This is the first Tim Winton novel I have read, and what struck me most was his skill at drawing the reader into the world of the story. Breath is the story of a young man known as Pikelet, through his experiences of friendship, competition, love of surfing, hero worship, disillusionment, sexual discovery and experimentation and again, disillusionment.
Much of the story unfolds in an intense natural environment – cold rivers, imposing forest or powerful ocean. The descriptions are so vivid that your imagination has all the information it needs to really take you there.
It opens with a glimpse of Pikelet as an adult – complex and seemingly disconnected – and then leaps back in time to take us through his journey from childhood through adolescence. The opening chapter is also seemingly disconnected from the subsequent story, and the closer you get to the end the more you wonder how the two stories are going to be brought together. Suddenly, almost jarringly so, it happens, and the opening all makes sense. We see how the story has in fact been progressing, and we see implications to events that are in some cases very common as children walk the path toward adulthood.
We held our book club meeting last week, and it was amazing how many topics came up in our review of the book. Yet I think we had only just begun to scratch the surface!
There is much to be explored in terms of the significance of our families of origin – Pikelet and best mate Loonie came from incredibly different home environments – one characterised by stability, predictability and understated affection; the other which offered freedom but lacked intimacy, security and stability.
Another key theme was the role that peers, adults and our hero’s play in the formation of character and identity. So much to explore on this subject, especially when it comes to the impact that adults have on children who are in the process of becoming adults. It’s also very interesting to explore the way that the novel hints at the emotional/psychological impact that children have on adults. Pikelet and Loonie worship their surfie guru Sando, but what was it that motivated his involvement with them – what did he get out of it? What were the longings of Pikelet’s parents – particularly his dad – and how did they react to the disappointment of those longings being unmet as Pikelet became more autonomous and disinterested in them?
There are lots more themes to explore, but the big one for me is the search for satisfaction in life. Many people are apparently satisfied with the ordinary, but the core characters in this story are intoxicated by the extraordinary – or is it more the idea of the extraordinary? They have tasted the thrills of giant and sometimes ugly waves, surfing in a white pointer’s backyard, and soaring high over snowfields, and they can never again be satisfied with ordinary life. They need the rush.
When denied the rush on the snowfield or ocean, they find it in other ways. The closing stages of Pikelet’s childhood story detail how he was drawn into sexual experimentation with an older woman. The adventure starts out as every young man’s fantasy, but ends up as something of a nightmare – yet an addictive one. Returning to Pikelet’s adult life, we discover how far-reaching the ramifications of that journey have been. We see a man disconnected from his own family, a man haunted by the images of his past, who has struggled to find joy and meaning in the ordinary things of life. A man whose only experience of beauty and freedom seem to come when surfing or blowing the didjeridu.
Sometimes our fantasies aren’t all that they’re cracked up to be! Each of the main characters in the story had the chance to experience things that most ordinary people don’t, yet satisfaction and real joy seemed elusive.
How do you balance the search for the rush of the extraordinary with satisfaction with the ordinary? Is that what separates “achievers” from the plebs – they are never satisfied and so are always chasing more?
For me as a Christian, the answer is found in Hebrews 12:1-3 (among other places), which tells me to fix my eyes on Jesus and run the race that He has marked out for me. Real joy, satisfaction and just the right measure of adventure and stability will be found on that pathway, because His ways are perfect. If I refuse to follow Him in some areas because I want to stay safe and secure, the result will be that I will miss enormous blessing. If I refuse to follow Him because I want to chase after things that I think will bring greater thrills etc, I will discover that they end in disappointment or disaster. Only Jesus is the way to abundant life (John
The Apostle Paul did this, and he discovered that it was in fact the secret of contentment. No matter what his circumstances were, his purpose, meaning and joy in life was wrapped up in Jesus.
I don’t want to live a bland, boring life. I also don’t want to be endlessly pursuing satisfaction which seems to be permanently elusive. I don’t want to get caught up in other people’s addictions or desperate searches. I have found what I’m looking for. It’s Jesus. Now I need to journey onwards in what it means to discover abundant life in Him.
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