Tim Winton has an indisputable gift for language; seldom will you find more cleverly turned phrases or richer metaphors and similes, but "Dirt Music" is ultimately too opaque and self-indulgent. The language remains rich, but the story loses its way and the last 100 pages seem more the ramblings of a sunstruck psychedelic than an eloquent writer with a compelling story to tell. Most of the action takes place in the close-knit Western Australia fishing village of White Point, which is populated by characters who have a spiritual kinship to a dozen of Steinbeck's. Georgie Jutland, a well-traveled, well-worn forty-something ex-nurse from a dysfunctional family, is adrift in a brackish pool of indecision about her life and which man she wants to devote it to. Jim Buckridge, a stoic, widowed father of two young sons, stands tall and straight among them-a master fisherman and a strong, silent type who Georgie pities more than loves. Luther (Lu) Fox is a poacher of the first water whose crippled psyche draws Georgie like cat hair to a black sweater. But the Foxes are outcasts in this rough and tumble community while the Buckridges are its respected pillars. When the inevitable triangle forms, Lu is victimized in a particularly cruel way and Georgie is cast into a limbo darker than any she's ever known. Lu departs and Georgie's live-in relationship with Jim and his boys is flayed and filleted. Winton's long description of Lu's journey then not only leads the story off the beaten track, but off the track altogether. After forty or fifty pages of that, I no longer cared what happened to any of the characters.

"Dirt Music" is more than just a story about a tangled relationship between Georgie Jutland, Jim Buckridge and Luther Fox, it's also a journey to uncover the ghosts of their past. It's a story that is well-written by Tim Winton, without being too artificial or too practical. Sensitive without being soppy; practical without being mechanical.

Through the bleak landscape of Western Australia, we learn that protagonists also have weaknesses and the 'bad' guys also have their own reasons to behave the way they do. This is the reason why I can identify with the characters and understand the way they behave. Having lived in Australia for some years also makes me recognize the 'aussieness' of this novel - it seeps through every sentence that is written: how the locals are afraid of the Asian invasion; how men are suppposed to be men; and many more little themes that are included within the novel. The book is also seasoned with Australian cheekiness and humour which makes it a delight to read - however, that doesn't mean that the book is a trivial read. Tim Winton brings us to scenes and makes us breathe in the surrounding, stand and witness whatever that is happening in the following pages.

I heartily recommend this book to those who want to visit Western Australia, and to read how each character deals with the ghosts of their past. A great read - full stop.

I was amazed at this book, written in such spare prose, so few adjectives.... yet, the characters came alive as I read. In some ways, this was a bit like Hemingway, yet Winton has a voice all his own, Australian, yet universal.

I loved the way the inner life of the characters unfolded, revealing so much through action and reaction. And the environment, the mis en place of Western Australia, added to the sense of place and time these characters lived in, as they struggled to find their place in the world, and with one another.

Luthor is one of the most original characters I've met in a book. He was a revelation. His self imposed trials, endured in the wilderness, at first so meaningless, becomes profound as the experience unfolds for us to share.

Georgie is a woman as lost to her needs, as Luthor is lost in the tropical jungles. No sense of herself, no grasp on what she really wants, her quest to find Luthor is really a quest to find herself.

I just loved this book. I felt I was discovering a fresh and exciting talent during my reading, and only later discovered the wonderful body of work Winton has already produced. He's young, he's talented and this book simply haunts me.

Minimum of Two is a collection of short stories by Australian author Tim Winton. What makes them special is the honesty that Winton conveys with his own style. Many of the stories are very short and simply written on the surface, but when you read them you find what he doesnt say is as important as what he does. He conveys with a few well chosen words what less accomplished writers take pages and pages to come close to. His words give the reader room to think for themselves and make them more moving when a connection between writer and reader is established. Thats what makes him a special writer and this story collection worth having.

That Eye, the Sky is a novel about a family in the outback of Australia. Life goes wrong when the father is in a car accident and in a coma afterwards. It is narrated by twelve year old Ort Flack. Through his eyes we meet his Dad, his Mum, the helpless hippy, Tegwyn, his angry sister, Fat his only friend and Henry, the missionary that saves them.

Through the eyes of Ort, the story of the Flack family unfolds, in simple, but beautifully written language. The novel jumps from reality to surreality, from living on the dole in the outback to miracles and mystical lights. It end on a strange surreal note and the reader is left to make of it what he/she chooses.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I don't quite know what to make of the end of this book. I would love to discuss it with someone that read it.

This book, while not perfect, definitely holds the reader's attention from beginning to end. The main character, Scully, is a modern-day Quasimodo, a misfit in a world of masks and deception, someone who has but sheer will and a good heart--and a savagely loving daughter--to go on. His quest to find his wife who has apparently abandoned her husband and daughter is a dramatic, at times breathless, depiction of what it's like to realize one knows little about those one thought one knew the most. The writing occasionally annoyed me (too self-conscious at times for my taste) but I was willing to let it slide, so harrowing did I find Scully's journey. And as much as I adore Paris, having lived there a year I must, hélas, attest to the accuracy of his less-then flattering portrait of the City of Light.

Tim Winton's novel "The Riders", a Booker Prize nominee, is a story about love. About different kinds of love, to be precise.

Jennifer, a shadow figure, a mysterious woman with excellent legs and distorted self-esteem, abandons her unhomely but affectionate husband Scully and seven-year old daughter Billie. The novel is a story of father-and-daughter travel across Europe in search of their lost wife and mother.

Scully's love to his runaway wife becomes an obsession, a kind of madness that is ready to crash and mutilate everything and everyone, including himself and his dear daughter. It increases with his inquiries at the places which he thought to be niches of mutual love and tenderness but turned out to be hideouts of disenchantment and infidelity.

Scully couldn't overtake the eluding apparition of former passion but he could be rescued by other love that was always near, love of his daughter. 'Love was all you had in the end. It was like sleep, like clear water. When you fell off the world there was still love because love made the world. That's what she (i.e., Billie) believed. That's how it was.' This is not the difference between sexual and asexual love that makes sense but the difference between love as obsession and love as salvation. And it was necessary for Scully to walk a long and winding road of personal painful experience to reach the simple truth.

Scully is the quintessential Australian labourer. He is also very much a modern man - sensitive, new age. A man who cares for his wife and daughter more than he cares for himself, he sacrifices his home and country to fulfill his more sophisticated wifes dreams of an idyllic European existence. How he copes when she abandons him with no explanation turns a beautiful, warm and humorously written story of family life into a gripping thriller, as Scully seeks his destiny in a head long chase across Europe. Winton's novel should come with a Government Warning: Reading this book is addictive!

I found 'An Open Swimmer' a very disappointing novel. As a student of English Literature in year eleven, I was required to read the book as part of the course. Personally, I found that Winton seemed to try and make it an abstract piece of writing. This attempted style of writing on Winton's part makes 'An Open Swimmer'seem too concocted and unnatural.

I was disappointed also as I am a great admirer of Winton's other works like 'Cloudstreet' or 'Shallows'.