A review by mrs_bonaventure
Barbarian Days by William Finnegan

5.0

This was the book of the summer for me - every time I picked it up, it felt as if I dived into the sea, and cane away drenched and salty. I can’t surf, I’ve only tried it twice and although I loved it, I’m coming very late to the party and I’m not sure my runner’s knees would stand very much of it. However this is much more than a surfing book - it’s more like a meditation on life, a document on mastery, at practice, and the ineffable, the sublime touched only now and again during that lifelong practice. Taking in Hawaii, California, Indonesia, Australia and New York, from the 60s to the 2000s, and with an acute political sensibility and sense of place, I loved this from the moment I entered the water.