There is really no way to describe how much I enjoyed this book. Reading the back synopsis in Barnes & Noble intrigued me, but I wasn’t really sure how I’d take to it as it isn’t really my normal style. I was so impressed. The story really wraps you in and keeps you going. I wound up reading it slowly so for a while it was just this really interesting, lovely thing I could return to whenever I wanted it. So I’m a bit sad it’s over.

The story centers around Georgie Jutland, her husband, Jim Buckridge – the most prosperous fisherman in the town they live in – and Luther Fox, an outcast that lives just outside of town that has been making his living by fishing illegally. Faced with dead-end marriage with someone she finds she barely knows, Georgie starts seeing Lu secretly. With her background as a nurse and an ongoing need to take care of others that George herself describes as the failing point of all of her relationships, she begins uncovering a bit of what has caused Lu to retreat to the life he is currently living in a way that Jim had never bothered to. He begins to describe a life of music with his siblings and family, a life of caring for a melon farm, something comfortable despite being strained and despite the fact that his family had never had “good luck” and was always rejected by the rest of the people in town. At least before a terrible accident one night that seems to be one of the issues at the center of Lu's wariness.

However, when the people in the town find out about Lu’s activities and destroy his car and kill his dog, Lu decides to take off across Western Australia to try and find a place where he cannot be tracked down. He’s sure that Jim is after him and hides out far in the bush to escape him. Meanwhile, Georgie agonizes over her failed relationship with Jim and the life she might have been able to lead with Lu. Jim seems to want to make amends for his past, which was anything but kind, and convinces Georgie to take off and find Lu, wherever he may be.

Winton is one of the best writers I’ve ever encountered. The story is compelling and it’s very easy to find yourself attached to his characters, even the ones you are not quite sure you like. I’ll be reading Cloudstreet next, and I’m excited to see how his writing style works in other stories. He really is wonderful at description, which was especially important for a story like this that relies so heavily upon the Western Australian landscape. There are descriptions of plants and animals and land everywhere in the book. As someone who has a big interest in Australian literature, I was not disappointed. I am eager to read his other books. ( )

I was really impressed by this book. Winton employs a style that takes a little getting used to - lack of quotations always makes me have to pay a little more attention - but his writing is so brilliant and clear, that I was drawn in very quickly and felt like I was standing right there next to the characters. And what complex, very interesting, real people his characters are! All three of the main characters are going through some personal crisis or are lost in some way. Their interactions are very real and unpredictable - so refreshing! I felt like this book was really a window into three different lives, three different personalities, and how they are all intertwined. I am definitely interested in more from this author after reading this. ( )

One of my favourite reads of 2006 and my first by this author. I don't know if distance lends enchantment but the western Australian coast was so vividly evoked for me that I wanted to fly there straight away.

The prose is seemingly plain but at the same time poetic in an unstrained way.

It's a journey novel with all that sort of novel entails but it certainly felt different to the American type road novels, though no wish to criticise the latter on my part. ( )

Brilliant book with extraordinary stark yet poetic prose. I've never been to Western Australia but I swear I could smell the place - and the people! I loved his flawed and human characters. My only complaint is that a glossary of Aussie slang would not have gone astray. ( )

I first read the novel Breath by Tim Winton and was completely entranced, so I had to try some more of his books. Dirt Music does not disappoint. Tim Winton's writing is magical, and I was transported to Western and Northern Australia, as Lu Fox tries to survive in a world that has taken everyone and everything he loves.
This is a complex book where things are slowly revealed and you feel sympathy for all the characters. Savour it. Highly recommended. ( )