Eyrie by Tim Winton
From Goodreads
Eyrie tells the story of Tom Keely, a man who’s lost his bearings in middle age and is now holed up in a flat at the top of a grim highrise, looking down on the world he’s fallen out of love with.
He’s cut himself off, until one day he runs into some neighbours: a woman he used to know when they were kids, and her introverted young boy. The encounter shakes him up in a way he doesn’t understand. Despite himself, Keely lets them in.
What follows is a heart-stopping, groundbreaking novel for our times – funny, confronting, exhilarating and haunting – populated by unforgettable characters. It asks how, in an impossibly compromised world, we can ever hope to do the right thing
ISBN: 9781926428536
Publisher: Hamish Hamilton
Publication date: January 1st 2013
Pages: 424
Review
I have wanted to read a Tim Winton book for a long time now so when this book came up as the next book for my book club I had high expectations of what it would be like. The many positive reviews about Tim Winton’s work all helped to fuel these expectations.
The beginning of the book was interesting enough that I was happy to continue reading. There was wonderful description of Fremantle which really captured both her beauty and her fickleness. Very quickly, however, I noticed that Winton didn’t use speech marks. Initially this didn’t pose any difficulty for me as I found it was easy to decipher who was speaking due to the way the voice was written. The further into the book I got it became a problem because everyone started sounding the same.
Character development was OK but nothing that really wowed me. We’re introduced to Gemma (a girl that Keely knew from his school days), her grandson Kai, Keely’s sister and mother and some minor characters. My favourite character was probably Keely’s mother, Doris. She was a very strong woman who wouldn’t take any nonsense from anyone least of all her son but her love for him was unmistakable.
In spite of the references to Fremantle and the great descriptions of this part of Western Australia (the reader could see exactly what Winton was describing) I felt this book was lacking in substance and quite honestly I don’t see why Winton is revered as much as he is. This book maybe better as a movie than it proved to be as a book. I’m not sure if I would read anymore of his books by choice.
Recommend for: Adults
Rating: 🌟🌟
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