Review by Eade38 -- Waves Break (on Unknown Shores)
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Eade38
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Review by Eade38 -- Waves Break (on Unknown Shores)
[Following is a volunteer review of "Waves Break (on Unknown Shores)" by Barry Litherland.]
(Waves Break (on Unknown Shores) by Barry Litherland is a story of four childhood friends – Phil, Wayne, Stevie and Tina, who are growing up together in a small seaside town. They spend all their days playing games and enjoying life, and even though they realize that their nice hometown is not as perfect as it would seem, they do not fully see his other side; side full of criminals, corruption and murders. Everything changes with Stevie's unexpected death, which is like their wake-up call to reality. Nothing remains the same and the traces and consequences of the past extend into the present. We see Phil, the narrator, as he deals with his childhood trauma, realizing and thinking about the things his kid´s eyes overlooked at the time.
Phil, as the main character, doesn´t have any remarkable qualities – he is a coward, a little boring and not very ambitious journalist. The only interesting thing about him, are his friends, who are everything he isn´t – brave, witty, strong-willed. He is aware of this, of his flaws and weaknesses, and because of that, he suffers from certain feelings of inferiority. But over the course of the book, he evolves completely - Phil at the end, was doing things, that Phil from beginning, wouldn't even think about. The other characters, however, are quite interesting, especially Wayne with his stubbornness, but also, Tyrone, his sadistic brother, who, despite little dialogue, remains the most terrifying character in the book.
The whole book was full of dark humour, the characters were quite sarcastic and funny, and I found myself laughing many times. There were several profane and vulgar words, but they were used correctly; they fitted the character and situation, so they didn´t have disruptive effect and they actually added to the realism of the story. There were also a few hints of situations with a sexual undertone, but no explicit scenes.
What I really appreciate was the connection with the sea – the whole story takes place in a seaside town, so the author used many metaphors and comparisons that had a little touch of the sea in them, like when he compared Wayne´s mum to ´huge, shapeless sea creature´ or Wayne, himself, to ´limpet´.
Unfortunately, the whole book, although with enormous potential, is in a way empty. The author doesn´t waste time creating an atmosphere, he goes straight to the dialogue. I would have appreciated more description of places and characters, and not just naming objects in the room. We can especially see it in characters, who appear for just a short period of time – this kind of description turns them into something like caricature. Because of that, the book lacks depth, and in many ways it´s just a superficial narration of events.
There is also this motif of ripples, which appears during the book - about life and how our past influences our future. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to develop it a little bit more - to give Phil some kind of philosophical moment in which he thinks about everything that have happened and comes to some conclusion. But many motifs were not completed, they were not developed, despite the fact that they could be.
Moreover, the childhood friendship deserved a little more space, because even though Phil reassured us about their mutual feelings, the group of Wayne, Phil, Stevie and Tina did not appear together as often as they should.
There were also some logical errors - one character, Erin, was in one chapter described as having ´fair hair and blue eyes´, but in the other one, as having ´hazel eyes and short, dark hair´. Another character was called Denny, but than his name suddenly changed to Manny. These errors were not really important in a story as a whole, but they still bothered me.
But overall, I still enjoyed reading this book. The story was interesting and some of the twists were really surprising. Therefore, despite its unused potential, I give this book 3 out of 4 stars, because I think, that despite everything, Waves Break (on Unknown Shores) is an excellent book for all lovers of psychological thriller.
******
Waves Break (on Unknown Shores)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
(Waves Break (on Unknown Shores) by Barry Litherland is a story of four childhood friends – Phil, Wayne, Stevie and Tina, who are growing up together in a small seaside town. They spend all their days playing games and enjoying life, and even though they realize that their nice hometown is not as perfect as it would seem, they do not fully see his other side; side full of criminals, corruption and murders. Everything changes with Stevie's unexpected death, which is like their wake-up call to reality. Nothing remains the same and the traces and consequences of the past extend into the present. We see Phil, the narrator, as he deals with his childhood trauma, realizing and thinking about the things his kid´s eyes overlooked at the time.
Phil, as the main character, doesn´t have any remarkable qualities – he is a coward, a little boring and not very ambitious journalist. The only interesting thing about him, are his friends, who are everything he isn´t – brave, witty, strong-willed. He is aware of this, of his flaws and weaknesses, and because of that, he suffers from certain feelings of inferiority. But over the course of the book, he evolves completely - Phil at the end, was doing things, that Phil from beginning, wouldn't even think about. The other characters, however, are quite interesting, especially Wayne with his stubbornness, but also, Tyrone, his sadistic brother, who, despite little dialogue, remains the most terrifying character in the book.
The whole book was full of dark humour, the characters were quite sarcastic and funny, and I found myself laughing many times. There were several profane and vulgar words, but they were used correctly; they fitted the character and situation, so they didn´t have disruptive effect and they actually added to the realism of the story. There were also a few hints of situations with a sexual undertone, but no explicit scenes.
What I really appreciate was the connection with the sea – the whole story takes place in a seaside town, so the author used many metaphors and comparisons that had a little touch of the sea in them, like when he compared Wayne´s mum to ´huge, shapeless sea creature´ or Wayne, himself, to ´limpet´.
Unfortunately, the whole book, although with enormous potential, is in a way empty. The author doesn´t waste time creating an atmosphere, he goes straight to the dialogue. I would have appreciated more description of places and characters, and not just naming objects in the room. We can especially see it in characters, who appear for just a short period of time – this kind of description turns them into something like caricature. Because of that, the book lacks depth, and in many ways it´s just a superficial narration of events.
There is also this motif of ripples, which appears during the book - about life and how our past influences our future. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to develop it a little bit more - to give Phil some kind of philosophical moment in which he thinks about everything that have happened and comes to some conclusion. But many motifs were not completed, they were not developed, despite the fact that they could be.
Moreover, the childhood friendship deserved a little more space, because even though Phil reassured us about their mutual feelings, the group of Wayne, Phil, Stevie and Tina did not appear together as often as they should.
There were also some logical errors - one character, Erin, was in one chapter described as having ´fair hair and blue eyes´, but in the other one, as having ´hazel eyes and short, dark hair´. Another character was called Denny, but than his name suddenly changed to Manny. These errors were not really important in a story as a whole, but they still bothered me.
But overall, I still enjoyed reading this book. The story was interesting and some of the twists were really surprising. Therefore, despite its unused potential, I give this book 3 out of 4 stars, because I think, that despite everything, Waves Break (on Unknown Shores) is an excellent book for all lovers of psychological thriller.
******
Waves Break (on Unknown Shores)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: We are Voulhire: The Fires of Virko by Matthew Tysz
