Cassie McCullough

It was about different layers of it and how we might

understand our memory of a place.

So I enjoyed that.

And because I read it in only a couple of chunks, I was able to keep track of all of the different characters.

So in some ways, it feels to me like this would be quite a good summer beach time read, but I don't think you'd want to stretch it out for too long.

Otherwise, you'd lose track of who Sam was and

who the fiery was and, you know, who these other characters are who are walking in and out.

But because I read it in quite a concentrated way, I really enjoyed that sort of salt on cracked lips sense of being there at Bluebird Beach.

Malcolm Knox's Bluebird is published by Allen and Unwin, and you can listen to an interview with Malcolm Knox by Claire Nichols on the next edition of the book show here on ABC Radio National.

Now, as a kid, he was living in a town on the West Australian coast where there wasn't much to do except perhaps be enthralled to the water and the desire to be something other than ordinary.

And then, when he was a kid, they called him Pikelet.

So Stuart and Johan, I know you've both read this book a number of times and I wonder if we could go straight to the most striking thing about it.

So Johan, when you think about this book and what it means to you, what do you remember?

Now, my guess, Johan, is that this is the same moment that we all will have remembered.

So I wonder if before you read it, I can ask Stuart what his most intense memory of this book is.

something pointless and elegant.

Is this the same passage, Johan, that you were going to read?

So how about you give us your extract, Johan?

And Stuart, does Tim Winton get it right when he describes the act of surfing?

So if we turn back to those characters, though, you've got this kid, Pikelet, and his friend, Looney.