Review
This book by widely-admired Australian novelist Tim Winton has received
brilliant and well-deserved praise. Slim but breathtaking, it pulses with energy with barely one false step in all of its lyrical passages. It chronicles the unfolding life of Brucie Pike, a boy who
stretches his new-found independence into frightening tests of personal
strength and challenging moral choices.
This masterful coming-of-age story is set in a struggling mill town near
the coast of Western Australia.
Breath's rich, compelling prose grabs
the reader with understated clarity and a vivid visual richness. Winton's
evocative descriptions of land, sea, and inhabitants are credible and
compelling. The lonely young protagonist chafes at a dreary rural life in
which his future is defined by the expected, the restrained, and the
ordinary. His fearful parents...
Beyond the Book
Australian Vernacular
Being a novel from "Oz", the pages of
Breath are casually
sprinkled with words not found in most non-Australians' vocabularies. While
"blokes" and "fags" are easily recognized as meaning "men" and "cigarettes,"
other descriptive terms remain cloaked in obscurity. To counteract this
sense of puzzlement, here is a regional translation chart to clarify most of
Winton's more colorful verbiage:
- bitumen - asphalt paving
- blued - fought or quarreled
- bombora - large sea waves breaking over submerged rock shelves
- carn - come on!
- dag - nerd, goof, funny person
-
didjeridu - long, tubular, wooden wind instrument that produces continuous...
