Tim Winton is one of the
great Australian novelists, and this
book, which has won numerous awards and praise, does not fail to disappoint.
The back page synopsis states: "Cloudstreet a broken down
house of former glories on the wrong side of the tracks, a place teeming with memories of its own, a place of shudders, shadows and spirits.
"From separate catastrophes, two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing this great breathing, sighing, muttering structure and begin their lives again from scratch.
"There are the industrious Lambs, who wait and wait on the God of Miracles who seems to have foresaken them, and the
gambling Pickleses, who prefer to deal with the mysteries of Lady
Luck and her henchmen. Both aghast at the fates which have delivered them to Cloudstreet, and the baffling realisation that they will always remain there.
"Together they roister and rankle in a divided house that begins as a roof over their heads and becomes a home for their hearts.
"In this fresh, funny novel, full of wonder and dreams, brilliant young Australian author, Tim Winton, weaves the threads of lifetimes, of 20 years of shouting and fighting, laughing and grafting, into a story about acceptance and belonging."
This book has every emotion and event that one could possibly need in one volume: birth, death, resurrection, miracles, marriage, miscarriage, gambling, drunkenness, adultery, anorexia, depression and love. From 1944 to 1964, the Pickles and Lamb families share a large house in a suburb of Perth on the wrong side of the tracks. The Pickles own the house (via luck, a recurring theme in the book); he's a gambler with long streaks of bad luck, she is often drunk and adulterous. The Lamb family are the anithesis of this: hard-working, religious and conscientious. The book tells of the plights of both, which eventually become entwined. There are many subplots that turn the book into a true recount of a lifetime. The large number of characters mean that none ever get stale or boring. Something is always round the corner which makes you carry on reading, and there are many shocks and surprises along the way.
Winton writes in an interesting style, with many short sub-chapters. Aesthetically and practically, this means that you can
read a quick bit and finish at a conclusive juncture. He uses no speech marks, but this does not detract from it.
I recommend this book to anyone. It is the best I have read this year (three months so far...) and is truly unputdownable. As a critic on the back says: 'Winton is not a great Australian novelist. He is a great novelist.'
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