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A review by ktlope
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
4.0
4.5 ! Just excellent
Edit: had to come back to this because I am still thinking about it days later. This is a memoir about surfing- the author, Finnegan, takes the reader through different times and locations in his life and the connection he had to surfing at those times and those locations. The writing about surfing itself is beautiful and poetic and thrilling, and it’s always enjoyable to hear (read?) someone talk (write?) about something they have loved their entire life, but I particularly loved Finnegan’s writing on travel, on family, on growing up, on male friendships, on his career (as a war correspondent and journalist for the New Yorker), and on self reflection, and I think those are the things that will stick with me from this book.
Twas enjoyable reading a memoir of a white man traveling and living among other cultures that (while being aware of the author’s unique position in the global strata) wasn’t soaked in useless pandering liberal guilt that i find common in media - a lot of the traveling he did was while he was younger and i think he did a really good job of describing how that time informed his character and development and, as a reader, it’s observable in the sections about his later life
In a previous goodreads update on this book, I wrote that it was “profoundly male, but at least aware” which is true. It felt like a character study in male friendships, which was so enjoyable for me as someone who is obviously not privy to relationships of that nature and has always been fascinating by male socialization
Anyways I think I just love a memoir that is “about a subject” but really just uses that subject as a vessel thru which to explore a comprehensive life. I was reading crying in h-mart before this, and while I had to stop because I experienced my own tragedy halfway thru the book, I similarly enjoyed how Michelle Zauner used food as a vessel to explore her relationship with her mom and her grief over the loss of her mom
Edit: had to come back to this because I am still thinking about it days later. This is a memoir about surfing- the author, Finnegan, takes the reader through different times and locations in his life and the connection he had to surfing at those times and those locations. The writing about surfing itself is beautiful and poetic and thrilling, and it’s always enjoyable to hear (read?) someone talk (write?) about something they have loved their entire life, but I particularly loved Finnegan’s writing on travel, on family, on growing up, on male friendships, on his career (as a war correspondent and journalist for the New Yorker), and on self reflection, and I think those are the things that will stick with me from this book.
Twas enjoyable reading a memoir of a white man traveling and living among other cultures that (while being aware of the author’s unique position in the global strata) wasn’t soaked in useless pandering liberal guilt that i find common in media - a lot of the traveling he did was while he was younger and i think he did a really good job of describing how that time informed his character and development and, as a reader, it’s observable in the sections about his later life
In a previous goodreads update on this book, I wrote that it was “profoundly male, but at least aware” which is true. It felt like a character study in male friendships, which was so enjoyable for me as someone who is obviously not privy to relationships of that nature and has always been fascinating by male socialization
Anyways I think I just love a memoir that is “about a subject” but really just uses that subject as a vessel thru which to explore a comprehensive life. I was reading crying in h-mart before this, and while I had to stop because I experienced my own tragedy halfway thru the book, I similarly enjoyed how Michelle Zauner used food as a vessel to explore her relationship with her mom and her grief over the loss of her mom