Tim Winton has done it again. It may be a long wait between drinks, but WOW it's worth the wait.
His writing is beautiful, poetic actually, his characterisation's brilliant and if anybody else wrote a story based on surfboard riding, I would give it a big miss. But he had me hooked from the start.
My biggest problem with reading Winton is not being able to put the books down - I really wish I could make them last longer to savour them slowly.

This is a book to savour. whether you surf or not is irrelevant...the story line about mentoring, courage and "coming of age" to use such a tired phrase is beautifully written. I found myself in awe of Wintons descriptions, like he personally inhabited each character. Even the conclusion was painstakingly written, not a sloppy quick fix to tell the reader quickly what happened in time to each character so the book could be wrapped. A book I will re-read. Genius.

I must be one of the few who just don't see the huge appeal in Tim Winton's writing. I didn't find this book disagreeable by any means, but it wasn't a real page-turner for me. I found that if I put it down, I didn't really care wether I picked it up again or not :-) By all means give it a go if you are interested, but if it doesn't grab you, you're not alone :0

Excellent storyline, this book held my interest, at times it was intrigueing and yet compelled the reader to follow this often sad journey for a man to grown up and learn about life and its extremes. It definetely extended my range of interests and certainly increased my appetite for a real life type of reflections.

Excellent book, kept me wanting to know more about these characters very interesting and compelling.

the most tedious and boring book ever. It kept talking about adolescent surfers...so over it.

Great story! Interesting to experience life inside a boy's mind.
I enjoyed this book but it's a shame Tim had to race off to the supermarket before it closed,
and finish his book too quickly.......

Absolutely Brilliant!! I have not read any of Tim Wintons books before this one and now I am going to have to read them all!! It started off slow but completely engrossed me and by the end I was gobsmacked! Well worth a read!

This book entranced me because of the beautiful writing. It is as if Winton has chanelled his language in its purest form. I enjoyed the portrayal of a beachside town and the exhilaration of the boys surfing. Some of this story has been done before (Summer of 42) but this book goes further than the journey of discovery for a teenage boy and has deeper philosphical underpinnings. A great read and I wanted it to last forever!

Tim Winton is a master of description. The books takes you an a deep and winding journey through deep organic descriptions. I enjoyed reading this book!