Barbarian Days
A Surfing Life
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Barbarian Days
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Narrated by:
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William Finnegan
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By:
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William Finnegan
About this listen
Pulitzer Prize, Biography, 2016
A deeply rendered self-portrait of a lifelong surfer by the acclaimed New Yorker writer.
Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life.
Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan started surfing as a child. He has chased waves all over the world, wandering for years through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa. A bookish boy and then an excessively adventurous young man, he went on to become a distinguished writer and war reporter.
Barbarian Days takes us deep into unfamiliar worlds, some of them right under our noses - off the coasts of New York and San Francisco. It immerses the listener in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships annealed in challenging waves. Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu even while his closest friend was a Hawaiian surfer. He shows us a world turned upside down for kids and adults alike by the social upheavals of the 1960s. He details the intricacies of famous waves and his own apprenticeships to them. Youthful folly - he drops LSD while riding huge Honolua Bay on Maui - is served up with rueful humor. He and a buddy, their knapsacks crammed with reef charts, bushwhack through Polynesia. They discover, while camping on an uninhabited island in Fiji, one of the world's greatest waves.
As Finnegan's travels take him ever farther afield, he becomes an improbable anthropologist: unpicking the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissecting the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, navigating the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Throughout, he surfs, carrying listeners with him on rides of harrowing, unprecedented lucidity.
©2015 William Finnegan (P)2015 Audible, Inc.What listeners say about Barbarian Days
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sam Bazalo
- 20-03-2020
Awesome, even for a non froth lord (surfer)
There’s so many interesting parts to this book that are larger than surfing. It’s a great insight into a adventurous lifestyle that makes you want to travel off the beaten track and go hard at life.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Lucy Race
- 27-03-2021
Incredible
I have never read, or heard, anyone talk about surfing and capture its essence like this does. The excitement, fear, struggle, and the wonder of the ocean are amazing. Then intertwining that with a very human tale was really something.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Angus
- 02-11-2021
A great journey
As a fellow surfer I loved every bit. Thank you for sharing your story William 🤙
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 19-05-2022
Brilliant
Life well lived. Desire, passion, performance. Consumed by surfing, but able to fit a successful family and career in. Well played.
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- David Brewster
- 25-02-2023
Even if you don’t surf but are fascinated by it, read this book!
A nicely written memoir full of crazy adventures. I don’t surf, but I love the surf and the idea of surf culture. This book paints a vivid picture of both.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Shalleycat
- 22-02-2021
Surfing Rocks; Barbarian Days Rules
Whether a surfer or from a surfer family, this book is a charming, meditative tale of the life obsession that is surfing. Finnegan writes with such truth and modesty that it's impossible not to be drawn into his story, and the search for the ultimate wave. A compelling, fascinating tale.
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- Luke
- 21-03-2017
Absolute gem, unforgettable
William Finnegan is now, without a doubt, one of my heroes. The detail he uses to describe every wave and every session is incredible. The highlight for me was the perfect description of one of the first breaks I ever surfed. Hands down best book I've read in a long time.
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- Chritopher murran
- 12-10-2022
awesome surf adventures
love ready this story, had me interested from the first page, what a life searching for good waves , thanks for sharing
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- Anonymous User
- 08-07-2024
An authentic description of the surf and travel.
I don't think you need to be a surfer or a traveller to love this book. but as both, it touches on deep feelings and nostalgia. I enjoyed every page.
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- Ex Structured Financier
- 15-05-2021
Book is wonderful but audio book is next level
I read Barbarian Days when it came out and loved it. I have been to many of the places William travels but his experience is so raw and new (whereas now it is crowded and kitsch).
I just listened to the audio book and it gave me even more. It is more intimate and the author brings to your attention the important points and which I had sometimes missed as a reader. For example, a powerful observation was the comment made to him by some South Pacific islander about "Palagi" always "looking looking" - that is you Americans are always restlessly looking for something but never seem to find it.
William also has a rolling, flowing cadence which I found matches the waves, endless travelling and changing relationships.
Highly recommended.
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