Cloudstreet : A Novel (int'l BOOKRAY)

by Tim Winton | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0743234413 Global Overview for this book
Registered by book-man-8 of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg Germany on 8/27/2008
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10 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by book-man-8 from Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Edit, October 9, 2008: One of the best books I've read in 2008! This is storytelling! This is writing! And therefore this is reading! Beautiful, powerful, fascinating. The story of two families; some kind of a family-saga where life is not so easy. At times most funny, then again so sad! Yes I quite often had to laugh out loud. Tim Winton seems to be one of the best story-teller we presently have. I've already read several books written by him, and I still want to read more!

I'm making a bookray with this book. The follwoing bookcrossers read along:

"LindyLouMac" from Vetralla, Lazio, Italy (EU only)
"samulli" from Weimar, Thüringen, Germany (Europe)
"Jessi626" from Otterberg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany (worldwide)
"penelopewanders" from Hasliberg, Bern / Berne, Switzerland (Europe only)
"madnad" from Adeje, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain (Europe only)
"kizmiaz" from Lisbon, belém, Portugal (Europe only)
"conto" from Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal (Europe)
"Fifna" from Voorburg, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands (Europe)
"iliotropio" from brussels, Bruxelles / Brussel, Belgium (worldwide)
"mrbaggins1" from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa (worldwide)
"perryfran" from Rockville, Maryland, USA (US)
"teenie-k" from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (Canada / USA)
"glade1" from McLeansville, North Carolina, USA (USA)
"PaulsBooks" from Salt Lake City, Utah, USA (worldwide)
"Wandering-B" from Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong (worldwide)
"Laui" from Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands (Europe)



Journal Entry 2 by book-man-8 at on Friday, October 17, 2008

Released 15 yrs ago (10/17/2008 UTC) at

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The bookray is on its way - fist stop: "LindyLouMac"! Enjoy!

Journal Entry 3 by LindyLouMac from Tywyn, Wales United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Arrived today book-man-8, thankyou. I see that I have the honour of starting this Bookray on its travels, thankyou for the privilege. I am looking forward to this but it will be a few days before I start it, as I have only just started a book of over 600 pages. I will let my other half read while it is waiting for me, this will not delay its world tour!

Journal Entry 4 by LindyLouMac from Tywyn, Wales United Kingdom on Thursday, November 13, 2008
Even after 426 pages I am still not sure if I ever really understood what all the background themes in this family saga meant. The ending left me just as confused as the start if I am honest.
I found the story of two working class Australian families over a period of twenty years starting towards the end of the WWII interesting enough though I did not understand a lot of the Australian slang used. The Pickles and the Lambs family lives become thoroughly intertwined after the Lambs become lodgers sharing ‘Cloudstreet’ the enormous haunted house that the Pickles inherited in Perth. Everything that could possibly happen to these two families did so covering the spectrums of joy and happiness all the way to depression and misery, Tim Winton writes very vividly about life and the characters are all well portrayed, I felt drawn into their emotions. There are a lot of characters to keep track of though with five people in the Pickles family and eight in the Lambs, the story sometimes feels a little slow and rambling.

As I have already mentioned I found the style of writing confusing, so although I gather he is very popular in Australia, I doubt I will read any more of his work.

I have already heard from samulli and this will be in the post shortly.

Journal Entry 5 by LindyLouMac at Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada on Friday, November 14, 2008

Released 15 yrs ago (11/17/2008 UTC) at Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada

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En route to samulli in Germany.

Happy reading

LindyLouMac

Journal Entry 6 by samulli from Weimar, Thüringen Germany on Thursday, November 20, 2008
It's here and it's next up on Mt. TBR.

Journal Entry 7 by samulli from Weimar, Thüringen Germany on Thursday, November 27, 2008
I gave up on this book about two thirds through, because I noticed myself putting it aside again and again. It's probably just the wrong time for me to come across this story.
I can appreciate that it is damn fine writing, but it didn't grip me at all and I don't really care enough about the characters to try to find out what becomes of them in the end. But again, this is more because of myself and my mood at the moment, definitely not a fault of the book itself.
I liked how the author managed to tell all the interwoven stories of each of the characters, even though several of the family members were completely undeveloped (both Rose's two brothers and all three of the Lamb girls are only shadowy presences throughout the book). Doubtlessly this has a good reason, but it irked me somewhat that some of them got prominence in the story while others were totally neglected. One thing that really went way over my head were all the passages about Fish and all this "he's up in the water with the stars"-babble. For all I know that's meant to be a profound metaphor for god knows what, but I just don't care. All it did was jolt me out of the story every time he was mentioned. Oh yeah, and that talking pig: what was that all about? Never mind. Maybe it's all explained and makes sense at the end of the book, whatever.
I hope the following readers are more in the mood for this book, because it certainly deserves more appreciative readers than I could be right now. Maybe I'll give it another shot in a few years time. For the time being, though, I am not keen on checking out more of Winton's work.

Thanks for sending it out, Book-Man-8. I will send it off to Jessi626 this afternoon.

Journal Entry 8 by Jessi626 from Otterberg, Rheinland-Pfalz Germany on Monday, December 1, 2008
The book arrived here today. Thanks! I have to read another book before starting this one.

Journal Entry 9 by Jessi626 from Otterberg, Rheinland-Pfalz Germany on Saturday, December 13, 2008
The book wasn't my cup of tea. I gave up pretty early in the book. Probably such demanding books are just not what I should read. The long sentences were very annoying for me and sometimes I had to read them (or whole paragraphs) 2 or 3 times to really understand what they are about. Maybe my English just isn't good enough to enjoy this book. I don't know... I hope other readers will enjoy it more than I did.

Journal Entry 10 by Jessi626 at on Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Released 15 yrs ago (1/8/2009 UTC) at

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Finally sent on. I'm so sorry for the delay! I've had the next address already, just didn't get around to sent it...

Journal Entry 11 by wingpenelopewanderswing from Saint-Loup-des Vignes, Centre France on Tuesday, January 13, 2009
This arrived safely in the Alps today, lining up behind another two or three rings... I'll try to get to it soon, otherwise it might not mind a week or so enjoying the Alps at this time of year. Thanks for sending this on, and happy new year to all.

Journal Entry 12 by wingpenelopewanderswing from Saint-Loup-des Vignes, Centre France on Sunday, January 25, 2009
After a bit of a grinding start, I mostly enjoyed this very much. At times the lurking shadow of fate caught me by the throat and I felt enough was enough, but on the whole it was a good read. Maybe spoiled by a lot of the romance I read these days I did rather wish someone would kick over their traces and come to something really really good... but the benign "not bad" is also a reality of many people's lives, I expect. The otherworldly aspects remained a bit opaque to me - was Fish meant to be an angel or just in direct communication with them? or someone/something else? the black man was death, wasn't he? or not? So I liked the direct narrative better where it was clear who was what and what was happening. Thanks for making this available and introducing me to an author who I have since discovered is a favorite of many people I know.
I'll pm for the next address.

Released 15 yrs ago (1/29/2009 UTC) at ☑ 'Controlled Release' > Country > Province > City, .---controlled release---. Switzerland

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On its way from the snowy alps to the Canary Islands... enjoy! And thanks so much for making this available.

Journal Entry 14 by madnad from Tenerife - Adeje, Santa Cruz de Tenerife Spain on Thursday, February 12, 2009
Received today with many thanks from penelopewanders! I have 1.25 books to read before I can start with this one...:)

Journal Entry 15 by madnad from Tenerife - Adeje, Santa Cruz de Tenerife Spain on Friday, February 20, 2009
I started this almost a week ago and decided to give up. Maybe I am making a mistake, I've only read some 40 pages but I find myself not wanting to return to it at all, and after having read some of the other people's comments, I decided not to try any more. Sorry. I rarely give up on books but I don't think I'd want to pick this up again any time soon, and I definitely want to keep this ray moving!!

Journal Entry 16 by madnad from Tenerife - Adeje, Santa Cruz de Tenerife Spain on Wednesday, February 25, 2009
This book went into the post to kizmiaz in Portugal today:)

Journal Entry 17 by kizmiaz from Belém , Lisboa (cidade) Portugal on Monday, March 2, 2009
just got it. I still hve a book on the go but will start this one soon enough.

Journal Entry 18 by kizmiaz from Belém , Lisboa (cidade) Portugal on Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Wow, what a ride!
This one really took me to that special place the good books take us to.
At first it was a bit weird, because of the way it’s written and the Aussie slang but after 30 pages I was totally immersed in it (no pun intended).
The Pickles and the Lambs are such a sorry bunch of unlucky bastards that I couldn’t help but love them.
The writing is mind-blowing; the way the author tells this simple story, without resorting to happy-crappy stuff really shows a lot about his craftsmanship and I’ll be on the lookout for more books from him.
It’s not easy to say what I loved about the book I guess it was all of it, the lifelike characters and situations, the plentiful humorous moments and the tragic ones too, the psychotic members of the families, Fish and the “blackafella”, it all comes together in such a way that even not getting some of the slang (what’s a cobbler anyway?) I feel I got the point the author was aiming at, and even if I didn’t the writing and storytelling were such that it was absolutely worth it.
Is it about redemption and making amends? Or is it about looking for some outside guidance thru life (be it Lady Luck or Jesus)? Maybe it’s about taking life as you find it and not fret too much; then again it could be about trying to better oneself in the face of adversity. It’s not easy to figure out what this story is about, I guess it’s about all of the above and then some.
Anyway this is one of those books you must read.


Journal Entry 19 by conto from Lisboa (city), Lisboa (distrito) Portugal on Sunday, March 22, 2009
And it's with me now. Thanks a lot for letting me in, book-man-8!

I'll finish one other book I've been reading and get to this one afterwords. It won't take too long.

Journal Entry 20 by conto from Lisboa (city), Lisboa (distrito) Portugal on Sunday, May 31, 2009
Thank you so very much to put up with me, book-man-8, for I wasn't in the rays's list at first and I stalled it for so long!

I must say I did think it would be quick: when I started reading this book I just couldn't put it down once I was so totally grabbed by Winton's writing style and by the characters he created. But then I found myself unable to read for about 1 month and a half (I got to discover audiobooks instead - definitely not the same thing!). At first I was really sad because I was liking this book so much but the time went on and, when I started to read again and for a while, it was difficult to get into the lives of the Lambs and the Pickles again.
Even so I guess BC made me discover a new author from whom I want to read much more for this IS writing!

PMed the next one on the list and, after getting an address, it will follow it's way asap.

Journal Entry 21 by wingFifnawing from Voorburg, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Monday, June 8, 2009
Received today, thanks for sending, conto! It will be up next after my current read.

Journal Entry 22 by wingFifnawing from Voorburg, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Wednesday, July 1, 2009
I enjoyed this book a lot. It took me a while to get into it, but then the story just started flowing, and rambling but I liked that. For me, the story would have been fine without the 'supernatural' (for want of a better word) aspects, because the story itself seemed so down to earth.
Thank you for sharing, book-man-8! I have contacted iliotropio for her address.

Journal Entry 23 by wingFifnawing at Bruxelles / Brussel, Bruxelles / Brussel Belgium on Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Released 14 yrs ago (7/4/2009 UTC) at Bruxelles / Brussel, Bruxelles / Brussel Belgium

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Sent to iliotropio on Saturday.

Journal Entry 24 by iliotropio from Bruxelles / Brussel, Bruxelles / Brussel Belgium on Saturday, July 25, 2009
Cloudstreet arrived safely in Brussels.
My apologies to Fifna for having delayed this JE; life in the office is as hectic as it gets lately...

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