Reviews of ZEN on Honolulu Star Advertiser

Eastern Surfing Magazine, Volume 19, Issue 142


By Nathaniel Riverhorse Nakadate
Review of Zen and the Art of Surfing:


‘If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion.’
-Lin Chi

No matter what any writer may claim, even with supposed and declared works of fiction, somehow, somewhere, the words come from their experiences and thoughts. No, they may not be easily disguised or even overtly factual, but origins are nothing short of planted cerebral seeds.

With Zen and the Art of Surfing, author Greg Gutierrez offers us many of the pieces he's published in a myriad of surfing magazines over the years as a collection of short stories. While most of the work is non-fiction, it's clear where the muse comes from - his time near the water, in the water, approaching adulthood, and wrestling with what happens once he lands there.

Zen and the Art of Surfing takes the reader on quite a trip, with no basic rhyme or reason to the ride. But there are a few commonly recurring themes: localism is often explored, and typically involves testosterone-laden posturing, physical confrontations, the unavoidable culminating choices, and finally, the mental ruminations stemming from the battles. Meanwhile, the characters strive for some semblance of victory, achievement, or just a few waves of their own.

Another repeating theme is coming of age, which is well served by Greg's sense of gentle poetic voice. He often fuses Eastern wisdom with mundane calamity of our modern Western existence - Southern California as a backdrop reeks of this - to set up conflicts that must be dealt with. Hawaii is no stringer either, and in the end, this is all grist for the mill. Speaking of poetry, I was repeatedly caught off-guard by the depth with which Gutierrez writes. He seems to seamlessly toe the line between simple musings and much heavier content, often opting for the latter when he needs to.

The final two pieces are the absolute gems of Zen and the Art of Surfing, and the first that Gutierrez admits are non-fiction. In one, he travels to New York City after September 11th to try and help those in need, and meets remarkable people in the throes of shock and tumult. In the last piece, Gutierrez poignantly unravels his emotions and inevitable fallout from having a beloved brother named Earl who is mysteriously lost at sea, his boat found empty. No need to spoil it, but if you can even remotely imagine the pain and wonder of those left behind, you have the setting.

ESM recently caught up with Greg who had a few things to say: ‘Aloha, just finishing up a surf trip on Kauai, the surf pumped all week. The collection was written over the course of 18 years. It's been a great stepping stone to my first novel, Mammoth Mountain. The Ground Zero story is my favorite in the collection. I knew when I went there my life would never be the same. I don't mean that in a dramatic way, it's just that sometimes one must follow one's heart. I also felt like I had to tell at least one person's story. That person was Steve Beslon, a lifelong surfer.’

Gutierrez teaches English at Chula Vista High School in California, and is also an accomplished artist whose paintings have utilized in periodicals alongside his written work. Zen and the Art of Surfing contains works that inherently demand that readers step up to the plate intellectually and emotionally, and give us all something to run with on our own journey. After all, the more we figure out ourselves, the better chance we have to choose a valid line on the waves before us.


Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.