Tim Winton's The Riders: One of the Great Australian Novels
Written: Apr 20 '00 (Updated Feb 22 '01)
Product Rating:
Pros: Both a literal and figurative journey
Cons: It eventually ends
The Bottom Line: The Riders is one of the best Australian novels written in the past few decades. It should be mandatory reading for all lovers of prose.
Nathanael73's Full Review: Tim Winton - The Riders
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 years living in London, Paris, and the Greek Islands. They have decided to move back to Australia and end their days of wandering.
The family find themselves with a few days on their hands before their flight from London to Perth, so take a quick trip to Ireland. Jennifer falls in love with a dilapidated cottage, which they promptly buy and decide to make their new home. While Scully stays in Ireland to make the cottage habitable, Jennifer and Billy go back to Australia to sell their house there and tie-up loose ends. The novel begins with Scully working night and day on the cottage, aching to see his wife and daughter again. Finally the day of their arrival comes, and Scully waits at Shannon airport to take his family to their new home. But only Billy disembarks. Jennifer is nowhere to be found, and Billy is speechless with shock. And so begins Scully's odyssey across Europe and into the depths of his soul.
Winton's characters are so real you can smell them. His prose is subtle and pervasive - he does not bludgeon you with his brilliance - rather he slowly but surely envelops you with his tale. By the end of the first chapter you are on intimate terms with Scully, the (anti)hero of the story. Winton follows the rugged Australian on a nightmare journey through Europe in search of a wife that has disappeared without explanation. Scully drags his bewildered daughter along on a journey that becomes more and more one of self-discovery. Not only is he trying to answer the questions, "Why did she leave?" and "Where did she go?” he begins to question the reality of everything that went before. Was his entire existence a lie? Had he missed the truth all along?
Any Australian who has lived in Europe will repeatedly be amazed at the accuracy of Winton's observation about what it is like to be an antipodean in Europe, and the treatment we often receive. But no matter where you hail from, you will find that this book connects with you on the deepest level. After all, it is at the core an exploration of what it means to be human.
Like many of his novels, in The Riders Winton describes events from several different character's points-of-view, and weaves elements of the supernatural into the tale. His writing is rich and deep, and intensely rewarding for those who take the time to dig. Verses from the traditional Irish song/poem Raglan Road are woven expertly into the novel. Perhaps the most telling verse is:
On Raglan Road on an autumn day
I saw her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare
That I may one day rue
Many readers, myself included, have felt deeply disappointed upon completing The Riders. The ending does not seem at all satisfactory. But in time, and especially with re-readings, the light dawns and the pieces come together. And now, six years after it's publication, The Riders has become one of my all-time favorite novels, and an Australian classic.
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