's immersive surfing bildungsroman (after Mother Land), a 60-something Triple Crown legend accidentally kills a homeless man with his car, and looks back on his life. Ten-year-old Joe Sharkey arrives in Hawaii with his father, a Special Forces colonel stationed there during the Vietnam War. Bullied at school for being a "haole," Sharkey finds release in surfing, his mentor a native Hawaiian surf guru called Uncle Sunshine. Showing an early aptitude for the sport, he becomes a competitive surfer. Sponsorship, prize money and endorsements follow as Sharkey travels the world—Tahiti, South Africa, California, Portugal—in search of the ultimate wave. Along the way, women are drawn to his legendary status and he befriends gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Meanwhile, in the present, Sharkey and his girlfriend embark on a journey to learn more about the man Sharkey accidentally killed, traveling to Arkansas and California before a final reckoning in Hawaii's Waimea Bay. The past and present halves of the story don't really coalesce, but Sharkey makes for an enjoyably larger than life character in the mold of Theroux's Jack Flowers (Saint Jack) or Allie Fox (The Mosquito Coast). The author's fans will appreciate the perfectly rendered exotic setting, which takes the reader deep inside the Hawaiian surf culture.
Customer Reviews
Best conditions early
Author
American travel writer and novelist who has just turned 80. Brother of novelist and poet Alexander, and memoirist and travel writer Peter. Father of novelist Marcel and documentary film maker Louis. Uncle of actor Justin. Quite a family, huh? Mr Theroux has authored some of the greatest travel books of all time, especially the ones where trains are involved. His novels are less consistent in quality IMHO. His best known, The Mosquito Coast (1981), has recently been remade for the screen.
In brief
Early sixties white male is a big wave surfer, born and raised in Hawaii, where he is a legend in the surfing set, and his own mind. He’s living with a British nurse 24 years his junior, whom he met several months earlier, and who seems as enchanted by the north shore of Oahu as he is. We hear about his days, which involve a lot of surfing, reminiscence, soaking up adoration, and a healthy lifestyle as long as that includes beer. Driving home from dinner out one rainy evening, he hits an initially unidentified dude lying on the side of the road, for which no one appears to blame him because he’s, like, a legend. There follows protracted solipsistic rambling that those around him put up with for some reason.
Writing
Mr T is a past master at describing stuff, and goes the whole hog here regarding the lush forests of Hawaii, and the the surf, of course. I have no idea whether he was, or still is, a surfer, but he certainly carries on like one, if a more literate one than average. Think Tim Winton in full bombora mode. Not sure what point he was trying to make with the plot though. Maybe that’s just me.
Bottom line
Great for 100-150 pages. After that, not so much.