Reviewed by Long Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com
IN THE BREAK is a story of friendship, loyalty, romance, tragedy, and the forever search of that perfect wave. In commanding style, Jack Lopez takes readers through the highs and lows of the characters, their feelings and emotions, and in the end leaves us with an unforgettable tale.
After Juan's best friend, Jamie, has a hostile fight with his stepfather, everything seems grim. In a flash of emergence, Juan, Jamie, and Jamie's sister, Amber, flee town on their own for Mexico, to let Jamie lay low for a while until things at home calm down. And while they're at it, they might as well surf as much as possible. Their days of fun surfing and nights of romance lead them to believe everything will turn out okay. But things don't seem to slow down, the ocean isn't calm, and eventually the tide catches up to Juan -- and it's from there that he must decide how to handle things.
Jack Lopez's lyrical and flowing writing style takes the reader away from their surroundings and allows them to be washed away with the current. Lopez's killer command of description and handle of language allows him to communicate truly believable voices and create a narrator with a scope of view not often observed in contemporary literature today. With hands-on description of real big wave surf and the southern California surfing scene, readers will get lost in the words and find themselves plummeting through every drop of loss and heartache, and escaping into an unbelievably well-told story.
Cheers to J.L.
IN THE BREAK is a story of friendship, loyalty, romance, tragedy, and the forever search of that perfect wave. In commanding style, Jack Lopez takes readers through the highs and lows of the characters, their feelings and emotions, and in the end leaves us with an unforgettable tale.
After Juan's best friend, Jamie, has a hostile fight with his stepfather, everything seems grim. In a flash of emergence, Juan, Jamie, and Jamie's sister, Amber, flee town on their own for Mexico, to let Jamie lay low for a while until things at home calm down. And while they're at it, they might as well surf as much as possible. Their days of fun surfing and nights of romance lead them to believe everything will turn out okay. But things don't seem to slow down, the ocean isn't calm, and eventually the tide catches up to Juan -- and it's from there that he must decide how to handle things.
Jack Lopez's lyrical and flowing writing style takes the reader away from their surroundings and allows them to be washed away with the current. Lopez's killer command of description and handle of language allows him to communicate truly believable voices and create a narrator with a scope of view not often observed in contemporary literature today. With hands-on description of real big wave surf and the southern California surfing scene, readers will get lost in the words and find themselves plummeting through every drop of loss and heartache, and escaping into an unbelievably well-told story.
Cheers to J.L.
