Books like Minimum of Two

Imagine if you could take a glance at a moment in your life. Would it be a dramatic life changing event of a simple string of occurrences that lead you down the beaten path? This is exactly what Tim Winton has tried to explore in his book Minimum of Two. This anthology of short stories produces many windows into brief moments in time and life. Chronology is a powerful element of these stories and whilst each story is unique there are two recurring characters interwoven throughout the book. It is mesmerising to bear witness to so many lives in these stories and empowering to see Jerra and Rachel fight for their own lives.Change is one of the most powerful elements of Minimum of Two for many reasons. The book takes the reader on a journey into the lives of many characters. The book only shows one experience for each of the characters and as such introduces a new dimension for the reader to be immersed in. Winton create moments in a person’s life that may not always be dramatically life changing but are in no way insignificant. This is clear in the story of Distant Lands which depicts a young girl trying to find her place in the world. The events in this story are by no means dramatic and yet are overflowing with underlying drama. It is a story about the unfortunately nicknamed ‘Fat Maz’ . The young girl spends her days taking care of her parent’s newsagency and wondering what she is doing with her life. Everything changes when a mysterious dark man enters and begins reading, but never purchasing, Distant Lands. It is this simple but beautiful change in her daily life that empowers her to find great purpose in her life and leave the tired confines of her family. It is breathtaking to see just how small a change is needed to affect the rest of our lives.The only characters in the book to be featured in more than one story are Jerra and Rachel. Winton has created a disjoined and purposeful view into the experiences this married couple face throughout their lives. This element of time is an interesting factor for the Jerra and Rachel stories. You become a helpless observer to their lives as you watch them grow and change. One of the biggest transformations witnessed through the book comes from Rachel, as Jerra explains, ‘she’d had the life torn from her as well as the child’ . She has become placid and withdraws after the birth of her baby and as such is portrayed as quite a weak character which is supported by Keane (2006), “Rachel struggles with ill-health and depression but finds her way through to the future” . The gradual transition she makes is empowering to observe as she comes back to the strong individual she once was, ‘After twenty years of confirming her own ineptitude, Rachel found she was strong’ . Bearing witness to time passing by and characters developing deeper with every moment is what makes this book so engaging. The nature of the short stories is that they do require some reflection before moving onto the next. In life we need to stop and think about what we have just experienced and it is no different from Minimum of Two.Water appears as one of the most defining qualities about many of Tim Winton’s works including Breath, Cloudstreet and the Lockie Leonard trilogy. In Minimum of Two this element is highlighted and embraced on several levels in the text. It appears as a form of renewal and cleansing in many of the short stories. It is particularly notable in Blood and Water where the reader witnesses the birth of young Sam. In this story water appears as the very catalyst of birth and life within the first sentence, “Rachel laughed and there was water down her leg. ‘It’s coming’ she said” . Whilst this is a particularly profound use of water as the sign of life it also makes very notable statements in other stories such as Laps. An editorial in The Age stated that, “As in others of these stories, water, specifically the ocean, operates as a powerful symbol of renewal, of life urges, of cleansing” . This has particular significance to understanding the function of not only the stories in Minimum of Two but also in understanding Tim Winton himself.There are multitudes of ways to explore and enjoy Tim Winton’s Minimum of Two, but it is in the elegance of simplicity that it truly shines. It is the way in which Winton has crafted stories of change, growth and the deceptively mundane that makes it such a powerful book to read. It is not often that a book will come along and make you reassess the experiences of your life. How we acknowledge and observe the fundamentals of life determines where it will take us in the future as well as appreciating the here and now.