In Waves - AJ Dungo

 

I wonder what it says about me that in a book about people and their challenges in life - the author and his grief, his girlfriend Kristen's battle with an ultimately fatal condition, Duke Kahanamoku and Tom Blake's roles in the popularisation of surfing - that I was most drawn to the absence of them in Dungo's wonderfully powerful seascapes.  The ocean has always been a popular and useful metaphor in art, and its massive expanse emphasising the individual's loneliness and helplessness, coupled with the deep dark unknown under the surface, works perfectly here to mirror the tragic tale.  The use of simple colour - some chapters are all green tones, some all browns - lends a dreamlike quality to the art, which nicely complements the themes of memory and the past that are prevalent in the book.  It is of no surprise that it is published by Nobrow, veering as close to a house style for the publisher as you are probably going to find. 

Its a testament to Dungo's writing that when we do get to Kristen's death it hits you with a emotional hammer blow - even though we know from the start of the story that its coming.  The grief we feel though is for Dungo; we never really get to know Kristen, never really develop an attachment with her throughout the book.  What we do see of her is through Dungo's eyes, via flashback and later when she is too ill to communicate.  The grief we feel is for Dungo, its his pain the book deals with, and the book is his attempt to deal with it and come to terms with the tragedy.  But there is an uncomfortable air to the whole endeavor, that we are held at arms distance from the person at the center of the story.  In being unable to connect with her are we not just voyeurs into her intensely private tragedy?  Are we participants in Dungo's grief therapy, where his feelings are prioritised over hers?  These are not easy questions to answer, and In Waves only skirts with these issues seemingly unwilling - or afraid - to tackle them decisively. 

But here's where In Waves takes a bit of a left turn, for its not only the story of Kristen and Dungo, its also a history of surfing.  This isn't as tangential as it sounds, surfing was Kristen's love and through her it becomes Dungo's as well.  These parts of the book focus on the two most important individuals in the developments of surfing from a Hawaiian cultural practice to global phenomenon; Duke Kahanamoku and Tom Blake.  Its a clever trick from Dungo to focus on their personal stories, rather than a dry history of surfing, as these blend in the with the style of the rest of the book.  However, even having re-read the book I'm still not sure whether this second story running through is a boon or a curse.  You are left with the impression that Dungo feels there is a greater connection between the two threads then there is.  Whilst now and again we get some nice mirroring or juxtapositions, it does at time feel completely out of place to be thrown from the main emotional narrative to non-fiction focusing on completely different and unconnected individuals. 

In Waves is an excellent and ambitious book, that perhaps fails to find its peaks as well as it could, but for its artistic beauty and emotional heft it deserves your time.  M.

In Waves 

AJ Dungo 

Nobrow Press