Soul+Surfer-+Emma+Gibson

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The story “Soul Surfer” is a true story, it is set in Hawaii, and the main character, Bethany, surfed all around there. Kauai is the beach where the tragic disaster happened, Bethany and her best friend Alana travelled all around Hawaii, checking out beaches that they could stand to surf. Bethany Lives about 400 meters from the beach, she and her family have surfing in their veins. =====

==== The main character in the book story Soul surfer is Bethany Hamilton; a teenage surfer girl who summons the courage to go back into the ocean after losing an arm in a shark attack. Bethany Hamilton is a courageous, very brave and resillient girl. She lives every day like it’s her last. Bethany has only got confidence in herself when it comes to the thing she loves most, surfing, she surfs every day before and after school, even in winter. She trains hard to win her surfing competitions that are held once a month. Bethany and her, whole family have a strong passion for surfing. ====

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At the start of the story, Bethany starts the story off with the flash back of the day she was going surfing when she was in the water when suddenly there was a flash of grey, she looked away and started swimming when something grabbed her, she could feel a couple of lightning fast tugs. Bethany is reflecting on how she felt at that very horrific moment when she was frustrated that there were no good waves she could surf, as the waves were small and inconsistent. The story is told from Bethany Hamilton’s point of view; Bethany experienced a world of pain after the attack. The most important moments of the story is when she is relaxing on her board, when suddenly there was a flash of grey, it took a split second and she was being pulled under water by a fifteen foot tiger shark, a couple of lightning fast tugs is all it took for the shark to bite through her arm. But the most important moment of Soul surfer, was Bethany’s transition, to get all her physical strength back only a month after she had surgery. Bethany started to paddle with one arm, pushing pain and panic behind her. =====

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The most important relationship throughout this story is Bethany’s relationship with her mother. After the shark attack, as Bethany came out of surgery, she was so eager to know when she could get out and surf again. Bethany’s mum had told her she wouldn’t know if she would ever have the strength to get back and start doing the thing she loves most, and If she was going to start surfing again it would be in a very long time,as her mother thought that she wouldn’t be able to cope with surfing with one arm as she lost one of her arms in the attack. Bethany had to wait until she was fully recovered, then she begged her mum to go out and surf again. Her mum knew how hard Bethany had been working on her fitness, because she had got out of shape losing and arm, and being homeschooled and the only exercise Bethany did was surfing and because of the injury. Bethany sneaked out with her friends and went surfing; she found it hard when she got back into the water, and agreed with her mum that it would take along to get her physical stamina back. Bethany was a 13 year old surfer girl, who lost her arm in a shark attack, but never lost confidence in herself. Bethany made a triumphant return to competitive surfing. She tried so hard, she got upset. Her mother told her she would just have to take it day by day. Bethany quoted “I don’t understand” Her mum told her “I don’t know why terrible things like this happen to us sometimes, but I have to believe something good is going to come out of this”. =====

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Bethany had to deal with the issues of getting back on board. Surfing was Bethany’s passion, she never wanted to hear any negative thoughts or comments toward herself, because she knew deep down once she had recovered anything was possible. The things that Bethany Hamilton had to learn to do differently were extensive. At one point Bethany said she couldn’t do it anymore, but she just kept on trying. Bethany’s family didn’t know what to do, Bethany then asked for her dad's help, it wasn’t going to be easy, but she didn’t need easy, she just needed possible. Bethany lived by this quote “When you come back from a loss, when you bet the odds and never say never, you find a champion”. =====

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I enjoyed this story, mainly because, it was a true story and written by Bethany Hamilton, who experienced the shark attack, and how she felt being surrounded by a grey fifteen foot tiger shark, I can’t start to imagine how she would have felt. Bethany was such a determined, young woman, I recommend this book to anyone of over the age of 10+. It was a wonderful read I would highly recommend this book to anyone. The book was written in 1st Person. =====