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The Turning

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The Turning

By: Tim Winton
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower, Caroline Lee
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About this listen

 2007 Audie Award finalist. From the internationally acclaimed and best-selling author of Dirt Music comes an outstanding work of fiction that will resonate with readers everywhere.

Here are turnings of all kinds - changes of heart, nasty surprises, slow awakenings, sudden detours - where people struggle against the terrible weight of the past and challenge the lives they've made for themselves. Beautifully crafted, and as tender as they are confronting, these elegiac stories examine the darkness and frailty of ordinary people and celebrate the moments when the light shines through.

©2004 Tim Winton (P)2005 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd. Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt

Critic Reviews

"Plot and prose combine to create what might just come close to being the perfect Australian novel." ( Herald Sun)
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Look, in general, I actually don't love Tim Winton's writing. But I was teaching this book to a bunch of senior English students, and I really did get behind it. I like these vignettes. I think I liked the first story the most. I can appreciate the subtly in how these human experiences are portrayed. And every now and then, there was a really great string of words.

The narration is one of the better experiences I've had with audiobooks – sometimes soothing in tone, and always well-paced. I would listen to this while washing the dishes and feel at peace.

Performance made the story better

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Wonderfully narrated..saw the movie first, reading the book made me appreciate it so much more.

Enjoyable...great human characters.

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These wonderful stories are ruined in the telling buy some really thoughtless audio editing. The chapter divisions mean nothing — new stories usually start two seconds after old ones have finished, mid ‘chapter’, leaving no time to adjust. Sometimes there is a musical interlude, usually not. It would’ve been so easy to get this right. One chapter, one story. Not rocket science.

Brilliant stories, dreadful audio editing

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There is something here which Winton has not been able to capture in his later books. That sense of loss, longing, of regret that somehow life has gone its own path when you thought you owned it all.

A real feast from Winton

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it may of just been me. but I've listened to it 3 times and I'm not to sure what its about or who is who or what Is going on.

confused

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Amazing book. But the narrating was average, and the production was hopeless. Several times a story would finish and another start within a few seconds. Stories don’t start at the beginning of new tracks/chapters. There’s music between some stories but not others, and even then they manage to cut the music off before it’s finished. Like I said, great book, amazing writing. But they really screwed up transferring this to Audible.

Great book, not so good narration

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the chapter run into each other with no rhyme or reason where the skip points are. it could be made perfect with maby a good hour of work that was probably already done when it was put onto cd.

Amazing book and performance ruined by bad editing

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Could not finish it! Blasphemy is not a necessary addition to the story. Swearing also!

Language put me off

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impossible to get through, performers were brilliant considering their nausea-inducing material, well done to them for keeping me listening for the first 4 hours. BRAVO

boring as bats**t

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.