this is Trash Prose, Maybe Im just not used to the style but I couldnt get passed the authors incessant narcissism, It serves as a cautionary tell for those who try way too hard to be cool, And sad that all the intrigue of the North Shore and its localism and customs and
crews/paks take a back seat per usual to the foreigner who writes about it.
Not all bad though. The part I enjoyed most was a thrilling account of John John and Kolohe in the Pipe Masters, Especially now that weve seen their careers unfold, The first few chapters I was like what the hell does this have to do with surfing Then it kicked in real hard, and by the time it was about the ocean the battlefield undertone analogies all made sense.
This is a riveting read an introspect few would kill for and most would die for, Chas Smith goes behind enemy lines to deliver an account of the gripping realities of dreams shattered into reefs and Hawaiian fists alike, This should be a mandatory read for any surfer deemed "core", . . I read this book in December, Its author is collecting buzz in Summer, so I thought it was worth sharing my review exactly as it ran in DecemberI received an ARC courtesy of the publisher via the Amazon Vine program.
My thoughts remain as I stated them that year, Aloha.
A SelfFulfilling Prophesy
In at least one interview published before the release of this book, surf lifestyle reporter Chas Smith said he fully expected to be "slapped" by the individuals and companies he called out.
Sure enough, the winter swells and the international surfing community have begun converging on Oahu's North Shore, so it is likely Smith's book will soon be a topic of conversation, if it isn't already.
On its face and this may be as far as some may have the stomach to go Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell is about making waves and roiling up people's emotions.
There is a lot of snark seemingly solely for snark's sake, Smith intersperses throwaway disparagements and characterizations of people he admittedly doesn't know with selfimportant descriptions of his attire, his coolness, and his thirst for everything from alcohol to excitement.
Those who are familiar with Smith's body of work likely won't be surprised at the tenor, tone, and content of this book, They'll welcome it, and he'll be able to point to evidence that the "us vs, them" insular mentality of Hawaii is real, Which is a totally unnecessary shame, and in his heart, I suspect Smith knows this,
Despite his façade and persona, Smith lets glimpses of an adult understanding of Hawaii's challenges peek through, One passage about respect rings especially true, However, I'm not sure how intentional that was, Was he doing some subtle advance atonement or in his heart did he want to write two very different books I wonder whether anyone who runs into him at Foodland Pupukea this winter will engage him in this conversation.
I'm there every so often, and might give it a try,
Smith talks about wanting surfers to "embrace the cinema of their lives" and being frustrated because they choose cliché instead, "Cliché is easy," he writes, "Cliché is something parents and grandparents like, but who wants to live that way Certainly not me, "
Exactly, Mr. Smith. I imagine that Hawaii's surfers and other athletes over the years have felt the same: Duke Kahanamoku, Soichi Sakamoto and the Maui kids who trained for illfated Olympics ofandby swimming in sugarcane irrigation systems, Rell Sunn. Bryan Clay. You owed my home, my neighbors, and these many good souls better, and I expect you know that,
Readers, if you are not from Hawaii, I cannot recommend this book to you, Instead, look for books about any of the aforementioned athletes, If you are keiki o ka aina, however, you should take a look at "Welcome to Paradise" to see what Smith is perpetuating, Narcissism to the nth degree
I had a hard time getting into this book or even caring about it, An autobiography with author Chas Smith telling the tale, we get to hear more about what Smith is wearing, his hairstyles, his selflabeled "coolness" than we do about anything of interest on the North Shore.
When I reading a surfing book, I don't want to read about reeking, rundownattheheels Vans shoes repeated times,
Disjointed narrative and an unlikable protagonist made this tale a real chore to get through, There were glimmers of humor and some interesting passages about the North Shore, which is why I gave this two rather than one,
NOTE: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion, Surfing isn't all yoga and lattes this book takes a look into the underworld, what lies below the surface of our beloved lifestyle, Its refreshing and a reminder surfers are people with their own issues, you can be in the most beautiful place on earth and there are still undercurrents, I liked the way Chas writes, snappy and to the point, The themes in this book probably hold true for many sports, I found this book to be vapid and totally selfserving, Sure, there are a few interesting anecdotes about the surf industry and the inhabitants of the North Shore, but mostly this book is about CHAS SMITH, who, frankly, is not even remotely interesting.
I lost count of how many times he mentioned his "pink button down", skinny jeans and red Vans, Also, he would like the reader to know that he is cool enough to throw loose shakas, that he once dislocated his armortimes in one night of passion with "his lady" hurk and you will be reminded repeatedly that he has an "addiction to destruction".
Smith writes with almost laughable admiration about the local thugs who dish out slaps and chokes to those who violate their code of ethics, while trashtalking the actual surfers who just don't care about "fashion" as much as Smith himself does.
It's a shame he can't see past his own reflection with the access he had to the North Shore during peak surf season, he could have written a really fantastic book.
This isn't it. In a site note this book is about surfing, This would have been okay, if it truly had been about the violence at North Shore, Sadly, it's basically about how cool the author is looking even in the worst situations, It's about fashion and a big ego,
If you want to learn about narcissism this book is perfect, since it's definitely written by a narcissistic person, It's also very poorly written in a mediocre journalistic style,
Chas Smith missed the big wave of style and literature, To be honest, I hateread the first third of this book because of the staccato style of the prose like the author wants to be Hemingway but never read fucking him and the repeated references to his shoes, shirt, and jeans as well as overuse of the word 'cinematic', but fuck, once he gets to the North Shore and starts describing the geography and the people and the surfing, the rest of the book just barrels you.
Chas Smith is a real piece of work, He is very full of himself, He thinks that his style is the only style that anyone should wear, He is truly the hippest man on the planet in his own mind, anyway, You will probably be really annoyed with him, You might even hate him, but he wrote a good book,
This book is supposed to be about surfing, but really most of the time Chas Smith is talking about Chas Smith, He really likes himself. This can get under your skin, because you won't like him nearly as much as Chas Smith likes himself,
Once you get past screaming at Chas for the stupid stuff he is saying and settle down and get your blood pressure under control, this took me about a third of the book you get to learn some very eye opening things about what goes on during the Winter on Oahu's North Shore.
This is when the biggest, scariest, most sought after, waves are pounding the shores of Hawaii, This is when the biggest surf contest of the year takes place, The Van's Triple Crown of Surfing, The biggest event takes place at the Banzai Pipeline, The heart of this book happens during theBillabong Pipe Masters, Chas Smith talks to the two scariest men on the North Shore, He writes stuff that they may not want to have released out into the wild, I wonder what will happen to Chas Smith once this book is published, I am following him on Twitter chasdoesntsurf to see what he posts after November,
I give this bookStars out of, If you are going to Hawaii this December to watch the Pipe Masters surfing contest at Pipeline, you need to get this book, It will give you some good inside information, and some safety tips,
I received this Digital Copy for free from edelweiss, com.
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