Impact Zone

By Ray Maloney

Book Overview

While trying to deal with his parents' marital fortunes and his own burgeoning sexuality, fourteen-year-old Jim runs off to Hawaii where he courts death by riding the Pipeline. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440940133
• ISBN13: 9780440940135
• Release Date: June 1987
• Publisher: Laurel Leaf Library
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Likely inspiration for surfing cult-classic movie "North Shore"

An overlooked gem of a surfing book, if only because, as far I can tell, it appears to be an unacknowledged inspiration (as in author Maloney may have gotten ripped off) for the surfing cult-classic movie "North Shore." Like the plot of that movie, The Impact Zone details a coming of age surfing adventure when a young, white kid from the mainland, with surfing stars in his eyes, ventures to Hawaii, and gets schooled in various ways. This is clearly "Young Adult" fiction of an earlier era, ripe with various forms of the "gee whiz-awkward/but heart-warming teenage blues", but, happy surprise, it was written by a true, honest-to-goodness surfer with an obvious reverence to the sport and authenticity in describing its typical trials and tribulations. California surfers, especially, may get a kick out of the references to Oxnard and Port Hueneme and the Pacific Coast Highway; and likewise the real life locations on Oahu's North Shore. The dustjacket on the hardcover gets points for its photo of Hawaiian charger Louis Ferreira cranking a hand-dragging, back-side bottom turn while being chased by a howling freight-train tunnel Pipeline barrel.

Killer story!

This is such a great story, right from the beginning. The first chapter really sucked me in and I couldn't stop reading chapter after chapter. The author has a very perceptive eye and the main character Jim is just so darned likeable! As a surfer myself this book was not cheesy in any way, very authentic. I imagined myself being there in southern California and in Hawaii, seeing everything vividly through Jim's eyes. And really, the lesson of the book is one that is painfully true. This book really captures the craziness and egotistical thinking of any adolescent and delivers a story that captivates the reader, whether you are a surfer or not. I definitely would recommend it!