Native Moments - Softcover

Nic Schuck

4.05

59 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1944781188 ISBN 13: 9781944781187

Publisher: Waldorf Publishing, 2016

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In the tradition of other great ex-patriot stories like The Sun Also Rises or All the Pretty Horses, Native Moments is a coming-of-age adventure set among the lush landscape of Costa Rica.
After the death of his brother, Sanch Murray leaves for a surf trip as a way to cope and sets out on a quixotic search for an alternative to the American Dream.
Set in 1999 Costa Rica, Sanch and his friend Jake Higdon wander the dirt roads of Tamarindo and surrounding areas chasing waves as a way to live out the romantic fantasy lifestyle of traveling surfers. Jake Higdon, six years Sanch's senior, takes on the role of the wise leader and Sanch as his young apprentice. Sanch's adventure leads to encounters with people who share world views he had never considered and could potentially shape his own changing perceptions about life. Through sometimes humorous episodes such as trying his hand as a matador at a road side rodeo or in his not so humorous battle with dysentery, Sanch explores life's beauty and wonder alongside the darker undercurrents of humanity. Along his journey, Sanch befriends a shamanic traveler named Rob, young revolutionaries from Venezuela, numerous expatriates from around the world trying to escape whatever it is that keeps chasing them and a beautiful local girl named Andrea, who Sanch suspects is a prostitute but can't help falling for.

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About the Author:

Nic Schuck was born in Pensacola, Florida. He graduated with a MA in English from the University of West Florida and is an adjunct in the English department at Pensacola State College. Prior to earning his MA, Nic spent ten years as a public school teacher. In 2012, he started his own business, Emerald Coast Tours, a historic tour company in Pensacola, Florida where he lives with his daughter and continues to lead tours.

Review:

"Like the Walt Whitman lines from which Nic Schuck takes the title for his debut novel, Native Moments explores 'life coarse and rank' with its 'libidinous joys' and passions. With a keen ear for dialogue and a poet's eye for the resonate detail, Nic Schuck creates a world his readers will be eager to enter and reluctant to leave." - Jonathan Fink, author of The Crossing

"I loved this book. You can almost hear the surf booming and smell the salt air as you read this story, and the surf is always there, waiting, and that's a very good thing indeed. Native Moments is an outstanding debut novel and it's most highly recommended." - Jack Magnus, Readers' Favorite

"Schuck does a good job of showing the multilayered cake that is Costa Rica, complete with surfing paradise, dangerous fauna, unlimited vice, all of which is coated in a sweet, ironic icing of Pura Vida. This is a great book to toss in your board bag on your next surf trip." - Drew Sievers, TheWatermansLibrary.com

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