Review “The Turning” by Tim Winton
The Turning - Tim Winton
Tim Winton is arguably Australia’s leading writer at the moment. Four times winner of our most prestigious Miles Franklin Award, Winton stands alone at the top of Australian literature. His most recent award was for his highly acclaimed novel Breath. I read this last year and made comments on my blog here.
It was with great anticipation then that I took his collection of short stories The Turning away with me on a beach holiday just before Christmas last year. This book is a collection of twenty short stories set largely in rural Western Australia. The rural settings evoked by these stories spoke strongly to me as I grew up in a similar setting here in South Australia. Much of what he wrote about was familiar and comfortable territory.
What makes this an interesting book is the interconnectedness between many of the stories. While each story stands alone, each also has connections with other stories. Sometimes the setting is the same. The same characters keep appearing in different stories. Different characters relate the same incidents from their perspective. It is clever and intriguing writing.
While the settings are most definitely a strong point of the collection, the characters are also strongly drawn. You could walk into any country pub anywhere in Australia and find one or two people just like Winton’s characters. He certainly has a strong grasp of the Australian character.
Very enjoyable reading.
Highly recommended.
Further reading:
Reference:
- Winton, T 2006 The Turning. Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney
What I am reading: Eyeing Everest by Steve Tolbert
Writing a novel: a writer’s journal part 26
Eyeing Everest
What I am reading: Eyeing Everest by Steve Tolbert
I must admit that a little over a week ago I had never heard of author Steve Tolbert. My supervising lecturer recommended I have a look at least one of the books written by this American born writer now living here in Tasmania, Australia. I managed to buy online an as-new copy of his novel for teenagers called Eyeing Everest. It arrived two days later.
Fifteen year old Meika lives in Hobart Tasmania, the setting of the first half of the novel. She has never met her father, and her relationship with her aunty is stronger than the one she pretends to have with her mother. Early in the story her natural mother tragically dies. The following few months as she adapts to life with her aunty are chaotic and rebellious as Meika befriends the enigmatic Ted on the streets. They both spiral deep into trouble until a letter arrives from her father who has lived in Nepal since before she was born.
Within weeks Meika finds herself swept up in the splendid beauty of the Himalayas and adapts to life with a family she never knew existed. Not only are the mountains amazing in their beauty, they are treacherous to live in. She struggles to come to terms with her new environment, new relationships, new customs and the emotions these all engender.
It was an interesting and very satisfying book to read.
My novel is also set in Nepal and so I read with interest how the author tackles his setting. In 2006 I trekked the area in which he has set his story, so that gave it extra meaning for me. He gave me some ideas that I can include during my rewriting, especially in relation to references to food. This was one area I had already identified as needing some changes. More importantly, Tolbert has inspired me to write another novel set in this enigmatic country. I must focus on my current work in progress first.
Further reading:
- Writing a novel – articles about how I went about writing a novel
References:
- Tolbert, S 1996, Eyeing Everest, Addison, Wesley, Longman, Melbourne.
- The home page of Steve Tolbert
What I am reading: photographic books about Nepal
Ama Dablam, Nepal
Writing a novel: a writer’s journal part 25
What I am reading: photographic books on Nepal.
As a part of my research for background information for my children’s novel, I have been on a few visits to my local public library. Their collection of titles on Nepal is not great, but I did find several interesting titles. Two of these I mention here. Both could be categorised as coffee table style photographic essays. Both had minimal text which was more than compensated for by the brilliant photography. Most people would have found them extremely interesting just from a pictorial point of view. All of the photographs would have found a very comfortable home in publications such as National Geographic.
As an armchair traveller I enjoy the intriguing journeys of Michael Palin. He has an eye-probably two of them actually-for the bizarre, the amusing, the absurd and the downright confronting. This comes through in the various television travel series he has anchored over the years. Inside Himalaya is the spin-off book version of his television series Himalaya. The text in the book is sparse and as such was not of much help to me in my research. Despite that, I still enjoyed the sheer beauty of the photographs.
Pierre Toutain’s book Nepal is very similar. A little more than half the size of the Palin book, it matches it in the beauty of the photography. Palin’s book covers Pakistan, Tibet, Bhutan and Bangladesh in addition to Nepal, while Toutain’s book is totally focused on Nepal and as such, was more useful to me. It also has much more in the way of text (written by Michel Gotin). The text was far more informative and useful for my purposes.
My reading of these two beautiful books had one unfortunate side effect: I have a heightened desire to return someday soon the enigmatic and beautiful roof of the world, Nepal. I must get my novel finished, off to a publisher, accepted, published and then return on the proceeds from my writing. (I can dream, can’t I?)
References:
- Palin, M, Pao, B 2004, Inside Himalaya, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London.
- Toutain, P, Gotin, M 1986, Nepal, Merehurst Press, London.
Further reading:
- My travels in Nepal – archive from my travel blog
- Writing a novel – more articles in the series about how I went about writing a novel.
Scene from our lodge in Monjo, Nepal
What I am reading: ‘Breath’ by Tim Winton
Writing a novel – a writer’s journal part 24
Breath by Tim Winton
What I am reading: Breath by Tim Winton.
I must sadly admit that I have not read a great deal of Winton’s work-yet. It’s something I intend correcting in the coming months and years. I had previously seen a stage version of Cloudstreet which I found not only fascinating but also a test of endurance. (From memory the play goes for about five hours, plus two meal breaks.) I have also read an extract from The turning. I had heard so much said about Breath when it was first published, and again when Winton won the Miles Franklin Literary Award this year. This is the fourth time he has won the award, making him arguably Australia’s leading novelist. So it was with a heightened level of expectation I came to his latest novel.
I was not disappointed. Winton’s lyrical style oozes from the text throughout, particularly when he is describing the surfing scenes-which these are frequent-and when he refers to the West Australian landscape. Layer upon this an intriguing account of the coming-of-age experiences of two teenagers and the brooding atmosphere of the setting in both time and place, and you have the elements of a great story.
As I delved deeper into the novel I was mesmerized by the accounts of the ocean and of surfing. I’m not a surfer, nor do I enjoy swimming at the beach, but Winton’s narrative sucked me in like the incredible pull that waves and water must have on those who are obsessively compulsive surfers. I was spellbound by the simple yet profound words of a master storyteller.
There are two technical aspects I wish to highlight. There is an absence of speech marks throughout the text. I thought that this might lead to confusion on the part of the reader, but after several pages I became adjusted to this technique and read without difficulty. Mind you, I’m not about to change my writing style and copy Winton in this, not until I can also boast a string of award-winning novels to my credit-and can get away with it. Besides, I mainly write for young children and almost all publishers would frown upon this technique for children’s books.
The other technical aspect is a short comment on point-of-view. I have struggled with changing point-of-view with my work in progress. Various readers have pointed out my inconsistencies, something I will attend to on the rewrite I’m about to do. Imagine my delight when I discovered that even award winning Winton has an unexpected-but brief-shift in point-of-view. It was so obvious to me that it jarred. It is so easy to do and is something I need to be constantly vigilant about.
Despite my small criticisms, this is a novel which is destined to be held in high regard as belonging firmly in the vanguard of great Australian literary works. In fact, it will deservedly take its place amongst the great works written in English.
Related articles:
- Writing a novel – more articles in this series about how I went about writing my novel.
Reference:
- Winton, T 2008, Breath, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York
What I am reading: ‘One more time: a novel’
Writing a novel – a writer’s journal part 23
What I am reading: ‘One more time: a novel’ by Damien Leith
One more time: a novel
The children’s novel I am writing is set in Nepal. Until the last few weeks I was unaware of any novels written by Australians which were set in that fascinating part of the world. By searching the internet I have found several novels with this setting written by non-Australians. More recently I have discovered one written for teenagers by a Tasmanian writer. I have purchased this one and look forward to reading it. I also came across several picture books by local Nepali authors. There seem to be very few-perhaps none at all-written by Australian authors for younger readers. It could well be that mine is the first.
I did manage to get hold of a copy of a novel for adults which is set in Nepal. Author Damien Leith was born in Ireland but became an Australian citizen in 2007. His novel One more time covers a similar era to my story. The protagonist Sean is an Irishman trekking through Nepal at about the same time as my story is set (2006) during the political turmoil which destabilized Nepal over the decade leading up to that point in its history.
Sean has constant thoughts of home and family in Ireland, a place he left suddenly. He is covering up a deep secret and his difficult and challenging trek through the Annapurna Mountains in Nepal mirrors the deep spiritual and emotional journey he is struggling with in his mind. There is a very real threat from the Maoist guerrillas who demand ‘donations’ to their cause. Sean befriends several erratic people who do little to stabilize the turmoil of his life. Both his inner life and the external events around him threaten to totally derail his life, but somehow he finds the fortitude to deal with his obsessive secret.
I found this novel to be an enjoyable read but not a great deal of use in helping me with the writing of my novel. That’s not a problem; mine is a totally different story.
For anyone reading this review, the author Damien Leith is the same person who won television’s Australian Idol 2006. I wonder if this novel would have been published if a non celebrity had written it. Sorry-I sometimes get a little cynical about these things. It’s still a good read, but won’t ever be regarded as great literature. (Update: one of my Twitter readers suggested that his novel was with the publishers before he entered Australian Idol. The fact remains that he signed the contract 4 months after winning Idol. I rest my case.)
P.S. I believe he is writing another novel. [sigh]
UPDATE: The Wikipedia article on him states that his new book will be released in 2010.
Related articles:
- Writing a novel – more articles in this series about how I went about writing my novel.
Reference:
- Leith, D 2007, One more time: a novel, Harper Collins Publishers, Sydney.