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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is incredible. A sprawling epic of two families coming together under the same roof. I knew after Shepherd's Hut being one of my favourites of 2018 that I would love this, and that Tim Winton would quickly become one of my favourite authors.
Cloudstreet has some of the most memorable characters of any book I've ever read, particularly in Quick and Fish, and proabably my favourite ending ever. From start to finish, this book was exceptional, and I can see why it's labelled a modern Australian classic. Cloudstreet should be compulsory reading for all Australians, and anyone who loves books.
Cloudstreet has some of the most memorable characters of any book I've ever read, particularly in Quick and Fish, and proabably my favourite ending ever. From start to finish, this book was exceptional, and I can see why it's labelled a modern Australian classic. Cloudstreet should be compulsory reading for all Australians, and anyone who loves books.
I took a while to get into it but once I got a feel for it and with some solid time spent reading, I really grew to love it. I wanted things to work out. I cared when it was going wrong. Towards the end I raced through it with that bittersweet feeling that it had to end and knowing that the next book I read is going to be tough to adjust to.
DNF- 50%
Life is too short to work so hard for a read. In all honesty, it was the regional dialect that got me, I couldnt understand whole paragraphs , so I'm sure the beauty was lost on me.
Life is too short to work so hard for a read. In all honesty, it was the regional dialect that got me, I couldnt understand whole paragraphs , so I'm sure the beauty was lost on me.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Cloudstreet is a wonderful introduction to Australian literature. I say this, having only ever read 'The Slap', which left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.
The blurb summed it up perfectly when they compared Winton to a mash-up of John Steinbeck and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, although in my opinion diluted versions of both. Steinbeck wrote poverty and harsh realities in the extreme, and Winton's portrayal of the Depression era and its hardships were far more subtle, merely touched on rather than blazing a depressing trail through each page.
As for the Garcia Marquez influence, that is unmistakable. The magical realism is also more subtle, although definitely kooky and poignant. In 100 years of solitude, Marquez asserted that a town was not really a town until they buried one of their own dead. In Cloudstreet, Winton asserts that a town cannot call itself a city until it has its first murder. There are ghosts, and supernatural animals. There are ominous strangers, and weeping walls.
Winton charts the progression of two families living in Number One, Cloudstreet. The families, the Lambs and the Pickles, have their troubles and their secrets, and try to coexist as best they can. I felt as though each half of the house was a metaphor: one family represented fate, or rather a fatalistic attitude, and the other represented freewill and determination. That two families in relatively similar circumstances at the start, can lead very different lives, depending on the way they view their role in it. Sam Pickles believed in the 'shift shadow of God', otherwise known as Lady Luck, whereas Oriel Lamb was the can-do fixer of problems, and serial campaigner for all lost causes.
The language was beautiful, definitely lyrical and non-suffocating.(MINOR SPOILER) If I have one criticism it would be that the part in the story where Rose Pickles has a dalliance with some hipster journalist. I felt like it was a bit contrived, and the only purpose of Toby Raven was to deposit Rose at a turning point, where things really start to take shape. Maybe that's the point though, but Toby was a bit of a flat character, I never believed him.
I might be going back to this book again, sometime in the future, and I am definitely going to read more Tim Winton.
The blurb summed it up perfectly when they compared Winton to a mash-up of John Steinbeck and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, although in my opinion diluted versions of both. Steinbeck wrote poverty and harsh realities in the extreme, and Winton's portrayal of the Depression era and its hardships were far more subtle, merely touched on rather than blazing a depressing trail through each page.
As for the Garcia Marquez influence, that is unmistakable. The magical realism is also more subtle, although definitely kooky and poignant. In 100 years of solitude, Marquez asserted that a town was not really a town until they buried one of their own dead. In Cloudstreet, Winton asserts that a town cannot call itself a city until it has its first murder. There are ghosts, and supernatural animals. There are ominous strangers, and weeping walls.
Winton charts the progression of two families living in Number One, Cloudstreet. The families, the Lambs and the Pickles, have their troubles and their secrets, and try to coexist as best they can. I felt as though each half of the house was a metaphor: one family represented fate, or rather a fatalistic attitude, and the other represented freewill and determination. That two families in relatively similar circumstances at the start, can lead very different lives, depending on the way they view their role in it. Sam Pickles believed in the 'shift shadow of God', otherwise known as Lady Luck, whereas Oriel Lamb was the can-do fixer of problems, and serial campaigner for all lost causes.
The language was beautiful, definitely lyrical and non-suffocating.(MINOR SPOILER) If I have one criticism it would be that the part in the story where Rose Pickles has a dalliance with some hipster journalist. I felt like it was a bit contrived, and the only purpose of Toby Raven was to deposit Rose at a turning point, where things really start to take shape. Maybe that's the point though, but Toby was a bit of a flat character, I never believed him.
I might be going back to this book again, sometime in the future, and I am definitely going to read more Tim Winton.