Tim Winton - The Riders

Pros: Intense sensory imagery, diverse discussion of love.
Cons: Has a tendency to stray into unnecessary or obtuse detail.

There is no way to tell upon first glancing at the opening pages where this book is taking you and it remains that way throughout. This author has offered up a deep and insightful portrayal of the modern every day man's loss of love, and life. Where does...

Pros: Both a literal and figurative journey
Cons: It eventually ends

Tim Winton's The Riders is perhaps the greatest Australian novel in recent decades. The Riders tells the story of Fred Scully, a down-to-earth working class Australian. Scully, his wife Jennifer, and their daughter Billy have spent the past few...

Pros: Well-drawn main character
Cons: Some Australian slang not familiar to everyone

Tim Winton's voice is so purely Australian and so unlike most American writers that some readers might be put off. I chose this book for our book discussion group and instead of loving it as I did, all but one hated it and thought the main character to...

Pros: universal themes
Cons: not a complete ending

Fred Scully, a working class husband and father, buys an old Irish cottage because of the wishes of his wife. After working for weeks to make the cottage habitable for his family, Scully goes to the airport for the return of his wife, Jennifer, and his daughter, Billie, but at terminal gates only Billie, speechless and in shock, emerges. This novel is about Scully and the relationship between him and his daughter as they go on a search through out Europe for his lost wife. “The Riders” explore the universal themes of relationships the feeling of otherness and the feelings of isolation and displacement. Each of the characters are very well developed and is described with great detail through Scully’s memories and the character’s actions. Tim Winton uses descriptive and intense explanation, which keeps the book interesting until the very end.