Cloudstreet in Pick-a-Shelf

Apr 10, 2012 Jodie rated it liked it

Shelves: 2012

It is safe to say that this book is regularly lauded as an Australian classic, but not only that, it is loved. So I am being sacrilegious as an Australian in saying I didn't really like most if it. I loved the way Mr Winton talks about the water, the longing for it, the descriptions of the sun as it dozes in the ocean, the water like sheet metal, the pull of the River. That alone is 5 star writing. But Cloudstreet, I did not like. I did not like the house or most of the people that lived there. ...more

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Oct 18, 2015 Nancy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, australia, magical-realism, audiobook

There is no doubt that Tim Winton knows how to put beautiful sentences together, which made this book a pleasure to listen to. The magical aspects were a little confusing, but this is literary fiction at its finest and so it requires not just several readings, but plenty of thought. The underlying story of the Pickle family and the Lamb family is a fascinating snapshot of post-war Australia, but there is a lot more to the book than this surface story. Having listened to it on audio, I would now ...more

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Dec 04, 2008 Joanna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: rws-2016-summer, audiobooks, 2016-read

Tim Winton is a heck of a writer. He brings characters and places alive and makes them feel like real people -- sort of like distant relatives that you've heard stories about. The whole book had the feel of sitting down with a great-uncle and having him tell you about the Australian branch of his family tree (not that my family actually has an Australian branch, but still). I've seen this called a "family saga" and that seems about right -- this is more a chunk of life book than a plot-driven st ...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Sunflower rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction-read-2013, e-books

What is there left to say about this book? it is about two dysfunctional families, both struck by their own share of tragedy, sharing an old house with a personality of its own. It's also about the contrasts between them, one believes in hard work, the other doesn't, one is religious while the other believes in luck- usually bad. Each of the characters grows and changes over the time span of the book, and although the moments of magical realism can be a bit jarring they are quite acceptable in t ...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Bea rated it liked it

This book only got 3* from me, due to the strange way that the story was organized. It took me a rather longer while to figure out who everyone was that I would have liked.

The story is Australian, and, as such, is peppered with Australian phrases and words. Although at times this made it a bit hard to understand, usually the sentence context made the meaning known. However, it felt a bit like reading a book in another language with a rudimentary knowledge of the other language. I am sure that I ...more

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Jul 10, 2008 Lindsay rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, bookcrossing, top100, australian, z2007

I really enjoyed reading this.

The characters were all so unique and realistic, each with their own addictions and obsessions, all affected in different ways by the community of Cloudstreet.

The setting and era was beautifully described, and having visited Perth, makes it all the more vivid. I could imagine walking into the store at Cloudstreet and meeting all the characters there.

The story itself drew me in and kept me reading, throughout the highs and lows of the characters lives. Definitely ...more

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