The Really Really High Diving Tower

About This Audiobook

This isn’t just another coming-of-age tale—it’s a sun-bleached, chlorine-scented snapshot of the moment when fear and pride collide at the edge of a diving board. David Metzenthen distills the agony of preteen indecision into a razor-sharp hour, where every second Pete and Morris spend hesitating on that ladder feels like an eternity. The prose crackles with the awkward energy of boys trying (and failing) to act cooler than they feel, their internal monologues a masterclass in self-sabotage.

Francis Greenslade’s narration is the standout here: his voice carries the swagger of a kid who *thinks* he’s got it all figured out, until it cracks into something more vulnerable. The audiobook’s brevity works in its favor—no meandering subplots, just the relentless tension of whether these two will jump or chicken out. It’s a love letter to the small, humiliating battles of growing up, where the real victory isn’t the dive itself, but surviving the wait."

"review": "I’ll admit, I side-eyed the premise at first—*another* story about boys and a diving board? But *The Really Really High Diving Tower* disarms you with its brutal honesty. Metzenthen nails the way preteen boys perform masculinity like a bad magic trick, all bluster until the moment they’re actually tested. The dialogue is so painfully authentic it hurts; when Pete calls Morris ‘Shiny Boy’ for the umpteenth time, you can *hear* the desperation beneath the teasing. Greenslade’s performance elevates this further—his pacing mirrors the boys’ escalating panic, his voice tightening as the ladder climbs higher. The production is clean, though I wished for more ambient pool sounds to heighten the atmosphere (a missed opportunity for immersion).

My main critique? The ending feels *slightly* too neat for a story that otherwise thrives on ambiguity. After 60 minutes of exquisite squirming, the resolution arrives with a thud rather than a splash. Still, the journey there is so vividly rendered—especially in audio—that it’s easy to forgive. This is a perfect listen for a summer drive or a lazy afternoon, when you’re in the mood for something short but *sharp*. Just don’t expect to walk away without remembering your own moments of frozen terror on the edge of something stupid and brave."

"tags": [
"middle-grade realism with bite