Cloudstreet

This book follows the lives of two Australian families who share a house from the 1940s to the 1960s. Both families are poor, but one believes in "luck" and the other creates their own luck. It's a wonderful, absorbing portrayal of a wide variety of characters, the ups and downs of their lives and the vicissitudes and joys of their crowded lives. The writing was very engaging, although American readers might have some trouble with some of the Australian language.

This novel is a family epic, depicting working-class, ordinary, Australian life in an extraordinary and spiritual way. It follows the lives of two families, the 'Pickleses' and the Lambs, as we join them on their journey from isolation to unity. The entire novel, spanning twenty years, takes place in one moment, as Fish Lamb's life flashes before his eyes as he approaches death. Sometimes confusing, this funny, beautiful book is better appreciated with close study, although it can be enjoyed on any level.

It is sad to see this book is out of print. I still have a hardback copy on my shelf. Since first reading the book -- the first time I read it I had actually checked it out of the library -- I have obtained three copies at my favorite used bookstore, giving away two copies to friends. Maybe it was because Tim Winton was not a household name even among readers or maybe it was because "Cloudstreet" did not appear in Harold Bloom's list of canonical books (and I felt it should have been), but there is no other work of fiction I've felt strong enough about to get three copies to give away two -- that I felt needed to be read and read by as many people as possible. A marvelous allegory, a great work of fantasy with so much of the gritty details of the mundane world you forget how unlikely these two families are that live in the house on Cloudstreet. The Pickles and The Lambs, the two sides of a spiritual person. The Lambs: moral, charitable, and hardworking, but without any faith. On the other end, Sam Pickle, a drunkard and gambler, but a man who knows about what it means to live in the shadow of God: that some days you cannot lose, and other days . . . to get out of bed is asking for trouble. And then there is Fish Lamb who half comes back from his watery grave, the other half living in the world of the spirit watching over the people he loves and telling us their story. I cannot say too much . . . this is a book that needs to be read and then it needs to be contemplated with the sense of wonder it evokes.

If there was a competition for the greatest Australian novel of the Twentieth Century, Cloudstreet would be in the running for the top prize. It is an indictment of the American publishing industry that it appears to be out of print. Although Winton was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his later book, The Riders, Cloudstreet is the one that should have won it. Happily, the dramatization of Cloudstreet has endeared it to a new audience, but it it still worth saying: Wake up world, this is a classic novel.