Status
Checked out
Due 26 Feb 2024
Genres
Description
From seperate catastrophes two rural families flee to the city to find themselves sharing a great breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet where they begin their lives again from scratch. For twenty years they roister and rankle, laugh and curse until the roof over their heads becomes a home for their hearts.
User reviews
LibraryThing member sleepydumpling
Undoubtedly my favourite book of all time. Winton writes characters who are so flawed, both emotionally and physically, but they are beautiful, so beautiful you fall in love with them all. His settings are so vivid you can taste, touch, hear, smell and see every scene. And his story so complete
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that you never want to leave Cloudstreet. Show Less
LibraryThing member LynnB
This is a book you can really dive into; it has lots of ineresting characters, and a twenty-year time span. It tells the story of two families, the Lambs and the Pickles, who share a large house on Cloud Street. Both families are poor and trying to restart their lives in Australia as WWII ends.
I
The symbolism of the breathing house, talking pig and reappearing black man didn't hurt the story, but for me, it also didn't raise this book to a higher mystical level either. The house and the stranger seemed pretty obvious. I didn't really understand (or care) why the pig spoke -- like Fish Lamb, I just accepted it. And maybe that's the magic?
Well worth reading.
I
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loved reading about the two families, and came to feel as if I knew them all. The characters were real, the dialogue and conversations authentic. They all had weakneses, and all accommodated -- more or less willingly -- the weaknesses of family members. The symbolism of the breathing house, talking pig and reappearing black man didn't hurt the story, but for me, it also didn't raise this book to a higher mystical level either. The house and the stranger seemed pretty obvious. I didn't really understand (or care) why the pig spoke -- like Fish Lamb, I just accepted it. And maybe that's the magic?
Well worth reading.
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LibraryThing member sanddancer
Cloudstreet is about two families, the Pickles and the Lambs who live together in a large house at Number 1 Cloud Street in Perth, Western Australia. The families are very different, Sam Pickles is a doomed gambler, his wife Dolly is a drunk, whereas Lester and Oriel Lamb are hardworking Christians
I know shamefully little about Australian literature, but saw this book recommended in a discussion on this topic and thought it sounded interesting as I like books about quirky characters and dysfunctional families. However, this book is much more than a standard family melodrama and has definite literary merits.
Cloudstreet has a fragmented structure with each chapter broken down into titled sub-sections from varying perspectives that switch occasionally from the third person to the first person. The book begins with a beautiful poetic description of a picnic by water, but the significance of this is not immediately obvious, but is revealed later.
The narrative is touched with hints of magical realism including a talking pig, and rich with symbolism, with the house and water taking on greater meaning. But along with these mystical elements, the book is grounded in history, with the spectre of war and the Depression looming over much of the narrative, Australia's politics and relationship with Britain mentioned repeatedly and the true story of a serial killer intersecting with the family lives.
I enjoyed the story of these two families and was compelled to find out what would happen to them, but equally I feel this was a good choice for a book from Australia. Perth and how it changed over this period is vital, many of the characters do seem typically Australian without ever becoming stereotypes and the dialogue is littered with Australian slang (which should be familiar to anyone who has watched any Australian soaps!)
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who have suffered a crisis of faith since their middle son, Fish was nearly drowned and left brain-damaged. The book follows the fortunes of these characters over a twenty year period, from the end of the Second World War to the 1960s.I know shamefully little about Australian literature, but saw this book recommended in a discussion on this topic and thought it sounded interesting as I like books about quirky characters and dysfunctional families. However, this book is much more than a standard family melodrama and has definite literary merits.
Cloudstreet has a fragmented structure with each chapter broken down into titled sub-sections from varying perspectives that switch occasionally from the third person to the first person. The book begins with a beautiful poetic description of a picnic by water, but the significance of this is not immediately obvious, but is revealed later.
The narrative is touched with hints of magical realism including a talking pig, and rich with symbolism, with the house and water taking on greater meaning. But along with these mystical elements, the book is grounded in history, with the spectre of war and the Depression looming over much of the narrative, Australia's politics and relationship with Britain mentioned repeatedly and the true story of a serial killer intersecting with the family lives.
I enjoyed the story of these two families and was compelled to find out what would happen to them, but equally I feel this was a good choice for a book from Australia. Perth and how it changed over this period is vital, many of the characters do seem typically Australian without ever becoming stereotypes and the dialogue is littered with Australian slang (which should be familiar to anyone who has watched any Australian soaps!)
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LibraryThing member chrissie3
Dysfunctional Families Australian Style
Those words are the best I can come up with to depict this book. There are two families living in one house on Cloudstreet near Perth, Australia. This house and these families become the center attraction of the entire neighborhood. Both families are of the
I am glad I read this book. For me a three star book is one I liked; it is one I am glad I read! This book is considered an Australian classic. It is definitely a total immersion course in Australian life, at least those of the working class after WW2. It is so, so, so Australian - full of colloquialisms and expressions foreign to me. For this reason I must wholeheartedly recommend the audiobook narrated by Peter Hosking. Through his clever intonations you can more easily guess the meaning of expressions and words foreign to those of us who are not Australian. I LOVED how Oriel Lamb spoke. Yeah, she was also kind of my hero all through the story. There are lots of dialogs, and the characters are reinforced by the narrator’s ability to distinguish between each.
The conflict between the Aboriginal people and other Australians is portrayed to a lesser extent, but it is hinted at. The inherent wisdom of Aboriginal beliefs comes to the fore through spooky premonitions. I found this kind of corny, but I guess it had to be drawn into a book about Australian life. It sort of belongs.
Completed May 11, 2013
Those words are the best I can come up with to depict this book. There are two families living in one house on Cloudstreet near Perth, Australia. This house and these families become the center attraction of the entire neighborhood. Both families are of the
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working class; in fact they are lucky if they even have a job. The time period is 1944-1964, so the end of the war and the hard times that followed determine the setting. Life is hard; it is a struggle. Booze, gambling, promiscuity, adultery, child abuse, anorexia and children with mental retardation - all play a central role in this novel. It sounds pretty depressing, doesn’t it? Sometimes, too, the language is downright crude. Nevertheless, by the end of the novel you care for the characters. Maybe they are total losers, but some of them are trying their best. Even the losers have some good qualities. There is moreover another theme to the book – the strength of families. So the book isn’t depressing, and there is humor, albeit sad humor.I am glad I read this book. For me a three star book is one I liked; it is one I am glad I read! This book is considered an Australian classic. It is definitely a total immersion course in Australian life, at least those of the working class after WW2. It is so, so, so Australian - full of colloquialisms and expressions foreign to me. For this reason I must wholeheartedly recommend the audiobook narrated by Peter Hosking. Through his clever intonations you can more easily guess the meaning of expressions and words foreign to those of us who are not Australian. I LOVED how Oriel Lamb spoke. Yeah, she was also kind of my hero all through the story. There are lots of dialogs, and the characters are reinforced by the narrator’s ability to distinguish between each.
The conflict between the Aboriginal people and other Australians is portrayed to a lesser extent, but it is hinted at. The inherent wisdom of Aboriginal beliefs comes to the fore through spooky premonitions. I found this kind of corny, but I guess it had to be drawn into a book about Australian life. It sort of belongs.
Completed May 11, 2013
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LibraryThing member Amzzz
An interesting exploration of the lives of two families. Very well written, though at times confusing. The characters (well, some of them) grow on you throughout the book until you feel like you're kind of a part of Cloudstreet as well. I liked the way it was divided up as well.
LibraryThing member philippa58
some great characters; Fish is poignant and a fey introduction to the fantastical that also permeated the storiezs; some of the colloquialisms and working classness feel a bit archaic now...and even jarred when I first bought this...the happyish ending could more logically have gone the other
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way...but very quickly I did care about the main characters and hoped they ended up having some pleasure and release in their lives Show Less
LibraryThing member penfind
Set in Australia 1930s-1960s, it tells the tale of the Pickles family and the Lamb family. Both suffering from tragedy and shame, move into a large ramshackle house on Cloud Street in Cottesloe, and the stage is set for each character to tell their story , filled with day to day events, tragedies,
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happiness and danger. The last man to hang in Perth is also featured in the story. Show Less
LibraryThing member RobinDawson
Just a terrific novel. Winton's always a good writer but this seems to sparkle with more vitality and energy and joy than the other books of his I've read. Perhaps it's the large caste of characters, or structure.
The house on Cloudstreet is overflowing with people and life. Two very different
The house on Cloudstreet is overflowing with people and life. Two very different
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families, the Lambs and the Pickles (why settle for boring surnames when you can have some fun!) live together in the same house for 20 years. We watch their relationships develop as they share the highs and lows of life. Fantastic dialogues. Very Australian and very engaging. Show Less
LibraryThing member LJuneOsborne
This is the second time I've read this book, and it was like reuniting with some long-lost dear friend. There is something about this book that sets it apart from the standard fiction story. It could be the perfect blend between gritty realism and a more elastic, malleable reality, where ghosts
The dialogue and behaviors of each character are exquisitely natural, the more fantastical moments popping out of the page while somehow being believable. We all live our lives as we can and as we know how, but we're all touched by 'the hairy hand of God.'
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have their own room of the house and a hunter can see himself running by in the sights of his own rifle. The Pickle family inherits a large house from a deceased relative, on the condition they don't sell it for twenty years, and to make money they rent half of the house to the Lamb family. Each family has suffered in their own way, and each character tries to live their own separate life, only to be pulled back into the rest of the family, sometimes even to be pulled into both families.The dialogue and behaviors of each character are exquisitely natural, the more fantastical moments popping out of the page while somehow being believable. We all live our lives as we can and as we know how, but we're all touched by 'the hairy hand of God.'
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LibraryThing member ABShepherd
I'm about to share a very unpopular opinion. They say this book couldn't be more Aussie if it tried and I think that is true. I love all things Aussie. However it is more than that.
Tim Winton has written this novel using unusually descriptive phrasing. While I found that interesting at first, over
I did like the characters and the stories, but it is not an experience I want to repeat soon.
Tim Winton has written this novel using unusually descriptive phrasing. While I found that interesting at first, over
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400 pages of it was exhausting for me. It took me weeks to read this novel when generally a novel of this length takes me only a few days. I did like the characters and the stories, but it is not an experience I want to repeat soon.
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LibraryThing member mkoroleff
Cloudstreet follows the lives of two working class Australian families that move into the suburbs of Perth into one huge and mysterious house. The families endure hardship after hardship and are not always on friendly terms even though they share a house; however, after twenty years of being
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together, they truly transform into one cohesive family. This popular contemporary novel has many uses in that it speaks of personal and familial journeys, strife, hard work, eating disorders, alcoholism, and the idealism of the American Dream. These topics occur each and every day in the homes of our students and should be addressed in the novels we read. Students should be able to personally connect with the literature so as to draw from prior knowledge, experience, and beliefs so as to make the context of the classroom a more engaging and diverse atmosphere. Show Less
LibraryThing member evilmoose
Far more dreary than I was expecting for such a popular book. The scenes and language were interesting, but I found I struggled to get through it.
LibraryThing member muppen
A beautiful rambling story of two families. The characters seem very familiar if you're Australian, they're like everyone we know. I want to know these people are still happy, living happy lives. I'm happy to have this story in my head, it's phrases and devices will ring on in my head for a long
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time. Show Less
LibraryThing member devilish2
An Australian classic, need I say more?
LibraryThing member PennyAnne
Brilliant, amazing, wonderful, fantastic - an absolute corker of a novel - Australian to its bootstraps. I loved this tale of the Pickles and the Lambs - have no idea why it took me so long to get around to reading it!
LibraryThing member Liciasings
Dark and deep and wonderful.
LibraryThing member KimMR
Probably my favourite modern Australian novel. Funny and sad, quirky and eccentric. It's a great read and made a truly memorable piece of theatre.
LibraryThing member curlyq9689
Cloudstreet : A Novel takes place in Perth, Australia and shows the lives of two working class families that come to live together in the same house. Each of the family members have an issue and they have to find their way back into the arms of the family. Cloudstreet is a novel that I wrote a
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twelve page paper on for an ENG class here at MSU and know that there are a lot of discussion points from this novel and important topics that one could touch on and discuss in class. This novel brings up the themes of anorexia, alcoholism, power roles in different genders, and family roles. Cloudstreet would be a good novel for the older high schoolers to read and they can talk about these topics in more detail. Show Less
LibraryThing member sianpr
Two families: the Lambs and the Pickles, find themselves living in a broken-down house in Cloudstreet, on the wrong side of the tracks in 1950s Perth. Tim Winton narrates a two-family saga through a whole cast of characters, all with a whole cast of problems. Gradually the parallel lives of the two
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families start to intertwine. Some great story telling and lots of poignant and funny moments but it did go on and a more sustained plot line would have helped. Show Less
LibraryThing member BirdBrian
I>Cloudstreet follows the lives of two families - the Lambs and the Pickles sharing a duplex home on the titular street in Perth, from 1944 to 1969. Overall, the novel is like an Australian version of The Waltons, but with more fighting and alcoholism. Karen’s Readers’ Advisory recommended it
While the Pickles struggle with substance abuse and dysfunction, they are renting out the other half of their house to the much more sympathetic Lamb family, who have recently moved to Perth from rural outlands, where their bright and gregarious son “Fish” (they all have distracting nicknames like that) recently suffered debilitating brain damage after a near-drowning, when he got tangled in a net trawling for crabs. Matriarch Oriel had been a devout evangelist, until the incident shook her loose from organized religion. She’s tough as nails, and treats the reader to some fascinating flashbacks of a true frontier upbringing. Australia in the 1910’s was an untamed continent at the terminus of the sprawling British Empire; it really was like the “ends of the Earth”. Husband Lester is somewhat less severe, and acts as a moderating force over both families. He is responsible enough to run their little family business- a fruit and vegetable store- but not upright or shrewd enough to avoid Sam Pickle occasionally helping him lose his earnings at the racetrack. The Lamb kids are troublesome in their own way, and there’s a lot of chaos, but their drama isn’t quite so heavy as the Pickles’.
Well, that’s just my impression. In the end, both families have their share of good times (Lester’s popular vaudeville act, Sam’s big win at the racetrack, collective hallucinations of the pig talking), bad times (Fish’s brain damage, Dolly’s infidelity) and hard times (Ted getting a neighborhood girl pregnant, the kids’ classmate’s tragic death). For American readers, I think this is a view of Australia that we don’t see often. Most of the popular media images of Australia focus on wild adventures in the Outback. Reading about two inner city working-class families struggling with unglamorous problems sounds a lot more authentic than all that Crocodile Dundee shit.
One of the wonderful things about Cloudstreet is that the rough-edged subject matter isn’t delivered in rough-edged prose. In parts, it’s almost poetic, which is maybe not quite a juxtaposition, but it is unexpected, and gives the whole book a sort of quiet dignity I don’t think it would otherwise have. Check out this passage, where Quick Lamb finally meets his uncle for the first time, after a lifetime of hearing his mother’s adoring stories about him:
The Depression had made him hard; war had beaten him flat and work had scoured all the fun from him. He was hard beyond belief, beyond admiration. On a Sunday night Quick saw him apply a blowtorch to the belly of a fallen cow before going back inside to pedal the old pianola for May. The land has done this to them, Quick thought; this could have been us.
There’s something very beautiful about that. The book has a lot of little passages like that. It’s understated but intense.
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as something that would give one a sense of every day life in Australia. On that count, I would say it was a qualified success; I can believe it accurately reflects what everyday life was like for some people in Perth during the times it describes. My real enjoyment of the book lies in the multidimensional characters author Tim Winton creates, and there I would say Cloudstreet is really wonderful. My favorite character is the easygoing, fun-loving patriarch Sam Pickles. On one hand, he spends altogether too much money at the horse races, and even his young children regard him as too immature to be raising a family, but he isn’t a fool; more like an occasionally sad clown. Between his own gambling addiction, his difficult marriage to alcoholic and self-destructive Dolly, his wayward son‘s death, and the industrial accident which took four of his fingers and put him out of a job, Sam has a lot to cope with. By the end of the book, it’s apparent that his laid-back attitude is the only thing that’s got him through tough times. He's like a green sapling that bends with the wind, while all the stronger, more brittle trees around him are snapping and blowing over. One other great thing about Sam: he’s got a cool cockatoo who functions as comic relief, when things get too depressing. Kudos to author Tim Winton for featuring such a likable bird in this novel! Daughter Rose Pickle is not so happy-go-lucky. As her mother drinks herself into oblivion, the job of raising the twins falls to Rose. In some ways, it builds her self-reliance; she really is a remarkably strong girl, but it also makes her bitter, and literally eats away at her, insofar as it might be responsible for her anorexia. The dynamic between Rose and Dolly is one of the darkest things about Cloudstreet. If it isn’t hate between them, it’s close enough. Even when they eventually come to an uneasy understanding (based on an unusual revelation about Dolly), the damage is too great to support trust or affection. This is definitely not a wholesome family drama like Little House on the Prairie. While the Pickles struggle with substance abuse and dysfunction, they are renting out the other half of their house to the much more sympathetic Lamb family, who have recently moved to Perth from rural outlands, where their bright and gregarious son “Fish” (they all have distracting nicknames like that) recently suffered debilitating brain damage after a near-drowning, when he got tangled in a net trawling for crabs. Matriarch Oriel had been a devout evangelist, until the incident shook her loose from organized religion. She’s tough as nails, and treats the reader to some fascinating flashbacks of a true frontier upbringing. Australia in the 1910’s was an untamed continent at the terminus of the sprawling British Empire; it really was like the “ends of the Earth”. Husband Lester is somewhat less severe, and acts as a moderating force over both families. He is responsible enough to run their little family business- a fruit and vegetable store- but not upright or shrewd enough to avoid Sam Pickle occasionally helping him lose his earnings at the racetrack. The Lamb kids are troublesome in their own way, and there’s a lot of chaos, but their drama isn’t quite so heavy as the Pickles’.
Well, that’s just my impression. In the end, both families have their share of good times (Lester’s popular vaudeville act, Sam’s big win at the racetrack, collective hallucinations of the pig talking), bad times (Fish’s brain damage, Dolly’s infidelity) and hard times (Ted getting a neighborhood girl pregnant, the kids’ classmate’s tragic death). For American readers, I think this is a view of Australia that we don’t see often. Most of the popular media images of Australia focus on wild adventures in the Outback. Reading about two inner city working-class families struggling with unglamorous problems sounds a lot more authentic than all that Crocodile Dundee shit.
One of the wonderful things about Cloudstreet is that the rough-edged subject matter isn’t delivered in rough-edged prose. In parts, it’s almost poetic, which is maybe not quite a juxtaposition, but it is unexpected, and gives the whole book a sort of quiet dignity I don’t think it would otherwise have. Check out this passage, where Quick Lamb finally meets his uncle for the first time, after a lifetime of hearing his mother’s adoring stories about him:
The Depression had made him hard; war had beaten him flat and work had scoured all the fun from him. He was hard beyond belief, beyond admiration. On a Sunday night Quick saw him apply a blowtorch to the belly of a fallen cow before going back inside to pedal the old pianola for May. The land has done this to them, Quick thought; this could have been us.
There’s something very beautiful about that. The book has a lot of little passages like that. It’s understated but intense.
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LibraryThing member starbox
This is going to be one of my stand-out reads for the year. It's SUPERB!
Opening just after WW2, we meet two families who end up sharing a ramshackle and unlovely house - the Pickles - drunken floozy Dolly and her gambling husband . And their tenants- the driven Lambs- who, under the supervision of
And their children- anorexic Rose Pickles, the golden-child Fish Lamb, who suffers a brain-impairing accident in the first pages and will never be the same again- and his depressed brother Quick.
As twenty years roll by in Perth, as good and bad luck befall them, there is, too, a weird strand of magic realism running through a tale of everyday folk. And I'd say Winton carries it off- it just makes the saga SING.
Fabulous writing.
Opening just after WW2, we meet two families who end up sharing a ramshackle and unlovely house - the Pickles - drunken floozy Dolly and her gambling husband . And their tenants- the driven Lambs- who, under the supervision of
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mother Oriel- open a successful grocery store.And their children- anorexic Rose Pickles, the golden-child Fish Lamb, who suffers a brain-impairing accident in the first pages and will never be the same again- and his depressed brother Quick.
As twenty years roll by in Perth, as good and bad luck befall them, there is, too, a weird strand of magic realism running through a tale of everyday folk. And I'd say Winton carries it off- it just makes the saga SING.
Fabulous writing.
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LibraryThing member ElizabethCromb
Reread because it is such a good read. The human interest and the character definition is so well done.
LibraryThing member PilgrimJess
"Life was something you didn't argue with, because when it came down to it, whether you barracked God or nothing at all, life was all there was. And death."
In this novel the author introduces the reader to two dysfunctional working class families, the Pickles and the Lambs, who flee the city after
Sam Pickles, who recently lost most of a hand in a boating mishap, inherits the sizeable, but ramshackle house on Cloudstreet, however a covenant in the will prevents him from reselling the property for twenty years. Sam Pickles an inveterate gambler, but not a lucky one who invariably squanders any money that he makes, decides do take in tenants and rent out half of the building.
The Lambs, whose farm has gone bankrupt and whose son Samson, nicknamed Fish, was recently left permanently brain-damaged in a fishing accident, decide to take up tenancy in the house. Just like the Pickles the Lambs have suffered their own run of bad luck but unlike their landlords are God-fearing and industrious. Determined to change their luck with hard work the Lambs establish a small thriving shop out of a ground floor room in their half of the house. An uneasy détente forms between the two families which with the passage of time gradually becomes begrudging tolerance, until finally, after an inter-family marriage, cooperation.
Each of the main characters are fighting their own demons, Sam his gambling addiction, his wife Rose alcoholism and a liking of extra-marital sex, Oriel Lamb feels so unsettled by the house moves out into a tent in the back garden, Quick Lamb, Fish’s brother, battles with guilt over his perceived role in his sibling’s disability as does his father, whilst Rose Pickles resents being forced to quit schooling because of her parents's irresponsibility.
Spanning a period of roughly twenty years from the end of WWII to the early 1960' the two families are afflicted by a number of tragic and horrific events—adultery, death, guilt, physical and mental disability to name but a few that when the author introduces a mass murder into the plot it seems almost trivial.
Much of the book deals with what Sam refers to the "shifty shadow" of fate yet despite or because of their struggles the two families display a remarkable sense of dogged determination to succeed and in doing so becomes a tale about coping, acceptance and forgiveness, in particular the hardest form of all, self-forgiveness. Interspersed between the tragic elements there is also humour and magic, a talking pig and a mysterious Aborigine who can walk on water to name but a couple, which help lighten the mood. Although I must admit I couldn't always fathom the significance of, in particular, the magical interludes but then maybe that was just me.
On the whole I found this is a quite remarkable book featuring a cast of interesting characters who are well drawn and who display a certain honesty, meaning that I found it an enjoyable read despite its seemingly bleak outlook.
In this novel the author introduces the reader to two dysfunctional working class families, the Pickles and the Lambs, who flee the city after
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separate catastrophes and find refuge under the same roof. Sam Pickles, who recently lost most of a hand in a boating mishap, inherits the sizeable, but ramshackle house on Cloudstreet, however a covenant in the will prevents him from reselling the property for twenty years. Sam Pickles an inveterate gambler, but not a lucky one who invariably squanders any money that he makes, decides do take in tenants and rent out half of the building.
The Lambs, whose farm has gone bankrupt and whose son Samson, nicknamed Fish, was recently left permanently brain-damaged in a fishing accident, decide to take up tenancy in the house. Just like the Pickles the Lambs have suffered their own run of bad luck but unlike their landlords are God-fearing and industrious. Determined to change their luck with hard work the Lambs establish a small thriving shop out of a ground floor room in their half of the house. An uneasy détente forms between the two families which with the passage of time gradually becomes begrudging tolerance, until finally, after an inter-family marriage, cooperation.
Each of the main characters are fighting their own demons, Sam his gambling addiction, his wife Rose alcoholism and a liking of extra-marital sex, Oriel Lamb feels so unsettled by the house moves out into a tent in the back garden, Quick Lamb, Fish’s brother, battles with guilt over his perceived role in his sibling’s disability as does his father, whilst Rose Pickles resents being forced to quit schooling because of her parents's irresponsibility.
Spanning a period of roughly twenty years from the end of WWII to the early 1960' the two families are afflicted by a number of tragic and horrific events—adultery, death, guilt, physical and mental disability to name but a few that when the author introduces a mass murder into the plot it seems almost trivial.
Much of the book deals with what Sam refers to the "shifty shadow" of fate yet despite or because of their struggles the two families display a remarkable sense of dogged determination to succeed and in doing so becomes a tale about coping, acceptance and forgiveness, in particular the hardest form of all, self-forgiveness. Interspersed between the tragic elements there is also humour and magic, a talking pig and a mysterious Aborigine who can walk on water to name but a couple, which help lighten the mood. Although I must admit I couldn't always fathom the significance of, in particular, the magical interludes but then maybe that was just me.
On the whole I found this is a quite remarkable book featuring a cast of interesting characters who are well drawn and who display a certain honesty, meaning that I found it an enjoyable read despite its seemingly bleak outlook.
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LibraryThing member ElizabethCromb
A beautiful presentation of people's frailties and humanity post WW2 up to 1960s.
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
Well, that was like a feature-length episode of Round The Twist! I enjoyed the characters and the dialogue for the most part, but 400 pages is too long for 'quirky', and I was flagging by the final pages. Blackwater by Michael McDowell is a far better weird and watery epic!
Two families, the Pickles
The characters are great and the humour is very droll, but the book still dragged for me. Loved the writing, though, almost magical in parts but interspersed with dry dialogue to speed up the odd chapter! I also got a real feel for Perth, which I can't remember reading about before, in the fifties and sixties. Definitely an experience, but one I'm not sure I would repeat.
Two families, the Pickles
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and the Lambs, move into a dilapidated house called 'Cloudstreet' in Perth, Western Australia, and stay there, growing together and falling apart, for twenty years. Sam Pickles is a gambler who believes that the 'hairy hand of God' and the 'shady shadow' will determine his fate. He loses the fingers on one hand in an accident and relies ever more on his luck turning to support his family, including wife Dolly and bright but troubled daughter Rose. Lester and Oriel Lamb are hardworkers who rent half of Cloudstreet from the Pickles and turn the front room into a successful corner shop. Their son Fish was nearly drowned when he was little and left brain damaged. Fish's brother Quick goes onto marry Rose Pickles. The house is a character in itself, haunted by the spirit of a white woman and a brown girl.The characters are great and the humour is very droll, but the book still dragged for me. Loved the writing, though, almost magical in parts but interspersed with dry dialogue to speed up the odd chapter! I also got a real feel for Perth, which I can't remember reading about before, in the fifties and sixties. Definitely an experience, but one I'm not sure I would repeat.
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Awards
Miles Franklin Literary Award (Winner — 1992)
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards (Fiction — 1991)
The Age Book of the Year Award (Shortlist — Fiction — 1991)
Around the world in 80 books (Australia)
The Big Jubilee Read (1991 — 1982-1991)