Review of Under the Wave at Waimea by Paul Theroux

Regardless whether you loved him or hated him, there is no doubt after finishing Paul Theroux’s The Mosquito Coast that the main character Allie Fox has burned a place in the reader’s memory. Brought to life on the page, his inflammatory character, his petty emotions, his raw intelligence, his dauntless can-do attitude, his sheer humanity are so utterly convincing that he becomes real in the reader’s mind. While I doubt Theroux was attempting to scale that precise mountain again, he nevertheless has succeeded in creating another memorable character portrait in 2021’s Under the Wave at Waimea.

Readers are introduced to ageing surf star Joe Sharkey on a typical day-in-the-life-of. Aged 62, he no longer competes in big surfing events but still looks forward to hitting the waves on the Hawaiian coastline every time the surf’s up. Mango salad for a late breakfast, a day under the sun and in the water, sunset on the beach, and a beer for a nightcap—it’s a good life. But this does not prevent the world from weighing on him. Getting a little tipsy with his girlfriend one evening at a restaurant, the drive home proves to have a surprise. While the impact is not immediately apparent, slowly but surely it whittles away at his psyche. Laid bare is when the real story takes off.

The title metaphorical, Under the Wave at Waimea is the character study of Joe Sharkey. Everything on the surface seems sunshine and waves, while beneath is a swirl of issues. As with any good psychological analysis, things start in Sharkey’s childhood—the expectations of his Colonel father, his relationships at school, and his mother’s treatment of him, all playing their part to define the man he becomes. Theroux’s style highly effective, he relates these events and relationships in sharp, defined verbiage. Allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions, rarely are they told why-this or why-that, and slowly the tapestry of Sharkey’ life “under” surfing takes picture.

As with anything involving surfing, Under the Wave at Waimea risks descending into stereotype. Cowabunga, surf’s up, hey dude!—Theroux had to be careful how far into pop culture he took the story if he wanted the reader to buy into its realism. Theroux does include relevant jargon, but does not overwhelm or inject it at obvious moments. It’s sparsely scattered throughout the narrative, effectively. Instead, the perpetual approach vector seems to be Sharkey’s life—what makes him human, rather than a cultural icon or suave, blonde-haired Adonis on a board.

I opened the review with a comparison of Waimea to The Mosquito Coast, and while at the character level I believe there are a number of similarities, there is also a key difference: Waimea is purely a personal story. Where Mosquito Coast can be twisted and commandeered to form political or economic commentary, Waimea is about one man, Joe Sharkey, and what pleasure, pain, and transformation through pleasure and pain, mean to him.

It’s possible to be mildly critical of Waimea in a couple of places. First is the occasionally contrived scene. I understand that technically all scenes in a story are contrived, but there are a couple in this novel that nevertheless feel a little forced, as though they’d been included for the dramatic effect rather than being an organic waypoint in Sharkey’s tale. But again, there are only a couple, and can be easily forgiven. I suspect most readers will not notice. Where I’m a little bit more critical is the climax-conclusion. While certainly not of Hallmark-quality, it nevertheless feels just a touch too easy, and if not easy, at least swinging the pendulum of story a bit too far in the other direction. To be clear, Sharkey’s existential pain comes across as real, and to a large degree so too does his absolution of it. Undoubtedly real-world “interventions” of that size do occur, and go on to have a major effect. I’m just not sure they are always so… definitive. I don’t know how I would have ended Sharkey’s story, but it feels as though it could have been more a bit more subtle—and it’s already subtle. While I see the story having a chance at the silver screen, it wouldn’t be a normal Hollywood production if it wanted to be true to its source material. It would be more an indie film…

In the end, Under the Wave at Waimea does what it sets out to do: create a realistic, engaging story of a man living what is typically thought to be a glamorous life, but which proves to be not so glamorous underneath it all. Sharkey’s successes are loud and known to the outside, all the while his inside remains quiet and empty. He is happy and satisfied with certain aspects of life—and indeed makes some of us jealous for it, but is deeply troubled and suffering in other aspects without his knowledge. A very different character than Allie Fox, Sharkey is nevertheless rendered in strokes that bring him fully to life on the page and in the imagination. I dare you to read the book and not go to Youtube to look up surfing videos.