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The Riders

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The Riders

By: Tim Winton
Narrated by: Stanley McGeagh
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About this listen

The Riders, the novel that brought Tim Winton his first Booker Prize shortlisting, charts an odyssey across Europe, a transfixing journey through the underworld of every lover's nightmare.

Fred Scully waits at the arrival gate of an international airport, anxious to see his wife and daughter. After two years in Europe, they are finally settling down. He sees a new life before them, a stable outlook again, a fresh start, a cottage in the Irish countryside that he's renovated by hand. He's waited, sweated on this reunion. He does not like to be alone—he's that kind of man.

The flight lands, the doors at the airport hiss open...Scully's life falls apart.

1995, The Commonwealth Writer's Prize Best Book (South East Asia and South Pacific Region), Winner

1995, The Man Booker Prize, Short-listed

1995, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, Short-listed

1994, Australian Book of the Year, Short-listed

1994, Australian Book of the Year, Short-listed

©1994 Tim Winton (P)2022 Bolinda Publishing Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Aviation
All stars
Most relevant  
Without having read the synopsis, I just knew she wasn't going to show up. The entire time Scully is renovating the old house, the feeling of pending disappointment is palpable, but I didn't expect her to send the daughter alone or disappear completely. So I persevered through Scully's impulsive pursuit and self destructive behaviour all the while thinking that he(we) would get an answer. I really felt he deserved that much at least. If you enjoy rich, descriptive prose and slipping between concrete reality and other worldly visions, you'll enjoy this gruelling journey to nowhere.

Riveting

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A very frustrating story without ending. I just didn’t or don’t understand where it was going and if it got there.

What on earth was the story about? Is there another book that explains?

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As addictive as any novel I’ve ever read. I’d only ever read Breath by Tim Winton before, and now I I know I need the rest.

Utterly captivating and beautifully narrated.

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I stuck with it because I loved cloud street but this is so very different. I don’t get, I struggled to follow and I have no idea where Jennifer is even now.

I didn’t get it

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Tim Winton at his best.
An emotional story beautifully rendered.
Wonderful narration really brought the characters to life.

Masterful.

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A very long story about an unfinished house and a child being dragged around the world to find her mum, his wife. Still none the wiser after hours of listening. Actually googled it to see if I'd missed something but it seems I'm not the only one.

Where the heck is his wife?

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story fluffed out with too much non related waffle. very boring in places and "the riders" - wtf? nothing to do with the story whatsoever.

monotone dialogue of the reader

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The child abuse was abhorrent and his mental state unbearable no sympathy for most characters

Brutal

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Did Tim Winton really write this dreary, painful, drama-for-the-sake-of-it nonsense?
Started well enough but only stuck with it because he wrote it, hoping for something interesting to happen.
It didn't.
Le sigh...

Endurance

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