What do you think?
Rate this book
The Life
"He looked into the Pacific and the Pacific looked back into him."
The Life tells the story of former-world-champion Australian surfer, Dennis Keith, from inside the very heart of the fame and madness that is 'The Life'.
Now bloated and paranoid, former Australian surfing legend Dennis Keith is holed up in his mother's retirement village, shuffling to the shop for a Pine-Lime Splice every day, barely existing behind his aviator sunnies and crazy OCD rules, and trying not to think about the waves he'd made his own and the breaks he once ruled like a god. Years before he'd been robbed of the world title that had his name on it - and then drugs, his brother, and the disappearance and murder of his girlfriend and had done the rest. Out of the blue, a young would-be biographer comes knocking and stirs up memories Dennis thought he'd buried. It takes Dennis a while to realise that she's not there to write his story at all.
Daring, ambitious, dazzling, The Life is also as real as it gets - a searing, beautiful novel about fame and ambition and the price that must sometimes be paid for reaching too high.
Malcolm Knox is the author of Summerland, A Private Man and Jamaica, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Award last year and won the Colin Roderick Award. He is also a Walkley-Award-winning journalist and author of many non-fiction titles. He came late to surfing, but is now an obsessively enthusiastic surfer, and writes about surfing and the surf with authority and great passion.
The Life tells the story of former-world-champion Australian surfer, Dennis Keith, from inside the very heart of the fame and madness that is 'The Life'.
Now bloated and paranoid, former Australian surfing legend Dennis Keith is holed up in his mother's retirement village, shuffling to the shop for a Pine-Lime Splice every day, barely existing behind his aviator sunnies and crazy OCD rules, and trying not to think about the waves he'd made his own and the breaks he once ruled like a god. Years before he'd been robbed of the world title that had his name on it - and then drugs, his brother, and the disappearance and murder of his girlfriend and had done the rest. Out of the blue, a young would-be biographer comes knocking and stirs up memories Dennis thought he'd buried. It takes Dennis a while to realise that she's not there to write his story at all.
Daring, ambitious, dazzling, The Life is also as real as it gets - a searing, beautiful novel about fame and ambition and the price that must sometimes be paid for reaching too high.
Malcolm Knox is the author of Summerland, A Private Man and Jamaica, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Award last year and won the Colin Roderick Award. He is also a Walkley-Award-winning journalist and author of many non-fiction titles. He came late to surfing, but is now an obsessively enthusiastic surfer, and writes about surfing and the surf with authority and great passion.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
10 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
Malcolm Knox
36 books48 followersMalcolm Knox was born in 1966. He grew up in Sydney and studied in Sydney and Scotland, where his one-act play, POLEMARCHUS, was performed in St Andrews and Edinburgh. He has worked for the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD since 1994 and his journalism has been published in Australia, Britain, India and the West Indies.
His first novel Summerland was published to great acclaim in the UK, US, Australia and Europe in 2000. In 2001 Malcolm was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian novelists. He lives in Sydney with his wife Wenona, son Callum and daughter Lilian. His most recent novel, A Private Man, was critically acclaimed and was shortlisted for the Commomwealth Prize and the Tasmanian Premier’s Award.
His first novel Summerland was published to great acclaim in the UK, US, Australia and Europe in 2000. In 2001 Malcolm was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian novelists. He lives in Sydney with his wife Wenona, son Callum and daughter Lilian. His most recent novel, A Private Man, was critically acclaimed and was shortlisted for the Commomwealth Prize and the Tasmanian Premier’s Award.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
November 7, 2015
Things I am not interested in: surfing, surfers, arrogant surfers, Queensland, the '70s, big stars who get into smack and lose their way, fat washed-up former big stars and surfing. What this book is about: see above. What I really, really liked: this book. Confusing.
May 27, 2013
Loved it! Here's the review I wrote for THE BIG ISSUE:
I’ve been surfing for over twenty years and, in my opinion, most writers who take on the topic of surfing – especially literary writers – don’t quite get it right. Tim Winton’s Breath was the first Australian surf novel I’d read that nailed it. So when I heard there was a new surf novel coming out to rival Breath, I jumped at the opportunity to review it. Malcolm Knox’s brilliant fourth novel, The Life, zeroes-in on one of the most tumultuous periods of Australia’s near 100-year surfing history – the early 1970s. This was a time when surfing came of age in Australia; huge longboards were being cut down to smaller and more radical shapes, a profitable surf industry was starting to boom, and a new aggressive breed of surfer was emerging from the increasingly crowded urban environment.
Told from the point of view of Dennis Keith (DK), an ageing, overweight, obsessive-compulsive surfer, The Life recounts his rough upbringing and rise to fame on the Gold Coast, and the events surrounding his downfall. “DK sees himself as the first man of the new era,” says Knox, who has postponed going for a surf to make time for our interview. “He’s going to be the guy who takes advantage of it all, the guy who turns himself into a businessman and surfer, and leads the new wave. The tragedy of his story is that he’s not the first man of the new era; he’s the last man of the old era.”
It’s a story as much about the denaturing effects of fame as it is about surfing. Written in riffing, looping surf-slang, Knox has created a compelling portrait of a creative genius obsessed with the power of his own myth. In his youth, DK’s unpredictable and aggressive approach to surfing quickly earns him cult-like respect at his local break. In the water, he is a god, articulating everything he needs to say in the lines he draws on a wave. On land, however, he is a dysfunctional misfit; his thoughts churning in relentless cycles, often fixating on the surf, the lack of surf, other surfers wasting waves and the whereabouts of his girlfriend. When DK opens his mouth to speak, the words tend to come out in jumbled contradictions, so for the most part he prefers to remain silent. And it’s around this silence (and the white noise in his head) that the myth of ‘DK the legend’ begins to grow. Knox cleverly manipulates the narrative to reflect DK’s growing self-obsession, so that DK, in his rambling thoughts, sometimes addresses himself as I, sometimes you, sometimes he. At the onset of fame, DK says to himself: “1969 … That year you became DK, you became he. DK stories in Tracks, in Surfer, in Surfing. Pictures, loads of pictures. You couldn’t take your eyes off DK.” In the years to come, DK becomes trapped in a room full of mirrors. And it’s only when fame turns on him and he tries to smash his way out, that much of the psychological damage is done. “Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face,” says Knox, quoting American writer John Updike.
When I ask Knox his opinion of Breath, he says he greatly admires Winton’s achievement. In writing The Life, however, he wanted to come at the surf novel from a completely different angle, not locking the reader outside, but burying the reader deep within the mind of his enigmatic protagonist. And this is the very thing that makes The Life work.
Some readers familiar with Australian surfing history will pick-up on similarities between Knox’s fictional Dennis Keith (DK) and underground Gold Coast legend Michael Peterson (MP) – the revered surfer who lost his career to drugs and mental illness, quit surfing and who, to this day, lives in an apartment with his mum on the Gold Coast.* Knox acknowledges the similarities between his character and Peterson, but hastens to add that he didn’t want his character to be based on any one surfer. As such, he’s also drawn inspiration from other well-known surfers including Miki Dora, Eddy Aikau, Nat Young, Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholemew and Mark “Occy” Occhilupo. Mashing these characters together into DK, Knox has created a fictional repository for surfing folklore, the sum of which, in my opinion, proves to be greater than the parts. Knox’s real achievement though, is the language, the eccentric narrative voice of DK, which repeats itself like waves breaking in an ocean that can never quite be still.
So, I ask Knox, were any unusual research methods you used in writing the book? “I got to do a lot of surfing,” Knox replies with a mischievous chuckle – but also, I note, the hint of something else in his voice. After a moment I realise what it is: impatience. There’s so much more I want to talk to him about – DK’s relationship with folk/rock singer Lisa Exmire and the mystery surrounding her disappearance, and DK’s relationship with the young surf journalist, who has more than a feature article on the great legend in mind – but I don’t want to hold him back any longer. Waves are going to waste. I wish him a fun surf and wind up the call, wondering what the surf conditions are like on Sydney’s north shore, and hoping that I’m not missing out on anything.
Daniel Ducrou
*Post review note: Sadly, Michael Peterson passed away on 29 March 2012.
Malcolm Knox The Life
Daniel Ducrou The Byron Journals
I’ve been surfing for over twenty years and, in my opinion, most writers who take on the topic of surfing – especially literary writers – don’t quite get it right. Tim Winton’s Breath was the first Australian surf novel I’d read that nailed it. So when I heard there was a new surf novel coming out to rival Breath, I jumped at the opportunity to review it. Malcolm Knox’s brilliant fourth novel, The Life, zeroes-in on one of the most tumultuous periods of Australia’s near 100-year surfing history – the early 1970s. This was a time when surfing came of age in Australia; huge longboards were being cut down to smaller and more radical shapes, a profitable surf industry was starting to boom, and a new aggressive breed of surfer was emerging from the increasingly crowded urban environment.
Told from the point of view of Dennis Keith (DK), an ageing, overweight, obsessive-compulsive surfer, The Life recounts his rough upbringing and rise to fame on the Gold Coast, and the events surrounding his downfall. “DK sees himself as the first man of the new era,” says Knox, who has postponed going for a surf to make time for our interview. “He’s going to be the guy who takes advantage of it all, the guy who turns himself into a businessman and surfer, and leads the new wave. The tragedy of his story is that he’s not the first man of the new era; he’s the last man of the old era.”
It’s a story as much about the denaturing effects of fame as it is about surfing. Written in riffing, looping surf-slang, Knox has created a compelling portrait of a creative genius obsessed with the power of his own myth. In his youth, DK’s unpredictable and aggressive approach to surfing quickly earns him cult-like respect at his local break. In the water, he is a god, articulating everything he needs to say in the lines he draws on a wave. On land, however, he is a dysfunctional misfit; his thoughts churning in relentless cycles, often fixating on the surf, the lack of surf, other surfers wasting waves and the whereabouts of his girlfriend. When DK opens his mouth to speak, the words tend to come out in jumbled contradictions, so for the most part he prefers to remain silent. And it’s around this silence (and the white noise in his head) that the myth of ‘DK the legend’ begins to grow. Knox cleverly manipulates the narrative to reflect DK’s growing self-obsession, so that DK, in his rambling thoughts, sometimes addresses himself as I, sometimes you, sometimes he. At the onset of fame, DK says to himself: “1969 … That year you became DK, you became he. DK stories in Tracks, in Surfer, in Surfing. Pictures, loads of pictures. You couldn’t take your eyes off DK.” In the years to come, DK becomes trapped in a room full of mirrors. And it’s only when fame turns on him and he tries to smash his way out, that much of the psychological damage is done. “Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face,” says Knox, quoting American writer John Updike.
When I ask Knox his opinion of Breath, he says he greatly admires Winton’s achievement. In writing The Life, however, he wanted to come at the surf novel from a completely different angle, not locking the reader outside, but burying the reader deep within the mind of his enigmatic protagonist. And this is the very thing that makes The Life work.
Some readers familiar with Australian surfing history will pick-up on similarities between Knox’s fictional Dennis Keith (DK) and underground Gold Coast legend Michael Peterson (MP) – the revered surfer who lost his career to drugs and mental illness, quit surfing and who, to this day, lives in an apartment with his mum on the Gold Coast.* Knox acknowledges the similarities between his character and Peterson, but hastens to add that he didn’t want his character to be based on any one surfer. As such, he’s also drawn inspiration from other well-known surfers including Miki Dora, Eddy Aikau, Nat Young, Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholemew and Mark “Occy” Occhilupo. Mashing these characters together into DK, Knox has created a fictional repository for surfing folklore, the sum of which, in my opinion, proves to be greater than the parts. Knox’s real achievement though, is the language, the eccentric narrative voice of DK, which repeats itself like waves breaking in an ocean that can never quite be still.
So, I ask Knox, were any unusual research methods you used in writing the book? “I got to do a lot of surfing,” Knox replies with a mischievous chuckle – but also, I note, the hint of something else in his voice. After a moment I realise what it is: impatience. There’s so much more I want to talk to him about – DK’s relationship with folk/rock singer Lisa Exmire and the mystery surrounding her disappearance, and DK’s relationship with the young surf journalist, who has more than a feature article on the great legend in mind – but I don’t want to hold him back any longer. Waves are going to waste. I wish him a fun surf and wind up the call, wondering what the surf conditions are like on Sydney’s north shore, and hoping that I’m not missing out on anything.
Daniel Ducrou
*Post review note: Sadly, Michael Peterson passed away on 29 March 2012.
Malcolm Knox The Life
Daniel Ducrou The Byron Journals
October 11, 2011
Oh, this is so good! Knox has created a character who is unlikeable, unreliable, untrustworthy, dishonest, disloyal, pathetic and pitiable yet he draws admiration from everyone because of his talent on a surfboard. He also manages to even draw love from a few. Dennis is a fat, has-been surfer who has stewed his brain with years of drug abuse, and Knox has a brilliant handle on his OCDs and the narrative (once you get used to it)is so very clever.
Much as you don't want to be drawn in by Dennis, you are. Fabulous characters, Mo, his mother, Rod, the missing brother and the BFO, Bi Fricken Ographer, who has come to find out the story of this disfuntional yet very close family. The prose is gloriously descriptive, "her big old meaty face with its square jaw and its blue eyes slouched in their shiny red hammocks.......in her face I can count the lines I cut", just a tempter.
Certainly not a family you would want to live next door to, but one you would want to experience in some way. Point of the story keeps you guessing. "I get it now, Mo. I get it."
Should be shortlisted for the Franklin next year, dying to talk to you about it when you have both read it. He is such a good writer, I am really excited by this - but, you might have guessed that!
Much as you don't want to be drawn in by Dennis, you are. Fabulous characters, Mo, his mother, Rod, the missing brother and the BFO, Bi Fricken Ographer, who has come to find out the story of this disfuntional yet very close family. The prose is gloriously descriptive, "her big old meaty face with its square jaw and its blue eyes slouched in their shiny red hammocks.......in her face I can count the lines I cut", just a tempter.
Certainly not a family you would want to live next door to, but one you would want to experience in some way. Point of the story keeps you guessing. "I get it now, Mo. I get it."
Should be shortlisted for the Franklin next year, dying to talk to you about it when you have both read it. He is such a good writer, I am really excited by this - but, you might have guessed that!
May 8, 2012
‘Apparently there was some guys somewhere, America or Hawaii or something, who had The Life – made a living from surfing in comps and selling and shaping boards and maybe giving surf lessons and still surfed whenever they wanted.’ This is the life Gold Coast grommets are dreaming of in the 60s. And king of the grommets is DK – Dennis Keith, a surfer of abnormal talent and few words. ‘Yeah... but nah,’ is his favourite expression.
Forty years later the rock at Snapper reads ‘DK Lives’ but DK is a fat has-been with OCD who lives in a retirement village with his mother. We discover DK’s life as he relates it to a young female journalist, his BFO - Bi Fricken Ographer. Central to his chequered past are Lisa, a singer with ‘skin like a morning glass off’, his adopted mother, Mo, and Rod, his brother.
Knox skilfully captures DK’s inarticulate voice. ‘...surfers could stand on a beach and burst into tears cos they arrived an hour too late and now the wind and tide had went screwy on them, surfers regretted too much, they always should have been here an hour ago.’ As someone who has spent too much of her life among Gold Coast surfers, I can also vouch for the accuracy of these views; ‘Birds were like waves but not like waves. Like waves: there was always another one. Not like waves: it didn’t matter if you wasted one.’ DK’s description of surfing at ‘one of them Byron beaches – Taragos, Wallows, some crap like that...’ is priceless.
The story charts the period between the sixties and the present: the rise of the short board, the leg rope and the professional surfer. The first world titles in Hawaii are one of the climactic moments. Anyone who surfs or knows a surfer will be able to relate to the aggression, the fury and the joy of the waves as depicted by Knox. The obvious comparison is to Tim Winton’s Breath, but The Life is rawer, more visceral. There is no poetry here. The story cuts between past and present, first person and third. Initially this is disconcerting, but once I was used to it, I was riveted. This book is not just for surfers. DK may be one of the most original voices to emerge in Australian fiction lately.
Forty years later the rock at Snapper reads ‘DK Lives’ but DK is a fat has-been with OCD who lives in a retirement village with his mother. We discover DK’s life as he relates it to a young female journalist, his BFO - Bi Fricken Ographer. Central to his chequered past are Lisa, a singer with ‘skin like a morning glass off’, his adopted mother, Mo, and Rod, his brother.
Knox skilfully captures DK’s inarticulate voice. ‘...surfers could stand on a beach and burst into tears cos they arrived an hour too late and now the wind and tide had went screwy on them, surfers regretted too much, they always should have been here an hour ago.’ As someone who has spent too much of her life among Gold Coast surfers, I can also vouch for the accuracy of these views; ‘Birds were like waves but not like waves. Like waves: there was always another one. Not like waves: it didn’t matter if you wasted one.’ DK’s description of surfing at ‘one of them Byron beaches – Taragos, Wallows, some crap like that...’ is priceless.
The story charts the period between the sixties and the present: the rise of the short board, the leg rope and the professional surfer. The first world titles in Hawaii are one of the climactic moments. Anyone who surfs or knows a surfer will be able to relate to the aggression, the fury and the joy of the waves as depicted by Knox. The obvious comparison is to Tim Winton’s Breath, but The Life is rawer, more visceral. There is no poetry here. The story cuts between past and present, first person and third. Initially this is disconcerting, but once I was used to it, I was riveted. This book is not just for surfers. DK may be one of the most original voices to emerge in Australian fiction lately.
July 29, 2011
I won this as a prize so felt obliged to read it, even though surf-stories are not really my genre. Well I know a lot more about surfing now after 400 pages of waxing, barrels and wipe outs, but I think Knox could have told the same story in half the page space. A surfer's life is very Zen, very repetitive, very cyclical, like the waves and this novel definitely catches that feeling. Knox is also a journalist and he knows how to work a motif; I got bored of reading the same line of how DK (legendary, now washed up surfer) pushed his aviator glasses up the top of his head and said 'yep, still there'. His character is conveniently monosyllabic so earthshattering insights from him,, there are few. 'The Life' of the title refers to a surfer's Nirvana; not having to work, having all the time in the world to surf and a sponser. And yes, living 'The Life' would be great, but it is also as empty as the man the surf chewed up and spat out; alone and addicted to memories of the past. If you are a mad-keen surfer go for it, otherwise, just dip your toe in the first chapter..
July 17, 2012
A very different book for me, but I loved it.
Love the language, though it takes a little bit to get into at first!
'You wrote words for her on the waves. Poems. Songs.
You wouldn't look up to see was she watching.
You surfed two hours, only caught eight or nine waves, every one a song you wrote for her.
You run back up Greenmount Hill.
See if she'd read your music.
She wasn't there.
She wasn't there.
She wasn't there.'
Half way through I found myself also buried in whatever info I could find on the MP DK was based on, later video footage of him was exactly as I'd pictured DK, fascinating sad story. From there I couldn't get enough of DK and what made him tick.
The ending - not sure it tied enough loose ends for me, I might have been too lost in DK the character to nut out The Story. This is the only thing that stops me giving it 5 stars, I really have enjoyed living & breathing DK these past few days.
Was sad to close the book and let him go. May his real life alter-ego rest in peace.
Love the language, though it takes a little bit to get into at first!
'You wrote words for her on the waves. Poems. Songs.
You wouldn't look up to see was she watching.
You surfed two hours, only caught eight or nine waves, every one a song you wrote for her.
You run back up Greenmount Hill.
See if she'd read your music.
She wasn't there.
She wasn't there.
She wasn't there.'
Half way through I found myself also buried in whatever info I could find on the MP DK was based on, later video footage of him was exactly as I'd pictured DK, fascinating sad story. From there I couldn't get enough of DK and what made him tick.
The ending - not sure it tied enough loose ends for me, I might have been too lost in DK the character to nut out The Story. This is the only thing that stops me giving it 5 stars, I really have enjoyed living & breathing DK these past few days.
Was sad to close the book and let him go. May his real life alter-ego rest in peace.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2012
I just want to rave about his book. I loved it so much. I started off half-hearted about it, curious, but not really excited about the main character, about the syntax (which takes some getting used to) or about surfing, generally. 416 pages later and I was besotted with all of it. I was both desperate to finish the story and find out what happens, but desperate not to, so I could stay with DK (the protagonist). It is fiction, but the character is based on surfing legend Michael Peterson, who passed away while I was reading the book. A sad coincidence of timing. Overall, this book was amazing and absolutely kept me hooked to the very last page. It's been a long time since I wanted to reread a book the minute I finished it, but this was one of those times. I now am off to find the actual, non-fiction, biography of Michael Peterson, by Sean Doherty which is also supposed to be great.
March 15, 2017
Heard Malcolm Knox at the Writers' Festival and having read his two previous novels bought this and got him to sign it.
Review A great read. The Australian male surfer, the Australian male psyche in the 60s and 70s. Told in the voice of an affable larrikin. Utterly infectious story telling that has you surfing the pages, the barrels and troughs of the narrative, whooping and gasping ... and I have never surfed in my life. Thank you Malcolm Knox for capturing the era I grew up in and getting me thinking about all the silent men who couldn't say what they felt or thought.
Review A great read. The Australian male surfer, the Australian male psyche in the 60s and 70s. Told in the voice of an affable larrikin. Utterly infectious story telling that has you surfing the pages, the barrels and troughs of the narrative, whooping and gasping ... and I have never surfed in my life. Thank you Malcolm Knox for capturing the era I grew up in and getting me thinking about all the silent men who couldn't say what they felt or thought.
Read
September 3, 2011Brilliant. I ordered this book as soon as I read about it. How could I not after hearing it compared to Tim Winton's "Breath." It describes the sea, waves, and surfing in quite a different way from Winton, at times technical, and others almost impressionistic. In fact the style is completely fresh, like nothing else I've ever read. It takes some getting used to but I fell for it right from the beginning. I'll say it again—brilliant.
January 29, 2012
If you haven't read this book, run out and do so now. I found myself trying not to sleep through the night, just so I could read some more...Excellent.
January 16, 2014
Excellent, like Bad Boy Bubby meets Big Wednesday..
December 10, 2023
Soaked in the internal narrative of a personal with mental illness. Repetitive thoughts about the past, about sticking to the routine of the current day. We’re living the life of a washed up surfer, staying with his mum. His life story is carefully doled out via flashbacks and conversations with his biographer. Carefully as it’s interrupted over and over again by those repetitive thoughts.
There’s not much of a story here. There’s not meant to be. This is about that surfer, DK, his town and the way it and surfing has changed. The deep dive into how surfing started as play, then turned to drugs, then became a professional sport is well done and mirrors DK’s life and experiences.
I felt the early part of the book was too slow and too repetitive. Hitting us over the head with the point. The lack of a resolution made me feel disappointed. The lost years resulting in 20 years just being hand waved and skipped also annoyed me. ‘At least’ I told myself ‘that awful stuff is just a story’. Then horrified to learn that much of it was modelled on the real life of Michael Paterson. I have a hard time recommending the book as it is a grim character study. I do admire it as a well written piece of fiction, that’s why the 3 stars.
There’s not much of a story here. There’s not meant to be. This is about that surfer, DK, his town and the way it and surfing has changed. The deep dive into how surfing started as play, then turned to drugs, then became a professional sport is well done and mirrors DK’s life and experiences.
I felt the early part of the book was too slow and too repetitive. Hitting us over the head with the point. The lack of a resolution made me feel disappointed. The lost years resulting in 20 years just being hand waved and skipped also annoyed me. ‘At least’ I told myself ‘that awful stuff is just a story’. Then horrified to learn that much of it was modelled on the real life of Michael Paterson. I have a hard time recommending the book as it is a grim character study. I do admire it as a well written piece of fiction, that’s why the 3 stars.
September 27, 2018
Read in fits and starts as I tried to get into it, travelling around Europe. Was glad I persevered in the end; it became absorbing despite the surf descriptions and the obliqueness of DK’s retelling of the story. There are so many strands to the narrative : the pathetic DK of the present describing how he tries to restart his surfing secretively at midnight; DK duelling with his would be biographer (BFO); DK recalling how his life as a famous surfer really was; DK trying to understand why his Lisa left him. A unique narrator, decidedly swayed in his perspective, with a tremendously naively unflattering view of Australia and its surf scene in the 1970s. The confusedly wooden voice elicits scorn, despair, sympathy ....
February 26, 2025
It took me a long time to get into this book, but eventually it gripped me hard. A challenging but clever narrative style. Repetitious. Long winded descriptions of waves and surfing that I didn't really understand, but helped me relate to the main character, to feel the obsession. I got there, but it was hard work. Mixed feelings. Do I think it's an excellent piece of writing? Yes. Would I recommend it? Maybe.
October 29, 2017
I loved this book. Having holidayed all my life in the locations where the book is set, I can relate to the changes the reader feels. The book is completely Australian from the description of the landscape, the frustrations of stardom, the language, and the connection that is felt to the ocean. Great read, with an interesting rhythm.
December 18, 2017
This is the story of a fifty-something former world surfing champion who is 18 stone and lives in a retirement village with his mother. It's engrossing. Although I struggled to get the language under control at first i was soon into the swing. it is a blokey kind of book but the three women characters are the strongest people in it. i am looking for more by Malcolm Knox.
May 12, 2022
A very good and enjoyable read once you get past the first 50 odd pages - before that it jumps around so much you can feel a little lost - but then it falls together and reminded me of the surfing culture of the 80's I used to read about etc
June 24, 2017
Wow! Powerful yet sometimes intentionally incoherent writing. Enough of a whiff of redemption to keep me liking it.
December 27, 2017
The voice in this is very distinct, and difficult for me to get into. Once I settled into it I enjoyed the story.
December 23, 2020
very clever author; takes a long while to warm up with this work of fiction
December 20, 2024
A must read for all Australians.
January 20, 2025
No interest in surfing. Loved the book. Go figure 🤔
March 16, 2013
Malcolm Knox’s fourth novel is at once a departure from his established style and an extension of his preoccupying themes. A former sportswriter, Knox explored the inner world of elite sportsmen (cricketers) in his second novel, A Private Man. Sport and competition were again central to his third, Jamaica, which featured a group of friends competing in an endurance swimming race. Central to these novels – and his debut, Summerland – are finely tuned explorations of class and masculinity in contemporary Australia, and of the disparity between inner and outer lives as secrets brew beneath smooth surfaces.
The Life – which follows the varying fortunes of former world champion surfer Dennis Keith – contains all these elements. Yet, it’s a very different reading experience from Knox’s previous novels. His protagonists are usually from the urbane, educated upper middle-classes; until now, this has been mirrored in polished, sophisticated prose. But unreliable narrator Keith (“The Great DK”) and his brother Rod grew up “the poorest kids on the whole Goldie”, in a ramshackle Queenslander on the edge of a graveyard. Keith, though intelligent, is famously inarticulate (his catchphrase is “Yeah ... but nah”). The result is spiky, roughly hewn prose, rich with surf slang and word play; often breaking into sets of sentences that read like a kind of poetry: “So you paddled/Your bucket hands/Your flipper feet/You paddled like a shark was after you.” Thus Knox expertly inhabits his character, who is idiosyncratic, deeply sensitive, equally aggressive, with a “poker machine head” that likes patterns and puzzles.
The Life is split into two parallel strands. The first is DK as a fifty-eight-year-old ruin living with his mother in a retirement village in his home town of Coolangatta – which has transformed from a country town to a surfing theme park, with himself as reluctant messiah. He’s being interviewed, in stages, by a young journalist he nicknames The BFO (“my Bi-Fricken-Ographer”). The second strand charts the eventful rise and fall of DK the legend. Somewhere in between is a doomed love story that ends in a girl’s brutal murder, the complex story of a bond between brothers (“Brothers, brotherly love, brothers at war”), a canny meditation on the double-edged sword of celebrity, and the slow revelation of the BFO’s hidden purpose. DK calls his life a “Jigsaw with too many missing pieces”. The reader’s task is to find those missing pieces and slot them into place. It’s not always easy, but it is deeply rewarding and utterly absorbing.
This review was first published by Bookseller and Publisher magazine.
The Life – which follows the varying fortunes of former world champion surfer Dennis Keith – contains all these elements. Yet, it’s a very different reading experience from Knox’s previous novels. His protagonists are usually from the urbane, educated upper middle-classes; until now, this has been mirrored in polished, sophisticated prose. But unreliable narrator Keith (“The Great DK”) and his brother Rod grew up “the poorest kids on the whole Goldie”, in a ramshackle Queenslander on the edge of a graveyard. Keith, though intelligent, is famously inarticulate (his catchphrase is “Yeah ... but nah”). The result is spiky, roughly hewn prose, rich with surf slang and word play; often breaking into sets of sentences that read like a kind of poetry: “So you paddled/Your bucket hands/Your flipper feet/You paddled like a shark was after you.” Thus Knox expertly inhabits his character, who is idiosyncratic, deeply sensitive, equally aggressive, with a “poker machine head” that likes patterns and puzzles.
The Life is split into two parallel strands. The first is DK as a fifty-eight-year-old ruin living with his mother in a retirement village in his home town of Coolangatta – which has transformed from a country town to a surfing theme park, with himself as reluctant messiah. He’s being interviewed, in stages, by a young journalist he nicknames The BFO (“my Bi-Fricken-Ographer”). The second strand charts the eventful rise and fall of DK the legend. Somewhere in between is a doomed love story that ends in a girl’s brutal murder, the complex story of a bond between brothers (“Brothers, brotherly love, brothers at war”), a canny meditation on the double-edged sword of celebrity, and the slow revelation of the BFO’s hidden purpose. DK calls his life a “Jigsaw with too many missing pieces”. The reader’s task is to find those missing pieces and slot them into place. It’s not always easy, but it is deeply rewarding and utterly absorbing.
This review was first published by Bookseller and Publisher magazine.
February 25, 2017
Very good - what a story. The main character is deeply flawed and in many ways unlikeable, but the story is totally compelling, very well written, and an amazing insight into the recent history of Australian surfing. Great read.
December 21, 2015
Having already read Tim Winton's Breath (a glorious, nostalgic wisp of a book that can only be summed up with the book's title as an adjective and play on words - breathy), I thought I'd already done an Australian Surfing Book, and being a girl, didn't feel I could learn a whole lot more.
Scott pushed this upon me, and I'm _so_ glad he did. This is just gorgeous. Malcolm Knox, I love you. I may even tell you that in fan mail.
The character, is The King - Dennis Keith (DK), world renowned surfer of the 60s and 70s. Together, like a crest and a trough of a wave coming together in wonderful harmony, DK retells the story of his rise to fame in the surfing world, while also narrating his current, humiliating life; a life past his prime, where he can no longer even get up on the board and balance.
There's so much more to this than being a surfing book, and if nothing else, read it for the stunning craft of Knox's writing. (And all the references to pine-lime splices). I'm not surprised that DK was based on a real surfer, but the entire story felt so naturally told and so genuine that I'm convinced DK himself and those around him are real.
Scott pushed this upon me, and I'm _so_ glad he did. This is just gorgeous. Malcolm Knox, I love you. I may even tell you that in fan mail.
The character, is The King - Dennis Keith (DK), world renowned surfer of the 60s and 70s. Together, like a crest and a trough of a wave coming together in wonderful harmony, DK retells the story of his rise to fame in the surfing world, while also narrating his current, humiliating life; a life past his prime, where he can no longer even get up on the board and balance.
There's so much more to this than being a surfing book, and if nothing else, read it for the stunning craft of Knox's writing. (And all the references to pine-lime splices). I'm not surprised that DK was based on a real surfer, but the entire story felt so naturally told and so genuine that I'm convinced DK himself and those around him are real.
April 2, 2012
Knox explores the world of surfing starting in the 60s. Its a world that I did know quite well in the 70s - captured pretty accurately in 'Puberty Blues'. This story explores the story of Dennis Keith, loosely modeled on the real story of MIchael Peterson who was a champion surfer who fell apart in the early 80s after some early success. Dennis lives with his adopted mother Mo. He is a shambles of a man and the text style replicates his scattered thoughts and mental state quite well. I think Knox wanted to explore the ugly side of surfing - the competitiveness, violence and drugs that get lost in the beauty of the sport. It also looks at what happened to the sport when it became commercialised. It prompted me to ask my own Dad why he started surfing - back in the early 60s. Part of the book doesn't really work for me but I enjoyed reading it and I think he's a good writer.
Vale Michael who died recently - see these clips of him that Ripcurl put together:
http://live.ripcurl.com/?aid=2085
Vale Michael who died recently - see these clips of him that Ripcurl put together:
http://live.ripcurl.com/?aid=2085
March 29, 2013
It takes a little while to get into the rhythm of the language with this one, but worth the perseverance. Knox knows the ocean like Tim Winton ('Breath') and surprises with his myriad of aesthetic experiences in and over the waves. There's an underlying humour and poetic touch in the writing that keeps the flow in this re-telling of the past life of DK, famous Gold Coast Surfer. DK is now a slob of a man in his fifties who lives with his mother in a nursing home, eating pine-lime splices (ice-creams) each day. He is so unlike his champion self of the past, what has gone on with this repelling man? 'Dk died yonks back' he says.
The story is told from DK's point of view prompted by the visit of the stranger who comes to town, the BFG (bi-fricken-ographer) from Surfer magazine. She digs out the back story and slowly, after many waves, you learn that DK's story revolves around his relationships - with the waves, with competition, with the girlfriend, with drugs and with the police - oh, and his mum. To make the most of the ride, best read in one sitting.
The story is told from DK's point of view prompted by the visit of the stranger who comes to town, the BFG (bi-fricken-ographer) from Surfer magazine. She digs out the back story and slowly, after many waves, you learn that DK's story revolves around his relationships - with the waves, with competition, with the girlfriend, with drugs and with the police - oh, and his mum. To make the most of the ride, best read in one sitting.
May 20, 2012
I can't surf, haven't learned to surf... yet. I did spend a week at surf school once at Maroochydore. I had no idea I was a kook, failing to ride my own hired version of "the thing". I was sucked into this book. Ate it up like DK on a wave. DK eating up life, life eating DK up. I still haven't figured out why I felt anything for this despicable human being. But I did. I so wanted him to be as brilliant as he was, more brilliant, brilliant for longer. I wanted him to kill the competition. The flaws don't matter when talent shines so bright.
It may not be the point of the story, but it made me reflect on the way these days we expect such high standards from those in high places. I can't help thinking that had DK lived in a later time the media would have crucified him, the second coming.
It may not be the point of the story, but it made me reflect on the way these days we expect such high standards from those in high places. I can't help thinking that had DK lived in a later time the media would have crucified him, the second coming.
October 31, 2013
Tim Winton's "Breath" is one of my favourite books, he captures perfectly the thrill of surfing. "The Life" is like "Breath's" crazy younger brother, on drugs. It took me a wee while to get used to the writing style, it basically feels like you are inside the head of DK and given the fact that his mind operates like a pinball machine, on drugs, then it's quite the ride. It is by no means for the faint hearted and was quite a departure from the books I have been reading lately but I enjoyed being taken into this mad, surf crazy world. It won't be everyone's cup of tea but I'm looking forward to reading more of Malcolm Knox.
December 22, 2014
I found this story simultaneously a page turner and a bore. I'd smash through a solid hours' reading and then plop it down, frustrated that it was going nowhere so slowly. I enjoyed the style of writing I think that weaving the past in with the present and linking the mystery between the two is what got me through it! Not going to lie, I didn't find the ending very satisfying, the cryptic 'interpret as you will' sort of 'left at the end of the book but not the end of the story' type ending isn't something I love.
Not a book I would read again, I wouldn't recommend it as a good story but I would use it as an example of great writing.
Not a book I would read again, I wouldn't recommend it as a good story but I would use it as an example of great writing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews