High schoolers still have no fucking clue what Cloudstreet is about

27 May, 2016. 16:45

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TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER it was first published, twenty-four after it won the Miles Franklin Award, high school students around Australia still have no fucking idea what Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet is about.

Though their teachers might explain the themes and motifs of the 426-page classic, nearly every student surveyed by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority said that they couldn’t follow the book because of how it was written.

One student responded by saying that the novel encompasses critical Australian themes of family relationships, finding values within the stimuli of life – but they didn’t really give two fucks about that shit.

“I’m not a very smart person,” said one respondent.

“I don’t pretend to be either. If I have to read a book, like holding a gun to my head, it’d be a Matthew Reilly or something to that effect. A book that can entertain me on a plane or something,”

“There isn’t a person aged between 14-18 in the country who would read fucking Cloudstreet out of pleasure.”

Sitting cross-legged on a wooden chair while running his fingers through his hair, Tim Winton offered a retort from the comfort of his local Fremantle cafe this morning, saying that school kids need to read books that aren’t all about explosions and people getting shot.

While he stopped short of suggesting students should be subjected to books like Oscar and Lucinda and The Solid Mandala, he did agree that young people should be forced to read books they don’t like.

“Cloudstreet is about the human condition and the traditions that form our society,” said the 55-year-old.

“It’s something that should be in the curriculum, even if normal and well-adjusted students hate reading it. I had one student write me a letter saying that if he ever found me, he’d break my legs,”

“It’s the little things like that which keep me going.”