Superb book for young adults!!
After the unexpected death of his mum while living in Sydney, Australia, Sam moves to another part of the country to live with his mum's family. Sam is still grieving for the loss of his mum when he arrives but finds settling in with them very difficult due to their different way of life while still trying to work through his grief.
Sam meets his cousin Minty who is backed to be the next Australian surfing champion and happily Sam and Minty form a good strong and meaningful relationship. From here, Minty encourages Sam into the world of surfing which Sam adopts to happily and thoroughly enjoys with all the excitement that this brings into his life. In the surfing community Sam begins to realise that as he learns to surf this brings to him his thoughts of the ups and downs that he is experiencing in life, with his past life events teaching him to modify his behaviour as he progresses through surf school.
Sam uses some of the situations to help him view his problems and the choices he makes depends on how he sees himself in trying to come to terms with what has happened and what has been happening in his life.
The book is well written and will be an excellent read for children.
This is a terrific novel with characters and place that jump off the page - you won't be able to stop reading it!
One Would Think The Deep is a fantastic novel about a teenager's new life with his estranged aunt and her family after his mother's sudden death. While the plot of the book is great - why did Sam's once-close family not see one another for over ten years? - the real strength of the novel is the character development and sense of place. I loved the fact that Claire Zorn's writing was so real I could "see" the characters and the coastal town where the novel takes place. Distinctly Australian, this is a terrific novel and a highly recommended read.
An astute overview of the many layers of grief and uses the surfing scene as a way of re-populating Sam’s life.
This novel won the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book of the Year for the Older Reader 2017 and it is not difficult to understand why. Claire Zorn is an accomplished writer enabling the reader to surf and ride the pages of the book as the characters battle through their lives.
Sam is a teenage skateboarder growing up in Sydney. The book begins on New Year’s Eve when Sam’s mother dies suddenly and he is forced to leave Sydney to live with his cousins on the coast. He is not welcomed by everyone though. While his cousin Minty a gifted surfer preparing for a big championship contest which could change his life, is happy to have him around; his cousin Shane treats him with open aggression and he doesn’t understand, why?
Given no space or time to comprehend or deal with his loss Sam is thrown into this world – a friendly but self-obsessed Minty, hostility from Shane and the mysteries of disconnected family relations between his aunt and grandmother. And then there’s the weather thing.
A plethora of different situations are thrown at the bewildered Sam including Gretchen who, not part of the surfing scene, draws him in.
Claire Zorn offers an astute overview of the many layers of grief and uses the surfing scene as a way of re-populating Sam’s life.
This is a powerful book exploring all aspects of the final stages of growing up in all its angst and glory.
Thespian and joys of growing up in the world of surfing.
This is an unexpectedly interesting and intriguing book. It follows the difficult journey of self discovery of Australian teenager, Sam - the central character, takes after the death of his mother. This is a painful and revealing journey as he discovers more about himself and his family history. Set against the background of competitive surfing, I found the interaction of the main characters moving and at times extremely sad but also understandable. This book really shows the joys and pains of grow up. A book really worth reading.