The river

Tom Winton’s Cloudstreet, is a novel based on two Australian families sharing one huge, haunting house. The story is filled with creative twists and turns, which come from the Winton’s usage of magic realism. The gigantic house is set near a river, which plays an important part in the flow of the book. One of the main characters, Fish Lamb, lost a part of himself, mentally, when he nearly drowned to death, early on in the book. Brought back to life by his mother Oriel, Fish though mentally challenged, longs to return to the water, where he felt warm and safe. The previous quote can be applied to the character of Fish quite literally, as his deepest desire is to return to the river, and he holds on to his dream of escape for the rest of the book.
When Fish nearly died, in the beginning, he experienced a safe warm haven, explained in the following quote, “Fish’s pain sto...