Submarine: A Novel (Random House Movie Tie-In Books)
Language: English
Pages: 320
ISBN: 0812978390
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
At once a self-styled social scientist, a spy in the baffling adult world, and a budding, hormone-driven emotional explorer, Oliver Tate is stealthily nosing his way forward through the murky and uniquely perilous waters of adolescence. His objectives? Uncovering the secrets behind his parents’ teetering marriage, unraveling the mystery that is his alluring and equally quirky classmate Jordana Bevan, and understanding where he fits in among the mystifying beings in his orbit. Struggling to buoy his parents’ wedded bliss, deep-six his own virginity, and sound the depths of heartache, happiness, and the business of being human, what’s a lad to do? Poised precariously on the cusp of innocence and experience, Oliver Tate aims to damn the torpedoes and take the plunge.
Now a major motion picture
he’s an old friend,’ I say. ‘Right,’ she says. There is a popping sound as Mum breaks the seal on the chutney jar. ‘How can he afford to buy a place in Port Eynon anyway?’ Dad asks. Mum scoops out a forkful of the chunky, blood-red gloop and shakes it on to the edge of her plate. Dad picks his napkin off the floor. ‘Don’t tell me he’s actually got a job?’ Dad says. ‘Lloyd, the man has spent the best part of a decade setting up capoeira schools all over the States. He can afford a cottage in
‘Then he says: “You can see which colour I’ve chosen by the grape that remains,” which was, of course, black.’ ‘Ahh, I see. Brilliant,’ I say. ‘So now you know,’ he says, ‘next time you’re looking to marry a princess.’ We’ve been sitting for a while. I’ve drunk a glass of wine. Jordana is very relaxed with her parents. ‘God, do you remember how Jordana was conceived?’ ‘Come on now, Bryn, you’re embarrassing the poor boy. Oh, go on then.’ They gaze into each other’s eyes as they talk.
various sizes. There’s also a red and white VW camper van with its accordion roof raised. ‘My God, it’s like the sixties down yer, Jo.’ In the distance, surfers trail through the dunes, some with their wetsuits unzipped to the waist, waddling and stumbling in the wind. We slow for a cattle grid – it sounds like flatulence – then Jude pulls into the gravel and sand car park. A man kneels next to his board, scrubbing it with surf wax. A couple in a Morris Minor smoke with the windows closed.
with one hand as I toss the dictionary’s carapace out into the sky. It wheels like a shot bird as it drops into the garden. A carapace is a protective shell-like covering but, in good time, I will forget this. I pick up the red thesaurus and shot-put it. It fans above the horizon before plummeting on to the pavement. It lies paralysed, spine broken, in the gutter. Next, the encyclopaedia – heaviest of all three. I weigh it on my palm, wondering where to aim for. I grip on to the window above my
of my life. Every year, I will track her down using the internet and telescopes. It will be a healthy competitiveness. My GCSEs are more important than my first relationship. My first relationship, which will not matter when I’m forty-three. Jordana would just have distracted me from my revision. My GCSEs will decide how the rest of my life pans out. In job interviews, they will not ask me whether I am still on good terms with my ex-girlfriend. Jordana told me that her mother’s fine. She also