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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
This book helped me understand Australian culture a little better, but I found it hard to keep up with.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Difficult to describe, it certainly had a slow and somewhat muddled start, but ended beautifully.
While I understand that it was a creative choice and done for artistic reasons, the lack of quotation marks around speech bugged me for the entire book. It took me much longer to read than other books of similar length due to a combination of uni and the fact that it was an inherently slow and reasonably tedious read. Occasionally long strands of untagged dialogue would present themselves, leading to slight confusion as to who was speaking (apparently I'm a fictional Thursday Next character).
While I understand that it was a creative choice and done for artistic reasons, the lack of quotation marks around speech bugged me for the entire book. It took me much longer to read than other books of similar length due to a combination of uni and the fact that it was an inherently slow and reasonably tedious read. Occasionally long strands of untagged dialogue would present themselves, leading to slight confusion as to who was speaking (apparently I'm a fictional Thursday Next character).
Loved this! My expectations were high but they were met. It was a lot quirkier than I had been told. I have heard it criticised because the characters are 'characatures' of themselves. I agree, but I liked it.
Read it on a trip through Western Australia - how perfect! Second Tim Winton. Looking forward to more.
Read it on a trip through Western Australia - how perfect! Second Tim Winton. Looking forward to more.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A beautiful tale of love and acceptance and post-war working class Australians.
This was a 3 1/2 star read for me. Australia has the reputation of being a macho society and Winton's story has that quality. I probably would have liked the novel more if it hadn't had such a masculine point of view (at least as far as male-female relationships). The story focuses on 2 families - the Pickles and the Lambs - who share a large house on Cloud Street in Perth. The Pickles family inherited the house and are prohibited from selling it for 20 years. They are absolutely destitute so they rent half the house to another large family, the Lambs. The most appealing character for me was Rose. She was perhaps the most three dimensional. In many ways, this is her story. The audiobook was skillfully read by an Australian narrator.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
Winton's novel immerses the reader in the lives of two very different families who become linked through inhabiting a common house. It's wonderful to see how their distrust and separation slowly melt, and the walls literally come down between them, while many aspect of human experience, in all its dirt and glory, are touched on. Winton's style is poetic, impressionistic, jumping about from character to character; it's not a book to read for the plot, but for getting into the heads of a number of people who will become as real to you as your own family. The middle section had me a bit bogged down at times, but I'm glad I stuck through to the end, which moved and touched me.
Winton's novel immerses the reader in the lives of two very different families who become linked through inhabiting a common house. It's wonderful to see how their distrust and separation slowly melt, and the walls literally come down between them, while many aspect of human experience, in all its dirt and glory, are touched on. Winton's style is poetic, impressionistic, jumping about from character to character; it's not a book to read for the plot, but for getting into the heads of a number of people who will become as real to you as your own family. The middle section had me a bit bogged down at times, but I'm glad I stuck through to the end, which moved and touched me.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced