Helpful Score: 1
When I first started reading this, I was a little skeptical that it would be worth the read. It was filled with a lot of Australian slang and was a little hard to get into. However, the more I read, the more I got sucked into the story. Winton really has a way with language and descriptions. He makes you feel like you are stuck in the little Western Australia town of White Point. And in the later part of the novel, his descriptions of the Australian back country are marvelous. I did have to use the internet quite a bit to decipher some of the language (including some of the flora and fauna such as a"quoll" which is a small carnivorous marsupial) but it was worth the trouble. His characterizations are also more than memorable, including Georgie, Lu Fox and his tragic family history, Jim Buckridge - the "king" of White Point, and some of the lesser characters like Beaver, Horrie, and Bess. Some of the themes of the story are lost love, fear of being left by yourself, and overcoming flaws in your own personality. For example, Lu has lost everyone he loves and somehow must face the reality of his present situation. Winton is able to develop these themes beautifully.
Helpful Score: 1
Dirt Music was, in the simplest terms, a very fun book to read. Below the surface of the entertainment is some very well thought out characters. There is Georgie, the driving force of the plot who tends to have the feeling that something is missing in her life, though she is unsure what. There is Jim, a man with twisted and yet sensible logic who takes matters of pride as gravely serious matters. And finally, there is Lu, a man suffering from the loss of family and haunted by dirt music and memories. All three are lost people trying to find each other in their own ways, making the book not only fun to read but something the reader can easily relate to.
