Cloudstreet – Tim Winton

You know when you walk into a place that makes you just so damn happy? You know the feeling – the fluttering in your tummy, the incessant urge to smile and clap your hands, even when it’s totally inappropriate? Maybe it’s just me, but I reckon Disneyland, ye olde candy shoppes and pet stores are pretty much guaranteed entrants in that category. Oh and, of course, Cloudstreet.

That’s right Spellcheck. It’s Cloudstreet, not Cloud Street. Why, might you ask? Well when a decrepit house on a bumbling Perth street takes on a life on it’s own, it is only fair that it receives a name, a title, a term of endearment to express the importance that it holds in our lives.

And yes, I use the pronoun ‘our’ in the broadest and most literal sense possible – you, me, character, reader. It is used as an all encompassing term because that is exactly how Cloudstreet treats us. You see, a friend had recently just stolen my copy of this excellent book and – on confronting her about this – she apologised not, but noted how much you feel like you are always presumed to be within the fabric of the story.

Of course, I did not let her get away with such a blatant use of segways, but she did have a point; reading Cloudstreet is less of a story and more of life. You find yourself heartbroken at the loss of the former Fish, you want to give Rose a slap on the face every time she tries to starve herself to death, you can feel your heart leap with every joyous moment of the Pickles/Lamb clan (heh). You can’t help but be drawn into and embrace the rumble tumble world of love within that dilapidated home.

Now please, pass me the bucket. No really. My keyboard doesn’t appreciate such mess.

In all seriousness, finding such immediacy within a throbbing, thriving community is unusual in itself; in a book, it is almost unheard of. This is the beauty of Cloudstreet and, indeed, Winton. He makes the crappy bits of mud that we find on the bottom of our boots somehow magical and, in our rather cynical world, it is a more than refreshing change.

When I first encountered Cloudstreet in the hallowed halls of high school, there were many who did not love it. I didn’t understand why. Now, I get it – it’s a long book. But if you have thrown yourself into it, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t love the ups and downs, the ins and outs, and the highs and the lows that it will certainly bring.

And seriously, life itself is long. But I don’t see you hating it.

Tags: Books, cloudstreet, family, fish, happy, life, winton