I'm absolutely devastated that I hadn't read the novel before I started watching the miniseries. It's one of those books that's been sitting there on my to-read list for about the past 3 years. It's funny how you associate certain books with school and are hesitant at reading them at first because they remind you of your ugly, ranting english teacher from year 8. For years I'd hated Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Dorian Gray, and when I came back to it a few years ago I was so enthralled with it I was almost ashamed at having disliked it the first time.
Cloudstreet was one of those novels I'd associated with the HSC, and so I hadn't considered reading it until I saw a review on the First Tuesday Book club about a year and a half ago. I will pretty much read anything that Marieke Hardy recommends (she first introduced me to A Confederacy of Dunces, my favourite book of all time- behind Harry Potter of course). So its title has been sitting in my moleskine diary for a few years now and I am absolutely kicking myself for not having read it before it graced my plasma screen every monday morning (thanks IQ!).
I'm always a little unsure when it comes to film adaptations of books, most of the time they lack the detail, description and flow that's so imperative to the storyline of a book. Yet Matthew Saville's portrayal seems to be dreamlike, I actually feel as if I am reading the novel when I watch it. I wish I were able to sit here and compare the two mediums but looking at the series as a stand alone piece I think its fantastic.
It's hard to bring to life a novel, but even harder to do it with relatively minimal dialogue. Saville seems to be able to bring these dream sequences to life, and get right into the heart of Fish Lamb. These characters are not likeable in the normal sense, each one of them disturbed by their past and unsure of what they can make of their future. I am only two episodes in but I can already feel a connection to the characters, and the house that seems to be its own character, living and breathing.
The costumes are incredibly well done (I would kill for a few of Rose or Dolly's dresses). And the acting is inspiring. I tend to not like typical Australian stories but I think that this story transcends culture and becomes a modern Australian story- the story of struggle and perseverance that most Australians (from any culture) have had to endure in this land.
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