That Eye, The Sky was my first Tim Winton read.Ort Flack is a twelve year old boy living in country WA. When a car accident sends Ort's Dad into a coma, faultlines appear in the Flack family. Ort's Mum feels helpless, his sister hates everyone including herself, and Grammar is lost in senile confusion. But Ort sees things in a unique way. Everything from his stomach to his visions makes him a spiritual barometer for his world. Ort is also aware of something else: the sky is observing even more than he does, and it sees people's secrets and intentions. Then a tortured epileptic comes to stay, sometimes weird, sometimes helpful. It turns out he wants to share something with the Flacks. But will things get better?
Everything is just so dumb. Sometimes, some nights, it's just so stupid. And I just go out and look back at the house, and that little cloud of light that came on the house the day they brought Dad back, it stops me from bawling. It makes me stop everything. Something in it says to me, says to me soul in me belly and in me bum, Hang on, Morton Flack. Crazy, eh?
It's a book about faith, trust and weakness. I found it mesmerising, hard-hitting and surprising. Every church depicted is unreliable, inauthentic and useless. There are eschatologically constipated angry fundamentalists, there are Catholics absorbed in impenetrable ceremony and fixated on the crucifixion, and neither is any good to the Flacks. Even the gospel messenger himself is hopeless. The Flacks' world is a pathetic muddle with no way out, and the Christians are no help. And yet That Eye, The Sky describes an unexpected life-giving faith that can overcome even the deepest brokenness. It's quirky and unpredictable, a present-day Australian gospel story. Visit your local library, read it and get a swift kick in your churchy guts! What a book. Stories! Pompous Pilot, Juders, Holly Ghosts. Doesn't get me sleepy at all.
4 comments:
Actually, I'm not sure that 'hard-hitting' is the right adjective for this novel. Perhaps something like 'poignant' would be more appropriate?
While I agree that there is an evident disappointment and perhaps even condemnation of the church, the style in which the book is written is too laid back to be described as hard-hitting.
Ort's fascination with others, as seen through his voyeuristic tendencies, is simply observation, whether he's looking at his sister, church services or anyone else. His childlike attitude does not make value judgements, it simply observes. Thus I think the novel's power, where is becomes hard hitting, is where it exposes the reader's own inadequacies, but this is a reader's personal and felt response rather than one necessarily targeted by the protagonist, the novel or its author.
Yes... I agree with Tamie
Ps. Arthur, can you write some more 'normal' posts? :P
Tamie:
I agree, and I could have been more specific: the book was hard-hitting for me. I expect that some Christians will find aspects of the book either confusing or confronting. All-up, though, I found it pretty inspiring...
Edwin:
Well, normal? What would you like to see? :P
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