I just finished reading the novel Dirt Music, written by Tim Winton. I have enjoyed a couple of his other novels - The Shepherd's Hut, and Eyrie. I particularly liked Eyrie, and I might have read it twice but I'm not sure though. Anyway, I'll put Dirt Music right up there with Eyrie.
In the three novels that I've read by Tim Winton, I'm always enchanted by two things - the landscapes, and the male characters.
The landscapes and locations that he writes about always seem to transport me to them. The way he describes those places makes them feel like they belong to some faded memory of my past. They feel lived in, a little sad, but leave me with a sense of longing for some place that I've never been.
The men that he creates for his books feel relatable, often in shameful ways. They're not perfect; not even close. But that makes them feel realistic. The men in Tim's novels feel like they're from a bygone era. A time when men were men, but not quite fitting into a world of changing sensibilities. These guys feel truly human.
Dirt Music covers a lot of bases. There's romance, tragedy, emotional and literal journeys. The locations are beautiful, but the people... not so much, and that's a good thing. Their pasts, their flaws, their raw humanity is what makes them relatable. If I had read it on Kindle I would have highlighted numerous segments of artful prose, many of which could stand on their own. But this was borrowed from a library so I wasn't about to deface the book with highlights or underlines.
If you have never read one of Tim Winton's novels then I would say that Dirt Music might be a good one to start with. I really liked this novel. The ending was clever, but it also left me craving a little more certainty about what future might lay ahead for its characters.
Final score: 4 / 5
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