Summary

The short story “Neighbours” by Tim Winton follows a young, recently-married couple who move to a new neighborhood in Australia. All their neighbors are European immigrants, which makes the couple wary of them at first. They have always lived in the suburbs, where people did not interact much with each other. Because of this, they are surprised by the strange behaviors and loud noises coming from their new neighbors. 

The couple and their neighbors do not get along for many months. The neighbors think it is odd the couple gets up so late in the morning and that the husband stays home to write his thesis while the wife goes to work. At the same time, the couple is annoyed that their Polish neighbor gathers wood and hammers nails all day without building anything, and the husband is disgusted and unnerved by the...