That Eye, The Sky : A Novel [Paperback]

Tim Winton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2002

In this modern Australian classic, award-winning author Tim Winton tells the story of young Ort Flack and his struggle to come to grips with the forces pulling his family apart. An extraordinary snapshot of boyhood, That Eye, the Sky is also a powerful exploration of the nature of hope and faith. Ort doesn't have a bad life. He mucks around with his best pal, Fat Cherry; he wonders what his sister Tegwyn's so mad about and why his grandma's disappeared inside herself; he looks up at the sky and thinks it's like a big blue eye looking right back at him. But when Dad isn't back from work when he's supposed to be and a strange car pulls into the drive, Ort's life is thrown into turmoil. Suddenly, Mum doesn't seem as strong as she used to, Fat starts saying bad things, and the stranger knocking on the door seems to know an awful lot about the Flacks.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Australian author Winton, at age 26, has won his country's highest awards and critics' acclaim for An Open Swimmer and Shallows. His third novel is narrated by 10-year-old Morton (Ort) Flack in a distinctive voice that holds the reader's attention and emotions throughout this coming-of-age chronicle. The catalyst is a car crash that leaves Ort's father, Sam, paralyzed and precipitates tribulations for his family. The Flacksincluding Ort's weak mother Alice, his sexy sister Tegwyn and his lonely, senile grandmotherare poor settlers in the Outback. As the family's circumstances dwindle, Ort hopes for a miracle that will cure his beloved father, but is frightened when a stranger, itinerant evangelist Henry Warburton, insinuates himself into the household. Alice is attracted to Warburton, who helps care for Sam and preaches religious dogma even while he's having his way with Tegwyn. A crisis looms, and its unforeseen effects end the wrenching story that proves love like Ort's can prevail against hell itself.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Australian Winton's American debut novel, Shallows, dealt with an entire community facing a crisis. In this more tightly focused book, one family deals with the crisis caused by a tragic accident. Sam Flack and his wife are leftover Sixties hippies, with a son called Ort verging on adolescence when a car wreck leaves Sam comatose. A mysterious stranger, whom Ort has seen living beneath a bridge, arrives and announces he has come to care for Sam. The stranger turns out to be another burned-out Sixties survivor who hopes to redeem himself. Obviously intended as a parable about the curative powers of love and faith, this is sometimes genuinely moving and brings to mind Agee's A Death in the Family , but its resolution seems forced and lacks conviction. Even so, Ort's grappling to make sense of his terribly altered world makes this a book worth considering. Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1ST edition (April 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743234421
• ISBN-13: 978-0743234429
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #372,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing, October 27, 2009

By 

unkleE - See all my reviews

This review is from: That Eye, The Sky : A Novel (Paperback)

I love Tim Winton's writing and I just love this short novel.

A struggling family is trying to live the fading dream of an alternative life on a farmlet on the fringe of a city. Disaster strikes and the family members react in different ways. As life falls apart around them, an edgy, mysterious and ambivalent character enters their lives and soon turns them upside down. The son (the narrator) and mother turn to faith, while the daughter heads in the opposite direction. The ending is as ambivalent as the mysterious stranger, but full of hope and symbolism.

This is a simple story, but told with Winton's trademark unpretentious but powerful style. The son is a naive yet knowing observer with an unorthodox and numinous spirituality. The dialogue is full of laconic Aussie humour. The mother's and son's fortitude and faith are inspiring, and their brief tangles with conventional religion quite hilarious. Most of all, the reader feels for them as they struggle with the difficulties of life, and I felt completely drawn into their life together.

Reading and re-reading this book has been a wonderful experience.

4.0 out of 5 stars I agree - a fine read - but mysterious ending, May 26, 2005

By 

Evelyn J. Kelley (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: That Eye, The Sky : A Novel (Paperback)

I agree with the reviewer in April of 2003. I really enjoyed the book. You fall in love with Ort. Seeing things through his eyes are very touching and funny at times. The end is definately what you make of it - a good book for discussion - book club.

4.0 out of 5 stars A quick, but fine read, April 29, 2003

By 

"feralmum" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: That Eye, The Sky : A Novel (Paperback)

That Eye, the Sky is a novel about a family in the outback of Australia. Life goes wrong when the father is in a car accident and in a coma afterwards. It is narrated by twelve year old Ort Flack. Through his eyes we meet his Dad, his Mum, the helpless hippy, Tegwyn, his angry sister, Fat his only friend and Henry, the missionary that saves them.

Through the eyes of Ort, the story of the Flack family unfolds, in simple, but beautifully written language. The novel jumps from reality to surreality, from living on the dole in the outback to miracles and mystical lights. It end on a strange surreal note and the reader is left to make of it what he/she chooses.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I don't quite know what to make of the end of this book. I would love to discuss it with someone that read it.