Cloudstreet#Adaptations

In 1943, precipitated by separate personal tragedies, two poor families, the Lambs and the Pickles, flee their rural homes to share a large house called Cloudstreet in Perth, Western Australia.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=CLOUDSTREET {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tim-winton/cloudstreet/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920144510/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tim-winton/cloudstreet/ |archive-date=2015-09-20 |access-date=25 November 2020|website=Kirkus Reviews}} The Pickles include the father, Sam, the mother, Dolly, and their three children, Ted, Rose, and Chub. The Lambs are led by father, Lester, and mother, Oriel, and they have six children, Hattie, Elaine, Mason (nicknamed "Quick"), Samson (nicknamed “Fish”), Red and Lon. The Pickles own Cloudstreet, but rent half of the house to the Lambs, who open a grocery store on the ground floor of the house.{{Cite news|last=Olshan|first=Joseph|date=1992-08-23|title=See Perth and Perish (Published 1992)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/23/books/see-perth-and-perish.html|access-date=2020-11-25|issn=0362-4331}} The two families contrast each other; the devoutly religious Lambs find meaning in hard work and God's grace, while the Pickles hope for good luck and do not share the Lambs' appetite for hard work.{{Cite web|title=Great Australian Novel {{!}} Australia Explained|url=https://www.australia-explained.com.au/history/great-australian-novel/|access-date=2020-11-25|website=www.australia-explained.com.au}} The novel focuses on the experiences and relationships of these two families over a period of 20 years.

The novel is a celebration of community and people's search for connection with family, the past, and the environment in which they live. The novel also explores several Australian cultural myths, including the idealisation of the Aussie battler, the heroic figure of the ANZAC, rural and suburban identity, and the idea of Australia as "the lucky country".{{Cite web|last=McCredden|first=Lyn|date=|title=Cloudstreet|url=https://readingaustralia.com.au/essays/cloudstreet/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309183308/http://readingaustralia.com.au/essays/cloudstreet/ |archive-date=2016-03-09 |access-date=2020-11-25|website=Reading Australia|language=en-US}} Peter Garrett also noted the importance of landscapes in the book: "he writes about the physicality of our landscapes and whether it's sort of, you know, railway cuttings, or bits of the desert, or the coast, or the estuaries where they go fishing occasionally, and he casts that landscape across the top of the lives that people are leading and their emotional landscapes are sort of contrasting against the landscapes of things they're doing at different times".{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The Books – Cloudstreet by Tim Winton Reviewed 2/03/2010 Transcript|url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/s2795575.htm|access-date=26 January 2017|website=ABC|publisher=}}

Cloudstreet is framed by many key events in world history, including World War II, the Korean War and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.{{Cite web|last=McFarlane|first=Brian|date=22 May 2011|title=Cloudstreet|url=https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/about/55-june-2011/373-cloudstreet|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202043937/https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/about/55-june-2011/373-cloudstreet |archive-date=2017-02-02 |access-date=2020-11-25|website=Australian Book Review|language=en-gb}}{{Cite web|title=Context and Background, Cloudstreet novel|url=http://nebo-lit.com/novel/cloudstreet/Context-Backgrond.html#:~:text=Cloudstreet%20was%20written%20during%20the,more%20detached%20yet%20nostalgic%20approach.|access-date=2020-11-25|website=nebo-lit.com}} Winton depicts Australia at this time as, for the most part, comfortable and conservative, characterised by backyard barbecues, by wives – who were no longer needed for the war effort – consigned to the home, and by the growth of the Australian dream. World events influence the Lambs and Pickles, but distantly, like an echo that sends ripples across the surface of their lives. The novel focuses on the domestic, and this serves as the filter through which history is measured. The most prominent historical character within Cloudstreet is the "Nedlands monster", whose real name is Eric Edgar Cooke, a serial killer. The Australian Dictionary of Biography writes that Winton's novel Cloudstreet embodied the social impact of Cooke's crimes, which saw a change in personal and household security and a loss of a relaxed style of living.{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cooke-eric-edgar-9817|title=Cooke, Eric Edgar (1931–1964) by Hugh Collins|last=|first=|chapter=Cooke, Eric Edgar (1931–1964) |date=|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=30 January 2017}}

The novel has received positive reviews. Australian writer Marion Halligan praised Winton's prose, deeming it "full of energy, vitality, [and] wit".{{Cite web|last=Halligan|first=Marion|title=Marion Halligan reviews 'Cloudstreet' by Tim Winton|url=https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/component/k2/272-april-1991-no-129/5564-marion-halligan-reviews-cloudstreet-by-tim-winton|access-date=2020-11-25|website=www.australianbookreview.com.au|date=April 1991 |language=en-gb}} Writer Mem Fox stated "If you have not read Cloudstreet, your life is diminished . . . if you have not met these characters, this generous community, these tragedies, the humour. It is so wonderful." In his introduction to the 2013 Folio Society edition, Australian writer Alex Miller calls it "Australia's most iconic novel" and "one of the greatest acts of the human imagination of the late twentieth century".{{Cite book |last=Winton |first=Tim |title=Cloudstreet |publisher=Folio Society (2013) |year= |location=London |pages=xvi}}

Cloudstreet was the recipient of the National Book Council Banjo Award for Fiction, the Western Australian Fiction Award and the Deo Gloria Award in 1991, and a Miles Franklin Award in 1992.{{Cite web|title=AbeBooks: Miles Franklin Award Winners – Fine Australian Literature Since 1957|url=http://www.abebooks.com/books/prize-winners/miles-franklin-award.shtml|access-date=2020-11-24|website=www.abebooks.com|language=en|archive-date=2021-05-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507134217/https://www.abebooks.com/books/prize-winners/miles-franklin-award.shtml|url-status=dead}} In 2003, members of the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) voted Cloudstreet as their favourite Australian novel.Raging, Catherine (27 May 2003). [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/26/1053801337381.html "Authors' top reads"], The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 December 2012. The same year, Cloudstreet came out on top in a readers' poll organised by the ASA and ABC Radio National.Knox, Malcolm (26 November 2003). [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/25/1069522576918.html "Readers' poll puts Winton on cloud nine"], The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 December 2012. Cloudstreet was the "overwhelming favourite" in the 2010 "ABR Favourite Australian Novel" poll conducted by the Australian Book Review,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=22 May 2011|title=Cloudstreet Brian McFarlane Published in June 2011 no. 332|url=https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/about/55-june-2011/373-cloudstreet|access-date=26 January 2017|website=Australian Book Review|publisher=}} and in 2012, viewers of First Tuesday Book Club voted Cloudstreet #1 on a list of "10 Aussie Books You Must Read Before You Die".[http://www.abc.net.au/arts/aussiebooks/ 10 Aussie Books You Must Read Before You Die], First Tuesday Book Club (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 9 December 2012. On 5 November 2019, BBC News listed Cloudstreet on its list of the 100 most influential novels.

{{cite news

| url = https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50302788

| title = 100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts

| work = BBC News

| date = 2019-11-05

| archiveurl =

| archivedate =

| accessdate = 2019-11-10

| quote = The reveal kickstarts the BBC's year-long celebration of literature.

}}

Cloudstreet has been adapted into various forms:

• Paige Gibbs adapted the book into a radio play in 1996 for ABC Radio National.{{Cite web|url=http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/6646472|title=Cloudstreet's Adaptations|last=|first=|date=|website=Austlit|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=18 February 2017}}

• In 1998, the novel was adapted into a stage play by Nick Enright and Justin Monjo, which opened in Sydney in January 1998 under the direction of Neil Armfield, produced by Company B and Black Swan Theatre for the Sydney Festival,{{Cite web|title=AusStage|url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/work/64|access-date=2016-05-27|website=www.ausstage.edu.au}} and published by Currency Press.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Cloudstreet Nick Enright & Justin Monjo|url=http://www.currency.com.au/search.aspx?q=enright|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202010353/http://www.currency.com.au/search.aspx?q=enright|archive-date=2 February 2017|access-date=23 January 2017|website=Currency Press|publisher=}} The play won several awards, including an AWGIE Award in 1999,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=AWGIE Stage Award|url=https://australianplays.org/award/awgie-stage-award|access-date=23 January 2017|website=Australian Plays Award|publisher=|archive-date=25 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225184423/https://australianplays.org/award/awgie-stage-award|url-status=dead}} and the Helpmann Award for Best Play and Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2002.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Past Nominees and Winners 2002|url=http://www.helpmannawards.com.au/2002/past-nominees-and-winners/theatre|access-date=23 January 2017|website=Helpman Awards|publisher=}} In 2019 and 2020, the play was revived in a Black Swan State Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre co-production under the direction of Matthew Lutton, staged from February 21 to March 15, 2020 at His Majesty's Theatre as a part of Perth Festival.{{Cite web|last=Hondros|first=Nathan|date=2020-03-03|title=As hell heads to Freo, Perth Festival marks high water with Cloudstreet homecoming|url=https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/as-hell-heads-to-freo-perth-festival-marks-high-water-with-cloudstreet-homecoming-20200303-p546ij.html|access-date=2020-11-25|website=WAtoday|language=en}}

• A three-part television miniseries was made for the Showcase subscription television channel, which first screened from 22 May 2011.{{Cite web|last=Knox|first=David|date=17 May 2011|title=Cloudstreet {{!}} TV Tonight|url=https://tvtonight.com.au/2011/05/cloudstreet.html/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520231332/http://www.tvtonight.com.au:80/2011/05/cloudstreet.html |archive-date=2011-05-20 |access-date=2020-11-25|website=TV Tonight|language=en-AU}}

• In May 2016, an operatic version with music by George Palmer was premiered in Adelaide by the State Opera of South Australia.{{Cite web|last=Henderson|first=Dylan|date=May 14, 2016|title=Review: Cloudstreet (State Opera of South Australia)|url=https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/review-cloudstreet-state-opera-of-south-australia/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413221238/https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/review-cloudstreet-state-opera-of-south-australia/ |archive-date=2019-04-13 |access-date=2020-11-25|website=Limelight|language=en-AU}}
• In June 2023 a three part radio version was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mt0m]

{{reflist}}

{{Tim Winton |state=collapsed}}

{{Miles Franklin Award}}

Category:1991 Australian novels

Category:Australian historical novels

Category:Australian literature

Category:Australian novels adapted for radio

Category:Australian novels adapted into operas

Category:Australian novels adapted into television shows

Category:Family saga novels

Category:Miles Franklin Award–winning works

Category:Novels about families

Category:Novels by Tim Winton

Category:Novels set during the Korean War

Category:Novels set during World War II

Category:Novels set in the 20th century

Category:Novels set in Western Australia

Category:Perth, Western Australia in fiction