Shallows is set in a small whaling town in Western Australia, where land-based whaling has been a tradition for over 150 years. When Queenie Cookson decides to join an antiwhaling protest group, she defies her husband, her ancestry, and her community. Winner of the prestigious Miles Franklin Award in Australia, this eloquent and moving novel speaks with immediacy and passion of the conflict between the values of a closeknit, traditional society and the evolving mores of the wider world.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This novel, winner of Australia's prestigious Miles Franklin Award, has great ambitions. Not only does it aspire to depict a community in crisisan old whaling port now the scene of a Save the Whales protestbut also to ponder such matters as guilt and innocence, responsibility, damnation and redemption, the urge to suicide, and the visitation of the sins of the fathers upon their children. When writing about the troubled marriage of his central characters, Cleve and Queenie Cookson, or about the anti-whaling confrontations out on the open sea, Winton brings his book alive. But his grandiose strivings hurt it. Too many minor characters, often mere stereotypes, appear for the sake of thematic concerns rather than as an integral part of the narrative. And the symbolism telegraphs the story's conclusion. Promising, well-intentioned, but only passable. Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"The world here, the rainy, closed, quiet, claustrophobic world of the southern beach town just a long stone's throw away from Antarctica, is perfectly evoked. . . . The elegance of language, the grandeur of the nature being described . . . all this is dazzling, dazzling. It makes the heart pound."--Carolyn See, Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Animating all 150 years of the settlement's history, [this novel] carries the symbolic weight of its subject matter--of whales and water and meaning of life--as lightly as a wind off the sea. . . . Shallows deserves to find a permanent place as a major work of Australian literature."--Elizabeth Ward, Washington Post Book World
"Animating all 150 years of the settlement's history, [this novel] carries the symbolic weight of its subject matter--of whales and water and meaning of life--as lightly as a wind off the sea. . . . Shallows deserves to find a permanent place as a major work of Australian literature."--Elizabeth Ward, Washington Post Book World
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
It lost me,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Shallows (Paperback)
I gave this book 2 stars because I loved his other book _Cloudstreet_ and find the author to be amazingly talented.Unfortunately, I could not get past page 82 in this slow, ponderous story. I gave it multiple efforts but found myself lacking any interest in these characters or their gripes. I initially felt an alignment with Queenie and backed her spontaneous efforts to protest the slaughtering of whales which is the only thriving buisness in the town she lives in. Her actions angered most of the individuals of the town and her newly wed husband, Cleveland. Cleveland is a low-aspiring fellow, not originally from the small whaling town, Angelus. He is pre-occupied by scrapbooks and reading the diaries of the town's expired elder Nathaniel Coupar who is Queenie's great grandfather. Meanwhile, her father, Daniel is a miserably depressed grump who has issues with everyone in town but can't express himself. Then we have another despicably repulsive realtor, Des Pustling, whom I thought could disgust me enough to dredge up some kind of interest to keep me turning the pages. Other bits of folk weave irritatingly in and out, but not enough to hold fast the effort. Meanwhile, I am moving on to _Dirt Music_ and _the Riders_; also by Tim Winton with higher expectations.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
a struggle,
By kirlena walsh (australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shallows (Paperback)
I didn't like this book any more than An Open Swimmer. I found the flashbacks very confusing and the argot alienating (especially Winton's tendency to use brand names rather than generic ones - eg Zodiac for a type of boat. I often took too long to work out what he was talking about, as I don't know that specific lingo). In addition, the plot was boring, and there was not a single character that I even part-liked or could feel some empathy towards. I would shun the lot in real life, which meant it was not a pleasure to "briefly inhabit" Angelus. I had seen enough of this town by about chapter three. It was very difficult for me to feel involved in the events, despite the fact that I personally care very deeply about the fate of whales, and sympathise theoretically with the ideals behind the agitators who were trying to stop whaling. However, the actual individuals doing the protesting were as rebarbative as the ones mercilessly taking the lives of intelligent whales. No doubt that is Winton's point, but it didn't leave the reader much of a motive for staying with the book. I couldn't wait to be finished, and started skimming huge sections just to get it over with.
Despite that, I found Winton's writing style enjoyably poetic at times, and many of his descriptions were intelligent and interesting in their allusions. Had it not been for the moments of poetry embedded in this dragging plot, I would have abandoned the book before the end.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
It lost me,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Shallows (Paperback)
I gave this book 2 stars because I loved his other book _Cloudstreet_ and find the author to be amazingly talented.Unfortunately, I could not get past page 82 in this slow, ponderous story. I gave it multiple efforts but found myself lacking any interest in these characters or their gripes. I initially felt an alignment with Queenie and backed her spontaneous efforts to protest the slaughtering of whales which is the only thriving buisness in the town she lives in. Her actions angered most of the individuals of the town and her newly wed husband, Cleveland. Cleveland is a low-aspiring fellow, not originally from the small whaling town, Angelus. He is pre-occupied by scrapbooks and reading the diaries of the town's expired elder Nathaniel Coupar who is Queenie's great grandfather. Meanwhile, her father, Daniel is a miserably depressed grump who has issues with everyone in town but can't express himself. Then we have another despicably repulsive realtor, Des Pustling, whom I thought could disgust me enough to dredge up some kind of interest to keep me turning the pages. Other bits of folk weave irritatingly in and out, but not enough to hold fast the effort. Meanwhile, I am moving on to _Dirt Music_ and _the Riders_; also by Tim Winton with higher expectations.
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