Rockaway: Surfing Headlong into a New Life

Vibe magazine founder and former New York Times reporter Cardwell recounts how she moved to Rockaway Beach, N.Y., after a divorce to pursue her passion for surfing in this detailed story of reinvention. The book spans from 2010 to 2017 and opens as Cardwell—raw after her divorce and feeling she had failed at creating a family—travels to Montauk and watches surfers for the first time. After taking a few lessons, she was hooked. She discusses learning surfing terms like the “turtle roll” (“a way of paddling through breaking waves to get to the outside on a longboard”) and various surfing maneuvers, and she talks about strengthening her body and growing her confidence. “Life really does go on,” she writes. The book’s most engaging sections concern her move to Rockaway Beach, where she bought a house not long before Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012; here, she offers a rich account of living through the disaster and rebuilding in its aftermath. By the end, she has a crew of surfing friends, a new man, and a zest for life. Readers don’t have to surf to be taken away by Cardwell’s story, but it definitely wouldn’t hurt. [em](July) [/em]