IN THE BREAK by Jack Lopez
Category: Contemporary
Age Recommendation: Grades 9+
Release Date: 7/12/06
Publisher: Little, Brown
Reviewed by: Long Nguyen
Rating: 5 Stars
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.
Category: Contemporary
Age Recommendation: Grades 9+
Release Date: 7/12/06
Publisher: Little, Brown
Reviewed by: Long Nguyen
Rating: 5 Stars
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
by Jack Lopez
by Jack Lopez
