After Diane Cardwell's marriage falls apart and life in NYC loses its lustre, she find a renewed sense of life and purpose taking up surfing in the chilly waters off Long Island. Rockaway is a testament to perseverance, determination and ultimately success as Cardwell develops a quasi obsession with the sport which takes her to the beaches of Costa Rica and California, and ultimately sees her invest the proceeds from the sale of her marital home into a bijou property in Rockaway, so she can dedicate the necessary amount of time and energy to the waves.
There's an interesting "subplot" as she decides to shelter in place when Hurricane Sandy hits, and she finds her relationship with the ocean taking on a deeper meaning, as she truly integrates herself into the local community in the days and weeks following the storm's brutal treatment of her new home town.
It's a fascinating look at how someone's life can change dramatically for the better, and how what feels like a solid path in life may crumble away to reveal something even more fulfilling, even if it doesn't feel that way in the first tentative steps down the new path.
Cardwell is an engaging narrator, and doesn't fall into the "poor me" traps of other life pivot accounts that I've read previously. I love her drive, her dedication, her lack of sugar coating (learning to surf is HARD) and that happy endings, while often hard-earned, are a great pay off at the end.

It reminds us that you can change your life and change it for the better. More importantly, it teaches us to find joy in the process of learning and accomplishment, but to stop being too hard on ourselves and questing for perfection.

I enjoyed this book but didn't love it. I thought the telling was flat. That said, it's a good summer read and if you manage your expectations you'll probably enjoy it.

I was born in the small coastal town of Pismo Beach and along with my cousins, knew the waters in the San Luis Obispo region like the back of my hand, yet we never learned to surf. We body surfed, boogie boarded, swam, fished etc but never surfed. I am 57 now and this is something I have always wanted to do. It’s number 1 on my bucket list. Bravo Diane Cardwell for accomplishing this and sharing it in a realistic way that motivates all to go for it! It also was a transformative experience which I too always imagined it would be. You’ve given me hope and confirmed to not take it off my list.

🌊Who else loves reading memoirs?🌊

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Thank you to @houghtonmifflinharcourt @diane_cardwell and @netgalley for the ARC of Rockaway: Surfing Headlong Into A New Life by Diane Cardwell! This is such a beautiful memoir and a must read for anyone who loves the ocean/is interested in surfing.

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Synopsis from the publisher: Unmoored by a failed marriage and disconnected from her high-octane life in the city, Diane Cardwell finds herself staring at a small group of surfers coasting through mellow waves toward shore—and senses something shift. Rockaway is the riveting, joyful story of one woman’s reinvention—beginning with Cardwell taking the A Train to Rockaway, a neglected spit of land dangling off New York City into the Atlantic Ocean. She finds a teacher, buys a tiny bungalow, and throws her not-overly-athletic self headlong into learning the inner workings and rhythms of waves and the muscle development and coordination needed to ride them. As Cardwell begins to find her balance in the water and out, superstorm Sandy hits, sending her into the maelstrom in search of safer ground. In the aftermath, the community comes together and rebuilds, rekindling its bacchanalian spirit as a historic surfing community, one with its own quirky codes and surf culture. And Cardwell’s surfing takes off as she finds a true home among her fellow passionate longboarders at the Rockaway Beach Surf Club, living out “the most joyful path through life.”

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While I myself have never surfed, I consider myself lucky that I have grown up and always lived close enough to the ocean to have it as part of my life. Diane Cardwell’s memoir is an inspiring story of how it is never too late to pursue your passions, and of the healing power of the ocean. Diane’s descriptions of Rockaway Beach and other parts of NYC made me so sad and yet hopeful that soon the city will be back to the way it was before the pandemic. I miss the unique energy that only exists in New York and look forward to the day I can visit again. Whether you yourself are a surfer, love NYC, or just love inspiring stories, I highly recommend Cardwell’s memoir.

Whenever I'm at the beach I stare longingly at the surfers. I envy their ease flying through the waves. I've always wanted to try surfing, but I'm a bit of a physical klutz so I thoroughly appreciated the opportunity to live vicariously through Diane Cardwell's exciting and engaging tale of being bold and brave enough to give surfing a try. She has a wonderful voice and I felt like I was right there with her on early mornings, pulling on my stubborn wetsuit and walking barefoot through early morning mists to the beach. I felt like a friend listening in on conversations about what it means to take chances, reinvent yourself, take risks and fail. Hers is a wonderful story about experiencing life fully with all of its imperfections and unexpected joy. Thank you for inviting me to Rockaway to meet your friends and get away from my pandemic reality for a short while.

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

Diane Cardwell grew up in a household where achievement reigned supreme, nothing short of perfection acceptable. Ninety-seven on a math test was met with one question from her father--"Why isn't it a hundred?" Unsurprisingly, she pushed herself to extremes to excel, becoming a reporter at the New York Times, marrying an equally driven man and setting out to create the perfect life. That blew up when her father died and a mid-life divorce caught her by surprise, seemingly sidelining her chances of having a child.

In Rockaway, Cardwell shares how she was saved from her longings for perfection by unlearning her father's lesson and facing failure over and over again by contesting a "liquid bully," the ocean. Watching a group of surfers from a bar in Montauk, she was dumbstruck, feeling as though she'd "stumbled upon a secret tribe of magical creatures." As she began dipping into the sport, taking lessons and renting a beach cottage, Cardwell was perpetually faced with her all too familiar fears of being pushed out of her comfort zone and not belonging.

What she ultimately found was that mastering the sport was not only impossible, but the least important part of her journey. Instead, the further she pushed herself, the more she discovered a life of meaning she never knew she wanted yet desperately needed. Rockaway is a thoughtful memoir of loss, self-discovery and what can happen when you hang on, literally and figuratively, to a piece of wood adrift in the sea.

STREET SENSE: Any book about surfing, for better or worse, has my attention. This time it was for the better. I loved Cardwell's story. Wanted to live much of Cardwell's story. Understood much of Cardwell's story. I think there are bits and pieces everyone can relate to in this one, surfer or not. We are not perfect beings. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of a life well lived.

COVER NERD SAYS: See "any book about surfing has my attention." On top of the surfing image, I love the wacky jet passing by, metaphor for whatever shit you want it to be a metaphor for. I'm not sure I understand the blue As in the title, if there is even meaning to them. I dig the colors and bands in the author identifier, though Cardwell's name is a touch lost with the yellow on orange. For me that didn't matter, as the surf image is what got me, but to others it might. In any event, a great cover I would have snatched off a table in an instant.

What I don't know about surfing would fill a book--although I know more after reading Rockaway. However, Diane Cardwell's life story was interesting to me and I loved the part of the book about her finding, buying, and decorating her housee, the chapters about Hurricane Sandy, and the descriptions of her neighbors and the quirkiness and friendship of her neighborhood. I have never been to Long Island or Rockaway,but I feel like I know the area much better after reading this book.

I was not quite sure what to expect from this book but is was so rewarding. I learned so much about surfing probably like the author. It was more than that though. Cardwell's story is about believing in yourself and never being afraid to try something new. It's also a story about following your own path and finding new communities of like minded individuals. I also enjoyed the beach elements of the story and the resilient nature of human beings in the face of disaster. Very rewarding read and would recommend to teens and adults.