Lewis Jones reviews The Turning by Tim Winton in this weekend's "Telegraph" from the UK. Jones is at first a tad bemused by the collection, harking back to an earlier misconception on his behalf about another book, but he soldiers on and comes to appreciate the way Winton has worked the stories together: "Vivid, elegiac and humorous, they are told in a relaxed prose that frequently strikes sparks - 'the hard laughter of ducks,' for example, 'like mechanical clowns in a sideshow.' Unusually, I think, they bridge the gulf between short story and novel."
A week ago, Ian Thomson reviewed the same book in the same newspaper. I'm not sure why the paper would want to do that, especially given the number of new books that appear each week demanding attention. Anyway, Thomson was quite taken with the book: "Winton likes to confront dark themes - a betrayal of friendship, an old love dangerously rekindled - yet the collection is so exquisitely written, so precise in its construction, that it is a joy to read." Hmmm, I'm guessing Thomson doesn't read much in the horror genre then.
