Dirt Music. Tim Winton
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Dirt Music. Tim Winton

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78  ·  rating details  ·  1,928 ratings  ·  211 reviews
Luther Fox, a loner, haunted by his past, makes his living as an illegal fisherman, a shamateur. Before everyone in his family was killed in a freak rollover, he grew melons and played guitar in the family band. Robbed of all that, he has turned his back on music. There's too much emotion in it, too much memory and pain.

One morning Fox is observed poaching by Georgie Jutl

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Paperback, 480 pages
Published July 4th 2003 by Picador USA (first published January 1st 2002)
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The Book Thief by Markus ZusakThe Thorn Birds by Colleen McCulloughCloudstreet by Tim WintonThe Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May GibbsPicnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
Best Australian Books
8th out of 231 books — 77 voters
The Book Thief by Markus ZusakThe Thorn Birds by Colleen McCulloughTomorrow, When the War Began by John MarsdenA Fortunate Life by A.B. FaceyA Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
Best Modern Australian Literature
11th out of 126 books — 87 voters


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Community Reviews

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Jolene Elliott
I loved this because although its supposed to be a 'love story', it didn't display any of the usual unrealistic aspects of fictional love. The characters were truly screwed up, insecure and fragile, with their own personal strengths and weaknesses.
The poacher as a character started off seeming mysterious, impenatrable and dangerous, but soon is revealed as simultaneously fierce and sort of pathetic, needing help to reenter society or something. Very strange. I think thats why i liked...more
Merilee
I don't agree with Karen that this book is overly blokeish or laddish. I'm on page 100 and really enjoying it so far. The main character so far(Georgie) is a woman.
Haley Mcconaghy
I couldn't put it down, but I'm not sure why. I disagreed with the world view of the main character, Georgie, and her antagonist, Buckridge.... Neither were very compelling. I'd have to say my favorite character was Lu. I guess I just wasn't convinced that Georgie and Lu had anything special enough to justify the ridiculous actions or thoughts of either of them. When Lu is clinging to life (not with tenacity, but almost resignedly?) he thinks about Georgie. The very fact that the wilderness he ...more
Magdalena
Dirt Music is one of those books that gets under your skin. Comes into your bed with you; changes your dreams; travels with you throughout the mundane details of everyday life. Winton's descriptive prose works both externally in its depiction of the natural land - the sea and desert of Western Australia which makes up its setting, and internally, in the way it goes deep inside the pain and anxieties of its characters, as they struggle to free themselves from tremendous damage, and paralysis.
Janet Lindsay
One of the best contemporary books I've read for a long time. Tim Winton is at one with his home area around Perth, WA and has written a story that whisks you there.

It tells of Georgie, a forty year old retired nurse who surfs the net and appreciates her vodka; Jim Buckridge, Georgie's lover, who is a successful fisherman and the "uncrowned prince" of White Point; and Luther Fox, the unluckiest outcast in White Point who is grieving the loss of his entire family and poachi...more
Steve
Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars
The characters match the Western Australian terrain in their rawness in Winton's impressive description of the disillusionment of small-town life. Georgie, a forty-year-old ex-nurse who turned her back on her roots in the elite of Perth society, finds herself both stranded in this fishing village of White Point and in a relationship with local fisherman and bully Jim Buckridge. Her savious appears in the forlorn figure of poacher Luther Fox, himself struggling to come to terms with the loss of h...more
janet
janet rated it 4 of 5 stars
4 1/2 - Except for the penultimate part of the novel dragging on a bit and an ever so slightly overly dramatic or sentimental ending, this would have been a 5. Having said that, there are three main things I loved about the book.

First, I love the way Winton locates us in a place. He describes the natural surroundings so vividly, explains the character of the microcosm of society represented in White Point thoroughly but subtlely, and when you read his words, you know an Australian...more
Emma
Gee, what to say really? Winton is a natural when it comes to description. He can prattle on for miles about this rock and that tree. But when it comes to the meat of a story, he likes to blow past the most interesting and provocative bits! What is with that??? To say this is a love story is laughable to me. Where's the love? How did it happen? Did I miss it? Winton drones on for 100s of pages about landscape, wildlife and paints an exhaustively clear picture of Western Australia. But at what po...more
Kiwiflora
Multi layered, beautifully written, descriptive and atmospheric. A love story revolving around a love triangle, but also a journey of self discovery for each of the three troubled characters, each with more baggage than an inner city railway station. They are a mess, and so are the relationships. Set against the raw and rough and unforgiving land and sea scape of Western Australia, beauty and love and forgiveness somehow happen amongst these three damaged individuals. What remains with me th...more
Ben
Ben rated it 2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: romance novel enthusiasts
Its was like a soap opera - winding plot with romantic scenery and romantic ideas about what hippies and working class folks are like and the activities they do. Stupid book more or less, but it was tolerable. I give 2 stars to a book that I can finish. I didn't put it down, but if it was much longer I would have.
n* Dalal
n* Dalal rated it 2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: those who dream of living along in the Aussie outback. Don't.
Recommended to n* by: Ms. Monika Ciolek
This was really good right up to the end, which absolutely squelched with cheese.

There was a little too much nature-porn for a city-girl like me, but I got through it because the character who goes to live by himself in the Australian outback ends up tearing up his feet against oyster shells, sunburning his own eyeballs (!), fevered, infected, and generally in need of a nearby Chinese medicine practitioner or ER, whatever your persuasion.

This should be obvious from the ti...more
Nancy
Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars
Loved this book up until the final chapters. It's an interesting problem to have: 1) a book that ties things up in a nice and tidy order or 2)one that doesn't. This one left too many loose ends, dangling threads.

Lovely prose and dialect - Australian style. Good story blooms betwixt two flawed characters, tragic histories, precarious futures and their eventual merging...or not. Pages turned furiously, but as the balance of page weight was on the west side of the spine, I found my...more
Louise Tobin
This is not a love story. This is a story of when two outcasts in a small town come together and share their broken lives.
Georgie is with Jim Buckridge, someone who is revered in the small fishing town of White Point. His sons show her contempt but she feels they love her deep down but cant show it.
Luther Fox, destroyed by a horrific accident that took his whole family has been living by stealing fish since. A xenophobic neighbour mutilates his dog and runs him out of town once he fi...more
Alan Wightman
Alan Wightman rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Alan by: Mary Watson
Set in the fictional Western Australian fishing town of White Point. Georgie is an ex-nurse who finds herself living in a loveless relationship with Jim, the local fishing hero, renowned as a lucky commercial fisherman. Georgie becomes entangled with Luther Fox, the local poacher, renowned as unlucky, having lost his family in a car accident.

This is a plot-driven novel, and hence I was able to read it very fast. I find with plot-driven material that one can be so keen to find out w...more
McNeil
McNeil rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Adults, Kali
Recommended to McNeil by: Angelie
Is it your birthday? Run out and treat yourself to this book! I loved this book. It was beautifully written--the narrative jumps from Lu to Georgie, the embedded flashbacks, the gorgeous descriptions of everything from a huge variety of Australian landscapes to how it feels to want someone --all of it was painstakingly masterful.

The main characters were so flawed and real that it was heartbreaking. Just folks trying to deal with their own stories, trying to decide what to make of th...more
Ljuneosborne
Dirt Music was, in the simplest terms, a very fun book to read. Below the surface of the entertainment is some very well thought out characters. There is Georgie, the driving force of the plot who tends to have the feeling that something is missing in her life, though she is unsure what. There is Jim, a man with twisted and yet sensible logic who takes matters of pride as gravely serious matters. And finally, there is Lu, a man suffering from the loss of family and haunted by dirt music and memo...more
Paula
Paula rated it 5 of 5 stars
This is the third book I have read by Tim Winton, the first two being ‘Cloudstreet’ and ‘That Eye, the Sky’, both wonderful books. ‘Dirt Music’ was equally impressive, it tells the story of Georgie Jutland, a lonely 40 year old woman who finds herself far from home, with a man she knows she does not love and his sons, who do not hide how they feel about Georgie. Georgie meets Luther Fox, an outcast in White Point for many reasons, Georgie finds herself falling for Lu and everything changes for b...more
Lori
Lori rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: non-yal
Out of the continent of Australia comes an author I have recently discovered thanks to my husband. Tim Winton writes a story that kept me so captivated that I could not put it down and read it straight through. The story is about a woman, Georgie, and her struggles with herself, her past and the men who come into her life. This is not the typical love story and the depth of the character is enlightening. The book is set to be made into a movie and there is already a sound track of songs wri...more
Susan Martin
I liked this more than Breath. I thought the plot was better, and I liked the characters of Georgie and Lu, and the twists and turns that kept you on your toes. The first half of the book was really fast moving, with a lot of great stuff happening, a bit of mystery, a bit of romance, a lot of dry humour. But it slowed right down in the last half and did drag a bit. However, Winton's poetic style draws me in, as it's quite evocative. Sometimes I think he's a bit vague in some descriptions, and th...more
Russwood
Despite the quality of the writing, I could find no compelling reason to finish this book. There were no characters to cheer for, none that I wanted to see secure or safe, and none that I really identified with. The characters were well developed, and like real people, had their weaknesses and laudable qualities; however, there were none that I liked, and I found many of the actions of most main characters frustrating and at times reprehensible.

It is a cleverly-written book, but I foun...more
Rich Cresswell
This was recommended to me by the folks I'm staying with in Australia. It's set in a fishing village on the coast of Western Australia, and tells the story of a bored and unstable housewife who has an affair. From there, the man she had the affair with is driven out of town by her fisherman husband and his friends, her mother dies, and her life generally falls apart. It's an interesting story, written exceptionally well. All of the characters have immense background stories, which are let out sl...more
Jessie
Dirt Music is based around to characters both very different although very a like as both are as lost as the other. Lost in their selves, lost in themselves. The book is written in the point of view of Georgie Jutland and Lu Fox, the point of view of the two jumps backup and forth throughout the book. It gives a different perspective on different situations as you are seeing two sides of the story of people in the same situation or whom are going through similar problematic times in their lives....more
Mon
Mon rated it 3 of 5 stars




When I think of Australia, I think of orange desert, furry animals, the ocean, snakes, big rocks, dirt roads, land, a LOT of land. As a country with one of the lowest population density, it is easy to fantasise about vanishing into the endless land ahead and leaving civilisation behind. It is not that romantic though, think about the sun burn, dehydration, windstorm, and boredom that would drive you insane. You know how famous landmarks - bridges, skyscrapers, tend to gat...more
Kate
Honest, brutal and touching.......The further away from finishing the more this book/story unfolds.

A love story that encompasses the Western half of Australia from the southern shores to the northern archipelago (needed to get out the atlas a few times to check names and places. The Australian culture is portrayed as it really is, Winton clearly understands his own background to have such insight.

Tim Winton puts words together in a totally unique way he conveys meaning su...more
Jana
This was odd. This book has 500 pages, and I couldn't stop reading it although I didn’t like it. It's a book about West and North Australia. It sure is contemporary, if contemporary means deep emotions, metaphysics, mystery, heartbreaking love, suffocating pain, guilt, remorse and redemption. Connecting with nature, but that is I suppose normal if you live in Australia.

But, it failed to be memorable and I didn’t believe these characters and their love triangle was weird. They were b...more
Jenna
Jenna marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: antipodes
"Many days' drive west along vast stretches of highway and rough, rugged coast sits Perth, a sparse, flat, tree-studded city that lies between the long, buttery beaches along the Indian Ocean and the low, sprawling hills of the Darling Ranges. Said to be the most isolated city in the world, Perth and its surrounding coastal and country towns provide the backdrop for most of Tim Winton's novels, the best of which is "Dirt Music" (2001), a slow, seething domestic drama set in a smal...more
Nancy
no spoilers, just synopsis

I'd definitely recommend this book, but I think something got lost in translation for me personally since I've never been to Australia and could only try to envision the places Winton talks about in here. Landscape (geographical in its relation to human) is such an integral part of this novel that I feel sort of left out not ever having seen any of the place.

Set in a fictional place called White Point, a fishing town, the novel focuses on three ...more
Sara Cole
So Australian! The descriptions, the language. I really enjoyed the Australiana flavour of this novel. Especially the drive to Broome!

I'm not sure what I think of the story? I am left wondering about the characters. Do I like any of them really?

It does appear to be a fair description of people who struggle with relationships all intersecting with each other.

I'm not a fairy-tale type of person, but this long, heavy novel would have been worth it, if it had th...more
Libby
I was grabbed by the verse on the opening pages:

There is a solitude of space
A solitude of sea
A solitude of death, but these
Society shall be
Compared with that profounder site
That polar privacy
A soul admitted to itself -
Finite infinity.

- Emily Dickinson

Unfortunately Georgie and Lu frustrated me no end by how they lived their lives through other people...All in all an interesting read with some beautiful descriptions of...more
Teri Cooper
An unusual and highly enjoyable novel that is unpredictable every step of the way. Grief, loneliness, boredom and low self esteem are just some of the battles being fought by its characters - there are many others - and Winton uses beautiful prose to show how their relationships with others are impacted as a result. Set in a small fishing town north of Perth, I enjoyed reading about my home town which is an unusual setting for a novel. Big thumbs up from me.
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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
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