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50th out of 126 books
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The Turning: Stories
by
Tim Winton
Set on a coastal stretch of Western Australia, Tim Winton's stunning collection of connected stories is about turnings of all kinds -- changes of heart, slow awakenings, nasty surprises and accidents, sudden detours, resolves made or broken. Brothers cease speaking to each other, husbands abandon wives and children, grown men are haunted by childhood fears. People str...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
October 10th 2006
by Scribner
(first published 2004)
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What Alistair MacLeod did for Cape Breton in Island, Tim Winton has done for Western Australia in The Turning. This is not to say that Winton writes like MacLeod. He doesn't. But both writers have created story collections that bring to life the corner of the world they know best, and in a quietly elegant way.
The Turning shows us working class Australian people trying to keep body and soul together in a stark and beautiful landscape. The time frame is mostly from the 1970s on.
...more
The Turning shows us working class Australian people trying to keep body and soul together in a stark and beautiful landscape. The time frame is mostly from the 1970s on.
...more
“The Turning” is a collection of 17 interrelated short stories which, in their collectivity, could actually be seen as a novel built around the fictional town of Angelus, in Western Australia. Published between “Dirt Music” and “Breath,” the volume is another tour de force from the Australia writer who has twice been shortlisted for the Man Booker prize.
The stories, as all of Tim Winton’s adult works starting certainly with Shallows, are sharply wrought. There is not a wasted word an...more
The stories, as all of Tim Winton’s adult works starting certainly with Shallows, are sharply wrought. There is not a wasted word an...more
Winton has produced a masterful collection of short stories about people living in or around a small country town near Perth in Western Australia. At first, you think they are all different, but instead you find the characters' lives overlapping in each tale, as they refer to people you just read about, or others who will appear later in the volume. In addition to this cleverly interwoven narrative, the writing is a kind of harsh poetry, casual in its reference to common Australian household pr...more
Painful, raw, eloquent__these tales comprise a powerful defense for a much maligned genre, the short story collection. It's no surprise that many of the stories here have been previously published in literary journals like The Threepenny Review. Winton's language is taut, his characterization masterful, and the local color pitch-perfect. But what truly sets these stories apart is their emotional impact: they are subtle yet stirring and sensuous. Winton has been short-listed for the Booker Prize
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I am Australian myself, however i have never been drawn to Winton's writing. Nonetheless, i did enjoy The Turning. The structure was amazing; it is actually an anthology of short stories based around a group of characters who may or may not have crossed paths in their lives. As usual, Winton's writing is beautiful and poetic. So why did i only give it 3 stars? Well, personally, i prefer to read novels containing adventure and fantastical elements, and am not drawn to raw and real life themes, su...more
Without following any real sense of chronological time, Winton delves back and forth into the lives of characters sometimes related more closely than at other times. We might visit a character at middle age then later on as a boy. This is put together like short stories but the way they all tie together is curious and unusual. They are all set in Australia, where Tim Winton is from. I've liked his full novels better because you see his unique writing style more thoroughly in them. Still, if...more
This collection of seventeen stories, set in the fictional Western Australia whaling town of Angelus, shows ordinary people searching for redemption in their broken, mismatched, violent, tedious lives. Tim Winton, with raw and beautiful prose, asks you not to flinch or to forgive but to witness these characters, their choices, and the circumstances, and to draw your own conclusions about the future of their souls.
Nine of these stories focus on the Lang family. In no chronological or...more
Nine of these stories focus on the Lang family. In no chronological or...more
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I was quite taken aback by how much I liked this book. I'd never desired to read Winton before or since. Every time I pick up one of his books and flick through it, it says don't read me. This one, though, was a basic IQ test. I'd noticed the paperback in David Jones book department for $20. In the grocery section they had the hardcover for $5. It was a no brainer.
The format is clever, the WA coast is wonderfully depicted, it's emotionally harrowing. What more could you want?
The format is clever, the WA coast is wonderfully depicted, it's emotionally harrowing. What more could you want?
A collection of short stories. Started in summer of 2008, got halfway through, enjoyed immensely but put it down and went on to others.
Now finished the last half in one go, tonight, August 7 2009. And I wonder what took me so long to come back to it. My god he is a wonderful and effortless writer. He has a gift, and he gives it to us.
Now finished the last half in one go, tonight, August 7 2009. And I wonder what took me so long to come back to it. My god he is a wonderful and effortless writer. He has a gift, and he gives it to us.
Recently I read 'The Turning', a collection of stories. Each is complete in itself but after you've read a few you realise that the central character in this story was a minor character in an earlier story. So you're getting bits of different interrelated lives and seeing the world of a small West Australian town from various viewpoints.
Haylee
rated it
Recommends it for:
Steinbeck, or Hemingway fans
Recommended to Haylee by:
TTU English class
Shelves:
read-in-2009
A new John Steinbeck. I loved this collection of stories. Set in southern Australia, these stand-alone stories string together in a very artful and interesting way. They each have themes, ideas and even some characters in common, and paint a clear, unpicturesque picture of the lives of these people down under.
Winton's collection of short stories is beautifully constructed and written. I was immediately immersed in the world he depicts. And therein lies the problem. His is a world of cold, gray hardship and he wants you to feel it. It is a painful, plodding, dreary life his characters live. And then they die. Well, at least the lucky ones do. The rest periodically consider "offing" themselves. Can't really blame them.
While I want to find out what happens to each, I realize that...more
While I want to find out what happens to each, I realize that...more
Using the short story format made it a bit difficult at first to see that it was a collection of stories related around central characters and location...loosley collected together. I did not find this to be a very satisfying read, although I oculd not fault the way it was written - well constructed, good cahracaterisation, setting etc, prose that flows. It was because of this that I finished the book.
Tim Winton got depressing again in this collection of stories and it was not the psychological thriller of The Riders, but these are the first novels I've read of him so I don't know if he is always this way, sad. Again, I appreciate the close look at the people & places of Australia which is why I picked Tim Winton to start with. He is an Australian who still lives in his home country.
A really thought provoking collection that I really enjoyed. I loved how all the stories were based on the same town, people whose lives were connected in some way. It was fascinating. This was the first book by Winton that I'd read but I will definitely be reading more - I really love his style.
Great book, I loved all the individual stories, but it lacked a fantastic ending for me. I was expecting more, much, much more but it was almost as if the write couldn't think how to end the book so just did with a bit of nothing.
So far I've listened to 2 of the stories in this book on audio...I have read other books by this author set on the west coast of Australia. They all paint a detailed picture of working class life and the environment and I find that they all seem to have an air of melancholy
Pretty good writing, some of it quite nicely detailed. Helps to know aussie or pom phrases. Only real problem is that some of the short stories are disjointed so you're left wanting more.
Interlocking stories of extraordinary ordinary lives. They seem effortless, which shows how much work has gone into them. Certainly made me want to read more of Tim Winton's books.
A great collection of stories about Western Australia At first, it took a while to get into the first one or two stories, but the interconnected nature of the book took over and the stories became almost like chapters. While each story was independent, they do read as a whole, each connected by a small town in WA. One of the major reoccuring themes is the pain and heartbreak of growing up in a small town, connected to people simply because of connection to that place. Growing up past the di...more
My first book by Tim Winton.
I like how he makes the ordinary person or a slice of life seems extraordinary in that moments.
It make me laugh but sad at the same time.
I like how he makes the ordinary person or a slice of life seems extraordinary in that moments.
It make me laugh but sad at the same time.
Great collection of stories that really draws in the landscape of Australia and the people on the fringes that Winton is most interested in.
Fantastic and devastating, these stories weave in and out of each other. Some stayed with me for longer than I wanted them to.
I'm not normally one for short stories, but this is a great collection of semi-connected stories and characters from Australia
Short stories which are not related but were related. Intelligent book. If the book is read a one story the gaps make you wonder.
Tim Winton knows how to write for 40-something blokes, maybe because he is one. Recommended.
Unique
Each story is compelling in its own way. but got to say some stories are quite disturbing and all most all of the stories are quite depressing, i would't recommend it to younger readers.
Each story is compelling in its own way. but got to say some stories are quite disturbing and all most all of the stories are quite depressing, i would't recommend it to younger readers.
wow. I love his work. Never read short stories and he has converted me! stunning
Sonya Everard
added it
I've only read a couple of the stories but think they are just magic
Very good collection of interconnected stories that deliver as much satisfaction as a novel. I believe I'll read more from Mr. Winton.
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Tim Winton was born in Perth, Western Australia, but moved at a young age to the small country town of Albany.
Curtin University of Technology, Winton wrote his first novel, An Open Swimmer. It went on to win The Australian/Vogel Literary Award in 1981, and launched his writing career. In fact, he wrote "the best part of three books while at university". His second book, Shall...more
More about Tim Winton...
Curtin University of Technology, Winton wrote his first novel, An Open Swimmer. It went on to win The Australian/Vogel Literary Award in 1981, and launched his writing career. In fact, he wrote "the best part of three books while at university". His second book, Shall...more
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