I finished a book!
Recently a friend of mine recommended a book to me. The World’s Richest Busboy. The author, JJ Brito, is a friend of hers, and she thought his life sounded a lot like the life of my son.
My son is 22 and lives a pretty carefree life. Sometimes living in a van, sometimes traveling to far off places, spending his days surfing and making music. He entertains me with stories of his sometimes hilarious, sometimes frightful, always adventurous life. I have told him many times that he needs to keep a journal and take lots of pictures, because someday he needs to write a book. I won’t share any of his adventures here today, because those are his stories to tell.
Well evidently JJ Brito, did just that. He wrote a book. This book follows JJ as he surfs around the world. There are 13 chapters, each titled by the name of a country he visited, from the Canary Islands to Costa Rica. It is pretty easy to read, because the stories are written as if the author is telling his adventures to a circle of friends gathered around at a party. It was like he was telling me these stories in person.
In each chapter there are vivid descriptions of his surf experiences and the waves he caught, using lingo that surfers would understand, but that leaves me needing to fall back on pictures I have seen or movies I have watched to fill in what I don’t know about surfing. And that is all fine. There is no need for extra explanations for the non-surfing reader. Brito also weaves in tales of bar fights, camping on the road, meeting new friends, and crossing borders. The last 6 chapters follow Brito as he makes his dream voyage from California to Costa Rica… on a motorcycle that he bought for $350!
Through all of his adventures, he shows a love for people and a respect for different cultures. One quote from towards the end of the book, in the last 2 lines of page 218, sums up his travel philosophy.
He traveled pretty frugally, too. He liked to stay where he could pay no more than $5 a night for a bed. And he financed his travels around the world by working back home as a busboy at a restaurant, and living in his friend’s closet, while he saved enough money to hit the road.
I am now wondering where he has traveled to since the book was written. What other waves has he surfed, what new adventures could he tell? And what did he decide to do, for the good of others?
And someday maybe I will be reviewing a similar book, of adventures around the world, funded by savings from van living and bussing tables, written by my son. I’ll let you know when it comes out.
Until then, read The World’s Richest Bachelor, by JJ Brito. I bought my copy on Amazon.
Let’s Read a Book! 