Cloudstreet, Tim Winton, Australia, 1991
Beautifully and passionately written this book focuses on two completely different working-class families, brought together by tragedy and fate. Covering twenty years from the early 1940s through to the 1960s and set mainly in Perth, Cloudstreet presents an array of unique characters, revealing their weaknesses, their hopes and their fears. Winton’s use of the working-class dialect, together with many colloquial turns of phrase makes the book memorable.
The characters may be quirky, irresponsible and, at times, annoying, but they all function as real people. North of Perth, Samuel Manifold Pickles, a hopeless gambler, works on a barge moving guano, until a work accident claims four fingers and renders him more or less unemployable. He and his family (wife, Dolly, an attractive, hopeless alcoholic, and three children, Rose, Ted and Chub) only have a roof over their heads thanks to Sam’s cousin. The cousin, Joel, who has made a lot of money on the horses, lets the Pickles live in the back of the pub he now owns, but shortly after Sam loses his fingers, Joel unfortunately dies, and the Pickles expect to be thrown out on the street. However, when one is at rock-bottom the only way can be up, and it turns out that Joel has left Sam a run-down two-storey house in Perth – Number One Cloud Street. With a very large, if somewhat dilapidated, house and no income the Pickles decide to divide the house and advertise for tenants.
South of Perth, Lester Lamb is a god-fearing father and fisherman. When one of the many Lamb children almost drowns but miraculously survives, the Lambs believe it to be an act of God, until it becomes apparent that survival is not always the best option. Then Lester sees Sam’s advertisement and he, his wife Oriel and their collection of children decide to start anew elsewhere.
This is the story of these two families, the Pickles, living hand-to-mouth, and the Lambs, hard-working and aware that money definitely does not grow on trees. Many of the small stories that make up the main story are connected to water – like the small creeks and streams that eventually flow into the river and out to the sea. The strong water theme that pervades the entire novel is at times beautiful, at other times confronting and sad, but at all times emphasising the emotional thrust of the novel. A very special Australian story that, once read, is difficult to forget.
In 2011, Winton’s book was made into a film with the same name. It was also made into an opera drama in 2016 with the premiere by State Opera South Australia.