Cloudstreet

Tim Winton

Sep 2012 · Penguin Group Australia

About this ebook

Winner of the Miles Franklin Award and recognised as one of the greatest works of Australian literature, Cloudstreet is Tim Winton's sprawling, comic epic about luck and love, fortitude and forgiveness, and the magic of the everyday.

After two separate catastrophes, two very different families leave the country for the bright lights of Perth. The Lambs are industrious, united and – until God seems to turn his back on their boy Fish – religious. The Pickleses are gamblers, boozers, fractious, and unlikely landlords.

Chance, hardship and the war force them to swallow their dignity and share a great, breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet. Over the next twenty years they struggle and strive, laugh and curse, come apart and pull together under the same roof, and try as they can to make their lives.

‘This is that rare book, a novel of both heart and intellect. It pulses with a sense of wonder and shines with the clear light of truth.’ Robert Drewe
‘One of the great masterpieces of world fiction.’ Philip Hensher
‘If you have not read Cloudstreet, your life is diminished . . . if you have not met these characters, this generous community, these tragedies, the humour. It is so wonderful.’ Mem Fox
‘Cloudstreet is a comic, poignant and intelligent tour de force.’ Jim Crace
‘A groundbreaking Australian narrative [with an] irresistible combination of the domestic and the mythic.’ Thomas Keneally
‘Reading Cloudstreet for the first time was like a summer dream from which I wished never to wake.’ Gillian Mears
‘Cloudstreet is the sole epic of contemporary Australian literature: in it, Winton paints on the same canvas as Xavier Herbert and Patrick White.’ Geordie Williamson
‘A writer of tremendous zest, warmth and humour.’ Graham Swift
‘Reading Cloudstreet is like catching a wave.’ Kate Jennings
‘Eccentric heights and unrepeatable genius.’ Malcolm Knox

Ratings and reviews

I was forced to read this for school (I know 🙄) but it is actually a masterpiece. I found it a little bit hard to get into at the beginning, but once you understand what's happening it is captivating. His descriptions are incredible, the characters are real, and the ending ties it all together like a piece of art. Definitely want to re-read in the future

Not a fan, at all. I'll give it this though, it amused me once at the end of the book. "A black man leaves the tree like a bird" it just gives such an image. Also too much nasty sex, as in, gratuitous and fetishistic

Wonderful story beautifully told with sublime sensitivity. Evocative and nostalgic depiction of places and neighborhoods so familiar to me in West Australia. One of my all time favourite novels.

About the author

Tim Winton is the author of 30 books. His work has been widely translated and adapted for film, television, stage and radio. He lives in Western Australia.