Cloudstreet

By: Tim Winton

Narrated by: Peter Hosking

Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing a great, breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet, where they begin their lives from scratch. For 20 years, they roister and rankle, laugh and curse until the roof over their heads becomes a home for their hearts.

©2002 Tim Winton (P)2008 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

AudioFile Earphones Award, Exceptional Audio Performance, 2004

"One of those rare novels that warm the heart, as well as spark the imagination." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Peter Hosking's performance is true to Winton's unsentimental exploration into humankind's ability to love and survive amid adversity.... His characterizations, including an aboriginal ghost and a talking pig, are earthy, real, and frequently hilarious." (AudioFile)

Brilliantly written epic-superbly narrated

This is a wonderful novel: vivid, entertaining, funny, poignant, and imaginative. Sometimes the wrier's literary gifts lead him to overwrite--he has such a limitless fund of metaphor at his disposal that he occasionally overeggs the pudding. But you can't blame him. I loved everything about the novel--from the overarching conception to the highly entertaining dialogs. The narration couldn't be improved upon--it's superb.

Riveting!

Beautifully written! The characters and events were palpable. The narrator made me fall in love with the accent.

An Aussie masterpiece !

What did you love best about Cloudstreet?

I love how its my ancestry in that time. The stories I've heard are nothing like Cloudstreet, but exactly like it !!

Who was your favorite character and why?

The house itself, I've been in ones like this where you can feel the history of its people. And they don't let you go, you always remember.

What about Peter Hosking’s performance did you like?

No better person for this story, a great voice for the time and mix of personalities.

If you could rename Cloudstreet, what would you call it?

Our mob our way and that bloody pig!

Any additional comments?

This book is an onion!

Wonderful

I read this book years ago, when it first came out, and thought enough time had gone by for it not to feel overly familiar in the audio version. While the outline of the story was still there in my mind, I was delighted to find that the reading made it as fresh for me as though new. It's a wonderful story, flowing over time, weaving together characters and elements, the language original and apposite, the whole coming richly to life in the performance of Peter Hosking. This is one of those books you don't want to end. Still one of Winton's best after all these years.

A Delightful Read!

I got this book because it was on Sale. This is not normally the genre that I read.
I am so glad I did!

The author takes you into the lives of several people and through them, you experience so many emotions. Anger, sorrow, sympathy, and laughter.

Sometimes I thought that it got a little slow, but you have to keep on.

The journey was worth it.
In the end, the love of mankind for each other is the lesson I learned.

I was left reflecting with a warm spot in my chest.

Too long

I generally like long books when there is something to say. This was repetitive and lost me midway

Beautiful Austrailan coming of age tale

What did you love best about Cloudstreet?

I loved the honest innocence of the tale, the way Oriel raised two families, eventually all together as one tribe...and I loved Lester. I didn't need the ghosts, those two families struggling to survive poverty, the war, the depression was adventure enough for me.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Lester bought the racehorse for deliveries, I laughed till I cried. And I thought the scene of Dolly and Rose coming to comfort each other was beautifully done.

Who was the most memorable character of Cloudstreet and why?

Fish, such a beautiful boy and the tragedy of his life and his last glorious victory in the water.

Any additional comments?

I laughed and cried throughout the telling, this book is so geniune. I am sure I will know it by heart, before I tire of it. Worth the credit!

Cloudstreet

A unique and beautifully written classic Australian novel about luck, misfortune and happy endings in nothing more than the everyday. Worth a listen, loved it!

Brilliant!

An amazing novel. You can almost smell the gum trees and hear the kookaburras calling! An Australian gem!

Dysfunctional Families Australian Style

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 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.