"A flicker, then a burst of consciousness on his shooting way, and he'll savour that healing all the rest of his journey, having felt it, having known the story for just a moment."
Winton opens the book with a description of Fish almost drowning. He correctly hints at the boy's eventual fate. Fish tastes death for a second and becomes consumed with a desire to have it for real. He continually comes back to that moment in his mind, longing to drown again.
“The kids are all we’ve got. They’re what we are.”
Lester urges his wife to take her parenting role more seriously. They're making money in their store, but to what end? Lester wakes up to the realization that he will die. He wants to ensure that all of his hard work will transfer to his kids, for their benefit.
"Here still feels the pangs of history. Those who’ve gone before do not lose their feelings, only their bodies.”
The narrator expresses a superstitious belief about the house. The souls of the people who have lived and died their before still reside in the house. They influence the present events even though they are dead. After all they have merely lost their physical bodies, not their spirits.
"Oh, Rose, you loved me. How you did. And there you go drifting by with the river, out on an eddy in a black shiny Morris Oxford with a man who quotes DH Lawrence with his tongue in your ear . . ."
This story is narrated from the perspective of the house on Cloudstreet. Apparently the house itself becomes jealous of Rose's relationship with Toby. He expresses remorse over her youthful ignorance at falling for the first boy to whisper sweet words in her ear. It's both a plea for help and a warning.
