Very different from Winton's other books (that I've read). It's got an entirely urban setting, it's questionable if any of the characters are likable or even good people, it's very dark and that ending... well.

I do take some issue with the ending. I have read enough of Winton's books to know not to expect a neat and tidy conclusion to the story but it's more the ambiguity here that bothered me, at first. But then I took a little while to think about it and I'm okay with it now. I've read a few other reviews here and there seems to be a few trains of thought on the ending, all plausible, but I'm happy to stick with my interpretation.

Eyrie isn't necessarily heavy on plot, it's much more character driven and although the main characters, Keely and Gemma, are not necessarily immediately likable people and you could question how much of their situation is their own fault (not so much Gemma on that one) I found myself thoroughly invested in them and caught up in their lives.

There are probably a lot of undercurrents I wouldn't have picked up on here not being from Australia. It feels like Winton is saying some very specific things about Australian society, Western Australia particularly. To me though Eyrie is about two people who, although growing up on the same street, had two completely different lives set in motion by other people's actions and yet both ended up in the dregs of society. Through their own actions or through others it doesn't matter. The world will drag a good person down just as quickly as a bad person. How you recover from it, or don't, is what matters.

As with all of Tim Winton's books Eyrie leaves you with a lot to think about.