Home Is Where The Heart Is: A Review Of Cloudstreet
“When I was a girl I had this strong feeling that I didn’t belong anywhere. It was in my head, what I thought and dreamt, what I believed… that’s where I belonged, that was my country.”
Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet is a magical postmodern piece of literature that warms the soul with its tale about the trials of family life set in Perth, Australia over a period of twenty years.
The reason I chose to review this particular book of Winton’s is because to me it is more than just a travel book. Some might challenge the fact that I’m even labelling it as a travel book as it is solely set in Australia, but what I have come to realize over the years of reading various novels is that a spiritual journey set in one place is as fundamental in the formation of an individual as the many physical ones we so often read about.
Winton explores themes surrounding family, relationships and love whilst at the same time giving readers a glimpse into the many picturesque backdrops of Western Australia. If like me, you are currently living somewhere where sunshine and warmth are a distant memory of the past, then Cloudstreet is the perfect literary companion for those prolonged winter days.
I read the book during a stage in my life where I questioned if I truly felt content living in Australia. I was confused about what the word home signified and where home was for me. Growing up in Europe, I never thought I would end up moving to the land down under but at the age of ten that is exactly what ended up transpiring. It took me a long time to adjust to the weather, culture and diversity that I had only ever read about before. It was a move that would alter my entire course of existence, bringing experiences and people into my life that I would have otherwise never been faced with.
Identity and belonging are further themes Winton explores in great detail as he presents to us two working class Australian families whose fate brings them together in the house of one Cloudstreet. Ultimately, the house is the link that connects the two families who go on to share years of laughter, fights, suffering and joy all under the same roof.
Cloudstreet not only reintroduced me to the beauty of Australia but also helped remind me of the happiness one feels when part of a community regardless of whether this community is a place we are born into, a place we pass through temporarily or one we decide to plant our roots in as we get older.
It is an admirable work of fiction but also an in-depth exploration of the human condition, which serves to remind us of our commendable abilities to endure all of life’s drudgeries and broken dreams regardless of where in the world we may end up.
Photo: Ian Sanderson
