Description
Georgie Jutland is a mess. At forty, with her career in ruins, she finds herself stranded in White Point with a fisherman she doesn't love and two kids whose dead mother she can never replace. Her days have fallen into domestic tedium and social isolation. Her nights are a blur of vodka and pointless loitering in cyberspace. Leached of all confidence, Georgie has lost her way; she barely recognises herself. In prose as haunting and beautiful as its western setting, Dirt Music confirms Tim Winton's status as one of the finest novelists of his generation.
Genres
Collection
Publication
Scribner (2003), Edition: Reprint, 416 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member BlackSheepDances
I finished Dirt Music (Tim Winton) with a sense of loss. I was sorry to see the story end, especially as no clear conclusion was reached. That's okay, I'm a grownup, I can handle there not being a defined ending (I've given up on happy endings). Without giving any spoilers, a few thoughts:
Tim
The main themes are overcoming your own personality flaws, and the fear of being left behind. Winton's main character Lu has lost everyone he loves; on this journey he meets several characters that could represent those faces from his past. He also has to face the reality that his own perceptions from the past may have been wrong. Horrifyingly so.
Rumor has it that this will become a film. Rachel Weisz is signed to play Georgia, which sounds fine. But there is a bit of a mystery regarding Russell Crowe and Colin Farrell. IMDB, the movie database, lists Colin as playing Lu. However, another report says Russell would play Lu. The other main male character, Jim, is pretty fascinating: he could be played by Russell but defintely not Colin. So I'm not sure which is accurate. I hope that Russell plays Lu, but he could do the character Jim Buckridge with a bit of a evil streak which might be interesting to see.
I'd be very interested to see how a screenplay could be written to show the amount of time passing as well as do justice to the Australian terrain and the long stretches without dialogue. My first reaction was that it would be compared with Tom Hank's Castaway. I think Russell could carry that, I don't think Colin has that much depth.
Anyway, this book had me take out the atlas, the dictionary, and use Google several times to see the trees and earthforms he describes. I think a geologist would particularly like this book, lots of rock talk.
Lastly, I've noticed that in the three Winton books I've read that Winton seems to idolize children, almost in a mythological way. That's not a bad thing, but it just seems that the children in his books develop almost a fairy like quality of mystery and perfection.
Tim
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Winton is so detailed and thorough that you get a sense of every detail in the scenes. The weather, the feel of the dust on your skin, the smells of the eucalyptus, as well as the emotions of the character are felt, not simply read. I didn't care for the main female character, I thought she was unsympathetic and apathetic to other characters, even the one she loves. The male lead is great, but of course, it's fiction! He has to be THAT perfect to make it work. The main themes are overcoming your own personality flaws, and the fear of being left behind. Winton's main character Lu has lost everyone he loves; on this journey he meets several characters that could represent those faces from his past. He also has to face the reality that his own perceptions from the past may have been wrong. Horrifyingly so.
Rumor has it that this will become a film. Rachel Weisz is signed to play Georgia, which sounds fine. But there is a bit of a mystery regarding Russell Crowe and Colin Farrell. IMDB, the movie database, lists Colin as playing Lu. However, another report says Russell would play Lu. The other main male character, Jim, is pretty fascinating: he could be played by Russell but defintely not Colin. So I'm not sure which is accurate. I hope that Russell plays Lu, but he could do the character Jim Buckridge with a bit of a evil streak which might be interesting to see.
I'd be very interested to see how a screenplay could be written to show the amount of time passing as well as do justice to the Australian terrain and the long stretches without dialogue. My first reaction was that it would be compared with Tom Hank's Castaway. I think Russell could carry that, I don't think Colin has that much depth.
Anyway, this book had me take out the atlas, the dictionary, and use Google several times to see the trees and earthforms he describes. I think a geologist would particularly like this book, lots of rock talk.
Lastly, I've noticed that in the three Winton books I've read that Winton seems to idolize children, almost in a mythological way. That's not a bad thing, but it just seems that the children in his books develop almost a fairy like quality of mystery and perfection.
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LibraryThing member wandering_star
What do you do when your luck runs out?
Some people let their lives become a bitter search for revenge. Others decide to defy fate: "Russian bloke told me once. Said we all die. But you might as well die with music. Go out big."
Georgie Jutland has lived a chequered but adventurous life, fleeing
The man she's currently with is Jim Buckridge, a widower and the king of his lobster-fishing town. He no longer rules with vindictive violence, as he did when he was younger and as his father did before him. They do not love each other, but they have found an equilibrium, although it gives Georgie less and less of what she needs. Then one day, in a spirit of self-destructiveness, she has a sexual encounter with a local ne'er-do-well, the polar opposite of Jim and a man seen by the townsfolk as coming from a family tainted with bad luck.
This is a fantastic, complex read, about confidence, luck and coming to terms with the past. The landscape is almost a character in the book, described with lyrical beauty but inhospitable to human life. The writing is as vivid, spare and harsh as the landscape, with sentences whose significance you only realise pages later. There is real evil present in the town, but all the main characters are, to some extent, comprehensible and therefore forgiveable (not an easy call given some of the dynamics involved).
Some people let their lives become a bitter search for revenge. Others decide to defy fate: "Russian bloke told me once. Said we all die. But you might as well die with music. Go out big."
Georgie Jutland has lived a chequered but adventurous life, fleeing
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from her family's bourgeois respectability. She's been as fearless about discarding men as she has about changing continents. But one day, she concludes that her luck has run out. She has lost the tough detachment she needed for her career as a cancer nurse. She has landed, like driftwood, in a feudalistic township in the brutal landscape of Western Australia. And without the self-confidence, her defiant brashness is starting to feel like empty bravado.The man she's currently with is Jim Buckridge, a widower and the king of his lobster-fishing town. He no longer rules with vindictive violence, as he did when he was younger and as his father did before him. They do not love each other, but they have found an equilibrium, although it gives Georgie less and less of what she needs. Then one day, in a spirit of self-destructiveness, she has a sexual encounter with a local ne'er-do-well, the polar opposite of Jim and a man seen by the townsfolk as coming from a family tainted with bad luck.
This is a fantastic, complex read, about confidence, luck and coming to terms with the past. The landscape is almost a character in the book, described with lyrical beauty but inhospitable to human life. The writing is as vivid, spare and harsh as the landscape, with sentences whose significance you only realise pages later. There is real evil present in the town, but all the main characters are, to some extent, comprehensible and therefore forgiveable (not an easy call given some of the dynamics involved).
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LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
Set at the turn of this century in a West Australian fishing village with a rugged history, Dirt Music gives us life lived upside down and backwards, and for a while it isn't easy to decide who we ought to sympathize with. Georgie Jutland, a burnt out nurse, has a bit of a history herself, but has
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tentatively settled in with widower Jim Buckridge, a successful commercial fisherman, and his two young sons. His past is mostly a mystery to her, although his reputation for revenge-oriented violence is no secret. His marriage and his wife's death are taboo subjects. Soon she becomes drawn into the life of Luther Fox, an unlicensed "shamateur" fisherman flirting with disaster by poaching abalone and lobsters. Buckridge and Fox are destined to be rivals for Georgie as well as for their marine quarry, but each will face a far more complex personal struggle to come to grips with himself. Their stories are layered and mingled beautifully, leading to a resolution that you won't see coming from very far away. Winton's writing is brilliant. Sentence after sentence, even whole paragraphs, demand to be re-read, not for their sense, but for their beauty and force. Dirt Music is a symphony. Show Less
LibraryThing member zmagic69
I bought my first Tim Winton book "Breath" at Compass books (one of the best airport bookstores) in SFO airport, ironically enough on my way to Australia. I did not realize the author was Australian, until I began reading. Breath was Wonderful, but Dirt Music goes even further. A wonderful story of
Georgie goes from one failed relationship to another until the beginning of the book where she has been married to Jim for 3 loveless years. When Luther and Georgie meet, they find what has been missing in their lives, but set off a chain reaction neither could anticipate, not resolve.
This is a wonderful book.
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loss, rejection, tragedy, but also it is about forgiveness, and redemption. I can't recommend this book too much. Luther Fox loses his family in a freak accident, and spends the next year living “off the grid” and poaching fish.Georgie goes from one failed relationship to another until the beginning of the book where she has been married to Jim for 3 loveless years. When Luther and Georgie meet, they find what has been missing in their lives, but set off a chain reaction neither could anticipate, not resolve.
This is a wonderful book.
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LibraryThing member Niecierpek
Very much Australian. I read Winton's The Riders before, and there Australia and Europe were juxtaposed and sort of mingled, a bit Henry James' way, but this one is very much Australian, and takes place on the west coast of it- in beautiful and singular surroundings. The action starts in a fishing
It was quite good.
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village, full of tough people making a tough living in a tough climate. There is a relationship triangle, and a lot of family and place secrets, and a lot of gorgeous nature, and then a quest, for all three of the main characters. It was quite good.
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LibraryThing member liehtzu
Brilliant book with extraordinary stark yet poetic prose. I've never been to Western Australia but I swear I could smell the place - and the people! I loved his flawed and human characters. My only complaint is that a glossary of Aussie slang would not have gone astray.
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Fishing is central to the western Australian village of White Point, driving the economy and shaping social order. Jim Buckridge is the best fisherman around, which affords him "big man on campus" status. His partner, Georgie Jutland, ended up in White Point after chucking a nursing career and a
Well, OK, that was kind of surprising. The chemistry between Georgie and Lu wasn't well-developed, and her relationship with Jim still had life in it (that is, until she slept with Lu). But Luther was an interesting character, a man forever scarred by the sudden tragic loss of his entire family. I felt sorry for him, and wanted him to find love and happiness with Georgie. Thus Tim Winton sets up the central conflict, "what will Georgie do?" and takes the reader along on her quest. Along the way, he reveals tiny details that flesh out each man's past. What exactly happened to Luther's family? Why is Jim such a badass? Why won't he talk about Debbie, and what does he really want from Georgie? Winton also brings the Western Australian landscape to life. As someone completely unfamiliar with the geography and the flora and fauna, I kept a map close at hand and found images of animals, trees, and birds to visualize the scenery.
While Winton was successful in drawing me into the story and it held my interest, it fell short of its potential. Georgie's character could have been developed more fully. She was somewhat of a paradox: hard-edged and abrasive, but known for her caring and nursing skills. Not the least bit concerned about fashion or makeup, and yet considered sexy. It just didn't add up. Then, as the central conflict reached its climax, Winton placed his characters in a situation that struck me as far-fetched, and the resolution was just too neat to be believable. Ah, well.
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failed relationship. Their relationship is fragile: Jim mourns his first wife Debbie, who died of cancer, but he refuses to talk about it. His young sons see Georgie as the evil stepmother. Georgie stays up into the wee hours, drowning her sorrows in vodka. It's not surprising, then, when she discovers Luther Fox poaching fish in the dark of night and ends up in bed with him.Well, OK, that was kind of surprising. The chemistry between Georgie and Lu wasn't well-developed, and her relationship with Jim still had life in it (that is, until she slept with Lu). But Luther was an interesting character, a man forever scarred by the sudden tragic loss of his entire family. I felt sorry for him, and wanted him to find love and happiness with Georgie. Thus Tim Winton sets up the central conflict, "what will Georgie do?" and takes the reader along on her quest. Along the way, he reveals tiny details that flesh out each man's past. What exactly happened to Luther's family? Why is Jim such a badass? Why won't he talk about Debbie, and what does he really want from Georgie? Winton also brings the Western Australian landscape to life. As someone completely unfamiliar with the geography and the flora and fauna, I kept a map close at hand and found images of animals, trees, and birds to visualize the scenery.
While Winton was successful in drawing me into the story and it held my interest, it fell short of its potential. Georgie's character could have been developed more fully. She was somewhat of a paradox: hard-edged and abrasive, but known for her caring and nursing skills. Not the least bit concerned about fashion or makeup, and yet considered sexy. It just didn't add up. Then, as the central conflict reached its climax, Winton placed his characters in a situation that struck me as far-fetched, and the resolution was just too neat to be believable. Ah, well.
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LibraryThing member traveltrish
Doorway - Setting, Character
Style - Descriptive well written chapters that evoke a strong images of country, seaside WA. Chapters vary in length in that some are extremely short and others long
Review
The story is set in a small seaside town called Whitepoint and its three main characters have one
His descriptive vernacular writing helps to bring alive the "Australianess" of the characters. The ongoing mystery background of Georgie's partner Jim makes the story a page turner. Whilst not renown for happy endings this one has a relatively good one.
Style - Descriptive well written chapters that evoke a strong images of country, seaside WA. Chapters vary in length in that some are extremely short and others long
Review
The story is set in a small seaside town called Whitepoint and its three main characters have one
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thing in common - shattered pasts. I found this a very appealing and well written book. The main character Georgie is initially not likeable but Winton develops her character to such an extent that you grow do like and understand her as she struggles to sort out her life at 40 in coastal WA.His descriptive vernacular writing helps to bring alive the "Australianess" of the characters. The ongoing mystery background of Georgie's partner Jim makes the story a page turner. Whilst not renown for happy endings this one has a relatively good one.
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LibraryThing member MelmoththeLost
Well this was a splendid read, and particularly enjoyable for the vividness with which Winton conjures up images of the coast and small towns of Western Australia and lush tropical northern coast of the continent. The interplay of the relationships between the three central characters and the roles
Winton's another new author to me whose work I'd like to read more of.
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of their respective pasts and backgrounds in shaping the action of the novel is very well handled indeed, and the characters themselves are never less than engaging as human beings even at those points when you'd probably rather not know them if they were your neighbours.Winton's another new author to me whose work I'd like to read more of.
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LibraryThing member maggieball
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
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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. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rue_full
Winner of a prestigious yearly award down under, Dirt Music creates a multi-textural experience of a quietly desperate love affair between an unlikely couple of loners. Winton explores alternate communication in this novel; the protagonists rarely say anything memorable, which speaks to those of us
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who suffer from the same malady of introversion. Instead, the characters express, feel, and ultimately live, through what they do - she heals through nursing and medicine, he has an elemental affinity with music. Haunting characterizations make this a novel you can never forget. Show Less
LibraryThing member MarkKeeffe
Great read. Used really good descriptive language. This bloke can write. This story covered a lot of human emotions. The characters were real. I'drecommend this to any Australian although I'm not sure if non-Australians would relate to the descriptions of the countryside very well.
LibraryThing member Scrabblenut
I first read the novel Breath by Tim Winton and was completely entranced, so I had to try some more of his books. Dirt Music does not disappoint. Tim Winton's writing is magical, and I was transported to Western and Northern Australia, as Lu Fox tries to survive in a world that has taken everyone
This is a complex book where things are slowly revealed and you feel sympathy for all the characters. Savour it. Highly recommended.
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and everything he loves. This is a complex book where things are slowly revealed and you feel sympathy for all the characters. Savour it. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member hazelk
One of my favourite reads of 2006 and my first by this author. I don't know if distance lends enchantment but the western Australian coast was so vividly evoked for me that I wanted to fly there straight away.
The prose is seemingly plain but at the same time poetic in an unstrained way.
It's a
The prose is seemingly plain but at the same time poetic in an unstrained way.
It's a
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journey novel with all that sort of novel entails but it certainly felt different to the American type road novels, though no wish to criticise the latter on my part. Show Less
LibraryThing member debnance
Bleak story of bleak characters in a bleak world that seemed very honest. Recommended.
LibraryThing member LJuneOsborne
Dirt Music is, 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
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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 memories. All three are lost people trying to find each other in their own ways, making the book not only fun to read but something the reader can easily relate to. Show Less
LibraryThing member 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
It is a cleverly-written book, but I found the language and events too jarring to continue past the three-quarter mark.
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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 found the language and events too jarring to continue past the three-quarter mark.
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LibraryThing member tixylix
I really enjoyed this book and it kept me turning the pages till the end. I read it in a couple of days, so pretty fast for me! The story is set in White Point in Australia, a town dominated by the fishing trade, and is focused on Georgie. She's a bit of a nomad, drifting around the world when the
The story is thrilling at points, very slow at others and conjured up the atmosphere of a hot, dry country where the sun can be your enemy. Recommended.
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whim takes her and ending up in a relationship with a man in White Point whom she comes to realise is not the right man for her. The story is thrilling at points, very slow at others and conjured up the atmosphere of a hot, dry country where the sun can be your enemy. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member SMG-JMonester
This book is a very touching and emotional book. The characters go through different stages in this book such as boredom to exitement.
LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
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
Set in a fictional place called White Point, a fishing town, the novel focuses on three people: Georgie Jutland who was always the rebel daughter in her family, a nurse & is now living with Jim Buckridge, whose family has always been that family that is never crossed by anyone in town, or the one whose judgment of people becomes the norm for others; his dad was feared and that fear has carried on down to Jim. Finally there is Luther Fox (Lu), who lost his brother, his brother's wife (who played music for a living and played at home for the enjoyment of it all) & his niece and nephew in a stupid car accident and resolved never to hear or play music again. Luther is a shamateur -- a poacher, who gets up long before all of the other fishermen, encroaches on their territories and sells his fish to make good $.
To make a long synopsis short, Lu & Georgie begin a relationship, Jim finds out, Lu's dog is killed, truck demolished and Lu decides that the Buckridge power in the town is no match and that he will be leaving. Jim has is own issues...and wants to confront Lu if only to prove he can be different from his father, and so goes out in search of Lu with Georgie along. Lu, it seems, took off on the road going north, and it is only when he is forced to live without the company of others on an uninhabited island that he can come to terms with his own existence & meaning -- what he calls earlier "dirt music." So in a sense, all three characters are seeking the same thing, but all within the scope of their own personal existential realities.
I enjoyed most the scenes in which Lu is hitching rides up north and going through the different landscapes both of geography and of human existence, especially portrayed in the people Lu meets on his travels.
I would definitely recommend the book; it is well worth the reading, and Winton is becoming one of my favorite authors.
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
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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 people: Georgie Jutland who was always the rebel daughter in her family, a nurse & is now living with Jim Buckridge, whose family has always been that family that is never crossed by anyone in town, or the one whose judgment of people becomes the norm for others; his dad was feared and that fear has carried on down to Jim. Finally there is Luther Fox (Lu), who lost his brother, his brother's wife (who played music for a living and played at home for the enjoyment of it all) & his niece and nephew in a stupid car accident and resolved never to hear or play music again. Luther is a shamateur -- a poacher, who gets up long before all of the other fishermen, encroaches on their territories and sells his fish to make good $.
To make a long synopsis short, Lu & Georgie begin a relationship, Jim finds out, Lu's dog is killed, truck demolished and Lu decides that the Buckridge power in the town is no match and that he will be leaving. Jim has is own issues...and wants to confront Lu if only to prove he can be different from his father, and so goes out in search of Lu with Georgie along. Lu, it seems, took off on the road going north, and it is only when he is forced to live without the company of others on an uninhabited island that he can come to terms with his own existence & meaning -- what he calls earlier "dirt music." So in a sense, all three characters are seeking the same thing, but all within the scope of their own personal existential realities.
I enjoyed most the scenes in which Lu is hitching rides up north and going through the different landscapes both of geography and of human existence, especially portrayed in the people Lu meets on his travels.
I would definitely recommend the book; it is well worth the reading, and Winton is becoming one of my favorite authors.
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LibraryThing member cindyb29
I didn't like this book at all and only read it through to the end because I needed an Australia-themed book for my book club. Some of it was hard to understand because of the Australian slang. The story was drawn out and got very boring. I ended up scanning the second half of the book.
LibraryThing member Eoin
3.75 A competent and complex study of middle age in Western Australia. Winton manages moments of beauty, though the effect was, for me, short lived. I had the sense that the landscape outmatched the characters. Worth it for Bird.
LibraryThing member Eye_Gee
I love Tim WInton's writing, and I am enjoy books about Australia. I couldn't quite connect with these characters, which is why I only gave it 4 stars.
LibraryThing member ElizabethCromb
An interesting examination of human frailty.
LibraryThing member PDCRead
Georgie Jutland has drifted into Jim Buckridge’s life. Widowed, he is a thriving fisherman in the Australian coastal town of White Point. Her relationship with his sons is tense and she has never really settled into his home or the wider community. Georgie is looking out the window very early one
The man in the boat is Luther Fox, formerly a musician but is now a loner since his family were killed in a freak accident. These two isolated individuals are inexorably drawn together and begin an intense affair. The residents of the town are not best known for their tolerance and it is a place of violence and secrets. Their liaison is full of risk and if discovered the danger is immense…
I have only read one of Winton’s books before, the excellent Lands Edge which is a memoir on his life at the coast in Australia, but this was the first foray into his fiction. He has managed to write a really powerful book with some great flawed characters and a tense plot. The writing is stark and sparse, and like the outback is intense and evocative. It has a really good ending too; very cleverly done. Must read some more of his fiction soon.
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morning and sees a boat slip into the water to fish illegally. Buckridge and the other residents of White Point detest poachers. The man in the boat is Luther Fox, formerly a musician but is now a loner since his family were killed in a freak accident. These two isolated individuals are inexorably drawn together and begin an intense affair. The residents of the town are not best known for their tolerance and it is a place of violence and secrets. Their liaison is full of risk and if discovered the danger is immense…
I have only read one of Winton’s books before, the excellent Lands Edge which is a memoir on his life at the coast in Australia, but this was the first foray into his fiction. He has managed to write a really powerful book with some great flawed characters and a tense plot. The writing is stark and sparse, and like the outback is intense and evocative. It has a really good ending too; very cleverly done. Must read some more of his fiction soon.
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Subjects
Awards
Booker Prize (Longlist — 2002)
The Economist Best Books (2002.39)
New South Wales Premier's Literary Award (Winner — 2002)
Kiriyama Prize (Finalist — Fiction — 2002)
Miles Franklin Literary Award (Winner — 2002)
BookPeople Booksellers' Choice Award (Winner — 2001)
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards (Fiction — 2001)
The Age Book of the Year Award (Shortlist — Fiction — 2002)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2001