Customer Reviews

Rapids. Tim Parks

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Not only did I learn an enormous amount about kayaking in dangerous waters, but the character development was really interesting. The characters were beautifully drawn,unexpected, and weird. Most of all, I found this novel on par with a book like Krakhauer's 'Into thin air' where they climbed Mt. Everest. It is an A-plus thrill ride for people who prefer to read about dangerous adventure vacations rather than actually do them. Could not put it down!

Yet another top rate novel from Mr Parks - the Booker must not be far off now. Character development was superb and I think the ending was well handled. I am no kayaker but it didn`t matter.

If you're a kayaker, you're bound to love this novel: It has an ultra-authentic ring to itself, from the logistics of arranging a shuttle to the place where you exit to the smell of the wetsuits in the very cars that provide that service. You'll end up looking for the Aurino, the river depicted, thinking, *well, would be worth a try*.

It's one of the few novels where kayaking isn't primarily a metaphor for something else, but where you can almost *feel* the water... then again, in some ways it *is* a metaphor, of course, especially when one thinks of the somewhat contrived political rift between the rugged, stoutly anti-globalization activist guide and between his yuppy banker clients who end up acting more responsibly when it comes to the fate of those close and personal rather than remote and exotic.

The ending was disappointing for me, kind of loose, in a way, like a river taking you away, with a couple of different outcomes. Unfortunately, Parks takes leave of his rather grim realism towards the end, when a miraculous survival of resuscitative efforts raises no further eyebrows as she makes it without brain-damage, and that, somehow, invalidates the whole set-up. It was as if the author had been keen on finishing the book off, no matter how, and if the whole book essentially amounted to little but a sequence of well-described river runs - something that also makes sense when one thinks of the rather bland other characters featuring.

So - if you're a white-water enthusiast, you're going to read this book in a single session, and like it - just as I did. If not, it'll leave you annoyed, as it seems to be a good opportunity wasted, wasted by a fine writer. And that's a shame, really.

I kept waiting for a twist. Nope.
Read it if you're a fan of cloying Briticisms.