Review
WL Rating
When it comes to books that capture the surfing spirit of California in the 60‘s there’s no shortage of material. Biographies on folks like Greg Noll, Mike Doyle, Kathy Kohner (aka Gidget), and Dora all paint the picture of a warm, idyllic paradise surfed by a handful of dedicated surfers (at least up until Gidget). But when it comes to Northern California surfing during that time, the book choices get pretty thin. Enter Thomas Hickenbottom’s new novel Local Tribes. Part American Graffiti and part Tapping the Source, Local Tribes is Hickenbottom’s fictional homage to the early days of Santa Cruz surfing. The book tells the story of Marco, a local surfing talent struggling with the death of his father and the subsequent abandonment of his mother. A confused young man, Marco finds solace in his tribe of friends and the surf they share at the Cove. Hickenbottom does a good job of capturing 1960‘s Santa Cruz as the Vietnam War plucks young men in their prime and Catholic morality lays heavy burdens on the local fishermen and their families. While there is much to like about this book, my biggest criticism of Local Tribes is that it tries to do too much. Marco’s story is a good one and only requires a simple, pure narrative to get the point across. Sadly, I frequently found myself getting bogged down in (and eventually just skipping through) the extraneous details provided as background or context by Hickenbottom. While I don’t think that this book will resonate with young Orange County surfers, I do believe it will receive a warm welcome from longstanding Northern California surfers who pine silently for the days of uncrowded, perfect surf at the Lane. (August 2010)
Local Tribes - Thomas Hickenbottom
