Barbarian Days
Reviewed Jun 16, 2022 on The Litt Review.
Note: I am uncomfortable releasing such a small, poor, non-literary review. I feel like this book deserves more. But these are the thoughts I wrote down, and they’re true, and that’s sometimes enough.
This book was utterly superb. I did not expect to love it as much as I did. Pollaidh lent it to me years ago, before COVID, even. I didn’t take advantage of it as I wish I had - I found it ponderous and slow. But now, post-pandemic, I found it a welcome book to dive into. Finnegan’s prose is quick, immaculate, and engaging. His breadth of vocabulary, his descriptions of the wave, and his dedication towards surfing were fascinating to read. I wanted to surf. I felt like I was reading about birding. I understood the drive and the obsession, immediately.
More than that - he drew me in. I almost cried reading about his journeys as a young man, his vagrancy, his vagabonding across the world in those beautiful places. I felt a kinship with him, and a desire to go, too, something I’ve always wanted for myself. I remember my own times hitching around Europe, my times on Maya, all of it. It was rosy as all hell. I loved it. I yearned for his youth, because it reminded me of mine, because I wasn’t ready to be here, either.
I was never bored. Only intensely interested. Like Abbey, I felt that I was seeing a glimpse of a world now gone. I’m curious where the waves are that people are surfing, alone. I’m curious about whether this is all tinted glasses or not. Youth is beautiful, wherever it is.
What a book. So many words. I want to read it again. I don’t want to give it away. Beautiful. Just beautiful. I realized I am not a surfer. But I want to be.
Do you want to get book reviews and notes from books I read in your inbox? Sign up! I'll include a summary, my favorite quotes from the book, and any vocabulary I found interesting or didn't know already.