Review: THE RIDERS, Tim Winton - audio book

• first published in 1994
  
• audio book published in 2008 at Audible
• Narrator Stanley McGeagh
• Length: 10 hours 9 mins

 Synopsis (Audible)

 Fred Scully waits at the arrival gate of an international airport, anxious to see his wife and seven-year-old daughter. After two years in Europe they are finally settling down.
He sees a new life before them, a stable outlook, a cottage in the Irish countryside that he's renovated by hand.
He's waited, sweated on this reunion. He does not like to be alone - he's that kind of man. The flight lands, the glass doors hiss open, and Scully's life begins to go down in flames.

My Take

This may not have been the best book to read as an audio book, because there were many passages that, had it been a paper publication, I would have re-read.

Stanley McGeagh's Irish accent, as the voice of an Australian character, took a bit of getting used to.

After Scully's wife fails to turn up on the flight, and Billie gets off the flight alone, the book is mainly about trying to locate Jennifer and to work out why she has seemingly deserted him. Billie is withdrawn and won't utter a word about where her mother is.
In the manner of the Shiralee, Scully drags his daughter through Europe looking for Jennifer, returning to places that as a family they have visited before. Some former friends rather mysteriously won't talk to him.

Circumstances dictated that we listened to THE RIDERS over a long period of time, nearly two months in fact, probably missing the significance of some events, and certainly not understanding some references. For example, it was hard to work out where the title came from. There was a passage at the very beginning about riders that I would have liked to check although I did get a little help from Wikipedia.

The novel deals with ideas of architecture, Australia, Europe, masculinity and trust. It also asks the question of self-identity, and how well you can ever truly know someone else.

The book draws on the European mythology of the Wild Hunt, hence "The Riders".

I also checked what Percy Middlemiss had to say in his review.

So I've come away a bit disappointed by this book, but it is probably related to the fact that we "read" it as an audio book over far too long a passage of time.
It was after all a nominee for the Man Booker Prize in 1995.

My rating: 4.2

Review: CLOUDSTREET, Tim Winton - audio book

• this edition from Audible
  
• narrated by Peter Hosking
• unabridged, 12 hours 50 mins
• originally published in 1991
• recipient of a Miles Franklin Award in 1992 

Synopsis (Audible)

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.

See Also Penguin Australia

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

Tim Winton's funny, sprawling saga is an epic novel of love and acceptance. Winner of the Miles Franklin and NBC Awards in Australia, Cloudstreet is a celebration of people, places and rhythms which has fuelled imaginations world-wide.  

My Take

My listening companion and I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to this Australian saga, made all the more enjoyable I suspect by Peter Hosking's wonderful narration. He has one of those iconic Australian voices, without being over the top.

It covers a period we both remember well, from World War II to the early 1960s, being the period we both grew up in. Although it is set in Perth, there are many resonances with Adelaide. My husband's family came from the bush to the city in a similar time frame and then lived in a "shared" house, while I came to the city for my education in the early 60s.

But it isn't history that dominates but what happens to these two families as they share life in Cloudstreet. The characters are marvellously drawn.

This is not my usual crime fiction diet, being an attempt to read a  little outside the genre occasionally. It is, I admit with shame, the first Tim Winton novel I remember reading, and certainly the first I have written a review of. I have joined the ranks of those who love Cloudstreet.

My rating: 5.0

You might enjoy the longer outline on Wikipedia. 

For overseas readers who would like a copy, it appears to be available through Amazon US in a variety of formats.