Now, if you know me, and know me well, you’ll know what my favourite book is. Cloudstreet. For the past four years I have been absolutely besotted with this piece of literary heaven. But I haven’t always been a fan, in fact, when I first read it, I loathed it and wanted nothing more than to throw it in the river where it is set, and never see it again. It was on my reading list for my Year 12 TEE English Literature class, and I was therefore forced to read it and then write an essay on it. Firstly it took me forever to start, like I’ve said before, I know I’ve found a special book when it takes me ages to get into it, and this one took me months! I failed the essay, I think my mark was 8/20 (I’d only read the first chapter of the book when I wrote the essay). I just couldn’t grasp it, didn’t understand it one little bit. It all seemed in a foreign language, I didn’t understand the historical contexts, where it was set, or the point behind it. But I managed to struggle through the book, and when I finally finished it I realized I still didn’t understand, so I read it again. The second time around, it was amazing. Incredible. It all came together, I understood it all. I knew each place personally, I could picture the entire story in my head, and I fell in love. After living in Perth for a while and knowing every little place, I realized I knew every single place in the book…I could picture every setting in my head, and after studying Australian History for TEE, I also finally realized and knew the significance behind the Aboriginal references and all of the other historical content. Now, every-time I’m homesick for Perth, I read Cloudstreet and I feel like I’m home again, I can fall into this book so easily and feel like I’m actually a part of the story, just from the words on the pages, and my TEE notes still stuck inside on post-its, reminding me of how special my year-and-a-half living in Perth was to me. It has since become a book so special to me that I won’t let anyone slate it, if I hear anyone say ‘pfft, Cloudstreet, what a load of rubbish’, my response is automatically ‘you only say that because you didn’t understand it’. And to be honest, I’m probably right. Anyone in their right mind who understands the story would never call it rubbish, it is a work of art. It is beautiful in every way possible. And it’s now on our screens, finally.
It is an Australian book, written by an Australian author, set in Perth, Western Australia. So naturally it was made into an Australian mini-tv series, with an Australian cast and crew, and was shown on Australian television’s first. It was aired on television down under in May 2011…and finally, eight months later, it is on UK television. Airing on Sky Atlantic on Saturday evening’s at 9pm, Cloudstreet is a six-part series, the first starting last week on Saturday 7th January 2012. I recorded it on my sky box and look forward to watching it when I get back to Uni tomorrow…I’ll let you know how it is 🙂
Here’s one of my favourite quotes from the book, and the trailer for the tv series;
‘On the long grassy bank beneath the peppermint trees and the cavernous roots of the moreton bay figs…The university clock chimes and a rowing team slides past with the sun in its eyes…the sweet coppery water where jellyfish float and blowfish bloat…here by the river, the beautiful, the beautiful the river…I burst into the moon, sun, stars of who I really am…Perfectly. Always. Everyplace. Me.’
HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE IT!? Seriously! Just watching this trailer gives me butterflies in my tummy and makes me all excited to finally see it TOMORROWWW! 🙂