Tim Winton, The Shepherd’s Hut

I’ve read many a Winton novel  or short story – including some of his work for younger readers. This novel made we groan up until the main character made contact with the occupant of the Shepherd’s Hut. The groan stemmed simply from the first person voice of the main character. That voice describes a loner’s journey on foot in escape from a circumstance.

That first person voice – used in current and reflective tense - is over loaded with Australian slang. Winton almost seems to pour out the entire Australian slang upon his readers. Schoolteachers could use this part of the novel to assess student’s breadth of comprehension of Australian slang could. The first person voice is current in describing the journey and reflective in drawing out the back-story.

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On making contact with the occupant of the Shepherd’s Hut, the first person voice suddenly works. It works because it changes to a richly descriptive language that is interspaced with meaningful dialogue. It works also because Winton best draws out the beauty of the stark land when he is allowing the reader to view it through two character’s eyes rather than a loner’s eyes.

My two star rating rests largely on the first part of the book (up to approximately page 140). I truly feel that Winton would have done better to find another way of communicating than the extended first-person, loner dialogue. The second part of the book is memorable Winton.

The test of the novel perhaps lies in how an independent playwright may prepare the book for screen. I suspect a playwright may draw the viewer to the Shepherd’s Hut much quicker than does the novel. The meeting of the main character and the occupant of the Shepherd’s Hut – a meeting that the main character sought to avoid - would generate suspenseful screen action.

I am reading the hard copy edition ISBN 978-0-14-378611-5 as borrowed from City of Sydney Library. This post links from Goodreads. The two star rating is of the Goodreads system of user applying 1 to 5 stars.

Shalom,

Ozhamada

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