Tim Winton

Hailed as a classic, Tim Winton's masterful family saga is both a paean to working-class Australians and an unflinching examination of the human heart's capacity for sorrow, joy, and endless gradations in between. An award-winning work, Cloudstreet exemplifies the brilliant ability of fiction to captivate and inspire. Struggling to rebuild their lives after being touched by disaster, the Pickle family, who've inherited a big house called Cloudstreet in a suburb of Perth, take in the God-fearing Lambs as tenants. The Lambs have suffered their own catastrophes, and determined to survive, they open up a grocery on the ground floor. From 1944 to 1964, the shared experiences of the two overpopulated clans -- running the gamut from drunkenness, adultery, and death to resurrection, marriage, and birth -- bond them to each other and to the bustling, haunted house in ways no one could have anticipated.

A Novel

Cloudstreet

Amanda Wells

This book is commonly referred to as a modern Australian classic, and while I often bristle at excellent Australian productions being minimised as 'great... for Australia', that title sits well with me. Not that this book shouldn't be considered a classic generally speaking, not just Australian classic; but that it is so Australian.

I feel like I repeat myself whenever I talk about Winton's books - but his language just... something about it strikes right through any academic analysis of Australianisms and quirks - and just IS. His language evokes big skies, dusty streets, crackling radios, the foreboding that comes with belonging to a land that doesn't need you by any measure. 

Cloudstreet in particular is such a peculiar story. The characters are all loveable despite themselves. The paths they take don't teach any great lessons. And the secret story that the house tells isn't happy. There's so much that shouldn't make a great story, but somehow it is magic. And it is utterly real. 

I fully believe that I'll be re-reading this one again, and probably again after that. This book has more to give, I'm sure. 

And yes, obviously: I recommend it.

Natalie Manuel

4 stars

Cloudstreet is an Australian classic and has been on my TBR list for as long as I can remember, but I finally got around to it this week.

What I did like about it - 

1. The overall vibe, the touch of magical realism, the tragedies, the sweeping sense of the characters - all great.

2. I've read some people think the female characters aren't written well and I strongly disagree. Something isn't misogynistic because a character is flawed. They are ALL written with depth. Oriel is a force of nature, I could feel her flying off the page. If anything, it was the men that were written harshly - most of them useless. If you read this book, and reduce Oriel down to a 'nag' and Dolly down to a 'slut', then the only misogynist is you.

3. Quick is an awesome character. It was fascinating that he was essentially addicted to focusing on the sadness in the world. I loved his relationship with Rose and wish it had happened earlier in the novel. Rose is also an awesome character.

4. The end was great overall - not entirely sure how I feel about earth-Fish being incomplete but I guess he was separated from the man he would have been. Why was he no longer aware of the person who brought him back to life? 

5. It will be one of those books I think about it every now and then.

While I did enjoy it, there were a few things I did not like about it that impacted my rating and overall experience.

1. The narrative can be hard to follow, it feels a little too dense at times. I had to re-read sometimes to figure out what was happening. This is all in the middle section of the book where Quick disappears, which was the weakest section and really a little boring. It's *definitely* a book you shouldn't skim and enjoyment does go up a lot when you read it slowly and carefully.

2. I don't mind lack of quotation marks generally with dialogue but in this case for a book that could have moments of being hard to understand, it really was a little annoying knowing who was saying what.

3. We spend 99% of our time with either the Pickles or the Lambs, so I actually don't think it sets up much of a 'feel' of time and place like I thought it would. If there was no mention of the war, it could have been set at any point really. 

4. The magical realism only half worked. I liked the vibe, I did not like the idea that indigenous men were hanging around helping these two families, for what? When it came to the house and the hauntings, that was fine, but the mysterious indigenous men....nah

5. I liked the writing style but at the same time, it also sometimes made me feel distanced from the characters.


Overall, I enjoyed the vibe, the layers, the LOL moments, the sad moments - it felt like a journey, that's for sure.

Laura Mitchell Hutchinson

I listened to Cloudstreet as an audio book, read by Peter Hosken. 

So. Freaking. Good. 

I admit I was lost for a few minutes occasionally, because my mind had just wandered away. But it's a 30min drive from my house to uni everyday and I thought I should make the most of my time. 

When I finally found a hard copy of the book, I was surprised to see the lack of quotation marks. That would have annoyed the life out of me so I was very grateful for the voice actor who read everyone in a different tone! 

Cloudstreet is a story about two families and their various experiences with misfortune and overcoming sadness, including - dare I say it - their sense of belonging. Wish I read this before HSC!

I'd recommend this audio book to any literary-loving Aussie. It'll make you nostalgic for an Australia you never saw.

Jessica Smith

1.5 stars. I found the writing style really grating, simultaneously pretentious and crudely slangy; the first half of the book was also relentlessly depressing (the second half was also depressing but with some occasional relief, hence the half-star upgrade from 1). There is a disabled character who is treated very dubiously and a plot device of a black character whose depiction is even more dubious. The book also needs a lot of trigger warnings – alcoholism, gambling addiction, eating disorders, miscarriage. Eh. Longer version of this review here, if you're interested.

Cloudstreet A Novel

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