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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
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.
Something about this book is just so illustrative and enthralling, I simply could not put it down.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Wow, being a Yank transplanted to Australia 1.5 years ago I was a bit worried I'd have a hard time getting through some of the 'Aussie'-isms in this book, but even not catching all of them this was an amazing read. I can't wait to delve into Dirt Music which is just screaming at me from my bookshelf, but as I was on holiday when I finished Cloudstreet I ended up having to buy a new book to read...
Reading about the entwining lives of two family sounds like it could be predictable, or a trite epic, but Cloudstreet is neither, not even close. Once the introductions of all main characters are made and the two families have met, it's a wild ride that's so bizarre at times it's got to have roots in reality.
Reading about the entwining lives of two family sounds like it could be predictable, or a trite epic, but Cloudstreet is neither, not even close. Once the introductions of all main characters are made and the two families have met, it's a wild ride that's so bizarre at times it's got to have roots in reality.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read Dirt Music by Tim Winton a couple years ago and didn’t like it one bit. When I posted my review, a pile of people told me that I should not write off Tim Winton without first reading Cloudstreet. “Go read Cloudstreet!” they said. “It’s wonderful!” they shouted. “Cloudstreet will definitely change your mind about Tim Winton!” they told me time and time again. So now I’ve read Cloudstreet, and guess what?
I just don’t like Tim Winton. I don’t like his characters and I don’t like the stories about them. I do think that he’s a talented writer and that his imagery is superb, but that is not enough to save his books for me. Also, I really can’t stand his reckless abandon for narratives and tenses. It bothered me in Dirt Music and it bothered me here.
I will add, at the very least, that this book was in fact better than Dirt Music. We’re going to go with two stars instead of the one I gave DM because in this end, I was at least glad that I finished this one. I didn’t like it, but I’m not actively upset that I spent my time on it. There were a few laughs woven in there and one or two characters who weren’t completely intolerable and got me just the slightest bit vested in how things ended.
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Wow. I don't know how I feel about this book. I listened to it at a time when I was really distracted by quite a few weighty personal issues so perhaps my state of mind wasn't the right one for this book. But, that being said, I made myself listen to it all the way through and I think it probably was a good book. The ending surprised me in a good way. I would recommend it but with this caveat, the book is unusual and resolves itself in the last chapters. I'm still giving it a three because I had to make myself listen to this story and found it VERY strange until the last few minutes.