“Majestic . . . charged with physical danger, physical courage, and Winton's brand of rugged introspection.” —The New York Review of Books

“Plunge into this novel and you, too, will be pulled under.” —The Miami Herald

“Stunning in the depth of its audacity...Limitlessly beautiful prose.” —The Washington Post Book World

“Darkly exhilarating...A tautly gorgeous meditation on the inescapable human addiction to 'the monotony of drawing breath,' whether you want to or not.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Both a hymn to the beauty of flying on water and a sober assessment of the costs of losing one's balance, in every sense of the word.” —The New Yorker

“A tender, incisive, sometimes brutal, and always moving coming-of-age novel...The prose is always astonishing, the descriptions of sea and weather especially vivid....The book seems as simple, and as vital, as the act of breathing itself.” —The Seattle Times

“Breath is a coming-of-age novel written with Tim Winton's customary tenderness and vivid sense of place and psychological truth. He manages to portray brilliantly made characters against a mythic landscape, thus creating a narrative that is gripping and breath-taking both in its vast scope and in its use of emotional detail. This is his most forceful and perfect novel to date.” —Colm Toibin, author of The Master

“The book's main characters jump off the page....And, as in previous Winton novels, the prose is always astonishing, the descriptions of sea and weather especially vivid....In the end, the book seems as simple, and as vital, as the act of breathing itself.” —Adam Woog, The Seattle Times