Cloudstreet

Tim Winton's Cloudstreet is a beautiful novel, telling the tale of two families and their relationship over two decades. They are working class families, struggling with poverty, addiction, and the place in society they are given. It ponders the roles given to members of families both by society, and by the families themselves. The language matches the educational level of the characters - chapters are written form the point of view of characters, and the language matches each character subtly but effectively, but then occasionally expands into vivid, poetic beauty.

Well worth a read, and I'm looking forward to watching the TV series, which Jen got for Christmas.