The Big Wave : A Damn Good Book

Cover of The Big Wave

The Big Wave is a fictional book by Pearl S. Buck, an American novelist. Before we dive into the story, a bit about the author. Ms. Buck was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938. She was also awarded the Pulitzer prize in 1932 for her book The Good Earth. I’ll quickly explain the setup and the main conflict of the novel. It is about a boy named Kino, who lives on an island in Japan, which is between a volcano and the ocean. His parents are farmers, and they own land on a hill. Kino has no worries in life, as he wakes up to a beautiful view of the ocean, and goes to play for most of the day.  He loves to run on the beach and swim near the ocean. One day he meets a boy named Jiya. Jiya’s father is a fisherman, and he says that the ocean is an enemy. Kino is flabbergasted by this, as he finds the ocean beautiful, and odd that of all people saying the ocean is their enemy, it is a fisherman. Kino and Jiya become friends, and spend most of their time together. One day, they swim to an island filled with sacred deer. They play with the deer and collect pebbles. Soon, they swim back to the shore as the sun sets. Jiya’s dad was extremely worried, as this was the latest Jiya has ever come back home. The next day, the ocean is much more violent than usual. The same day, the volcano on the other side of the island produces plumes of smoke. Seeing this, Kino gets scared, and asks his dad if they are going to die. His father says, “Fear alone makes man weak. If you are afraid, your hands tremble, your feet falter, and your brain cannot tell your hands and feet what to do.”  As Jiya lives all the way down the hill, near the shore, not able to come to play, Kino gets very bored. As the storm worsens, Kino’s and Jiya’s friendship will be tested, and you can find the outcome by reading the book yourself.

The inspiration for this book was that the author, Pearl S. Buck lived in Japan during her life. She lived on a hillside above the ocean, just like Kino. When she was writing this book, she wanted to illuminate the culture of Japan. She felt the best way to do this along with her writing was by including Japanese art. I totally agree with her choice, because every 5 to 10 pages, there is a beautiful piece of art which correlates with the plot. It was refreshing to take a break from all the words and just admire the creativity of the paintings by the great Japanese artists Hiroshige and Hokusai.

Seashore at Hoda - Hiroshige

    It wasn’t just the art that stuck with me, but also one of the major themes of the book that really startled me and challenged my thinking. Like the storm in the book, places like Japan and California and Indonesia always seem to have natural disasters, but population and tourism are still at an all-time high in these regions. It has always mystified me why people still choose to live and visit these regions. This book gives us a glimpse into why some disaster prone areas are inhabited, saying “‘To live in the midst of danger is to know how good life is’. … ‘To live in the presence of death makes us brave and strong. That is why our people never fear death’. … ‘To die a little later or a little sooner does not matter. But to live bravely, to love life, to see how beautiful the trees are and the mountains, yes, even the sea, to enjoy work because it produces food for life - in these things we Japanese are a fortunate people.’” When I consider these statements, it makes me realize that everyone who is living accepts some risks. An example is when you get in a car or go on a plane, there is always a chance that something might go wrong, but we live with it, as we think the pros outweigh the cons.

I personally enjoyed this book much more than I expected. My aunt gave it to me over winter break, telling me that this was a book that she read in her school days. It seems like a little children’s book at first, and by no means am I saying that this is a tough read. But the experience itself was otherworldly. I would totally recommend this book to anyone, as it is a fun and enjoyable read. And on that bombshell, it's time to end. Goodbye.

- Sri