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A review by blevins
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey
4.0
Mostly riveting non-fiction look into the world and science of rogue, or freak, waves that are increasingly happening in the ocean. As the earth warms up, the unpredictable, powerful waves increase and grow larger and more wild. THE WAVE follows surfers & scientists with the surfers being the more interesting group to me partly because some of the science is over my head (science--not my best subject in school or now). Casey tries to dumb the science down, but I'm still rather lost. I think she's a better "sports" writer than "science" writer anyway.
Casey gets rather cozy with a bunch of the surfers (Laird Hamilton among others) and it's almost too chummy whilst still attempting to write objectively about what these men (and a single woman from Brazil) try to do by surfing these waves. I let it pass since I'm so engrossed by the surfing subculture (took me further into the world that I loved in the documentary RIDING GIANTS a few years ago) of these big wave surfers as they try to ride 60, 70 and even 80 foot waves. Talk about raw power! An 80 foot wave is unimaginable to me. I am kind of frightened of the open ocean and reading THE WAVE makes me even more apprehensive of being in the endless void of the sea. Especially if there are massive waves threatening to kill you. No thank you.
Casey gets rather cozy with a bunch of the surfers (Laird Hamilton among others) and it's almost too chummy whilst still attempting to write objectively about what these men (and a single woman from Brazil) try to do by surfing these waves. I let it pass since I'm so engrossed by the surfing subculture (took me further into the world that I loved in the documentary RIDING GIANTS a few years ago) of these big wave surfers as they try to ride 60, 70 and even 80 foot waves. Talk about raw power! An 80 foot wave is unimaginable to me. I am kind of frightened of the open ocean and reading THE WAVE makes me even more apprehensive of being in the endless void of the sea. Especially if there are massive waves threatening to kill you. No thank you.