Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America is the story of an extraordinary friendship across two continents, from the author of Amnesia, Oscar and Lucinda andTrue History of the Kelly Gang.
Peter Carey received the Booker Prize for Oscar and Lucinda and
again for True History of the Kelly Gang. His novel, Parrot and
Olivier in America, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and
was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2010. His other
honours include the Commonwealth Prize and the Miles Franklin
Award. Born in Australia, he has lived in New York for twenty
years.
www.petercareybooks.com
Peter Carey is one of Australias finest writers, and a two-time winner of the prestigious Man Booker Prize, so a new novel is always a major event. In recent years he has been more prolific than ever, with Parrot and Olivier in America following hard on the heels of His Illegal Self and Theft before it. After those two novels, and My Life as a Fake, which were all set in the 20th-century, Carey has made a return to the 19th-century in his new work. It s a time period that has been fruitful for him, with both of his Man Booker Prize-winning novels, Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang, being set in that century. Parrot and Olivier in America is a fictionalised 'reimagining of Alexis de Tocquevilles journey to America, which formed the basis of his hugely influential work Democracy in America. In Carey s novel he has been transformed into Olivier de Garmont, a somewhat feckless young French aristocrat whose parents narrowly avoided the guillotine during the revolution. In order to save Olivier from the political situation in 1830s France, his mother ships him off to America on the pretext of studying American prisons, a job which he comes to take quite seriously. Accompanying him is John Larrit, or 'Parrot', an English servant who is rather reluctant to serve, and who has a fascinating history of his own. As he has done in his previous few novels, Carey makes good use of alternating points of view, with the chapters being narrated by Olivier and Parrot in turn. This technique gives all of the advantages of a first person narrator, including having a distinctive voice', without being restricted by a single perspective on events. Carey populates the novel with a number of other distinctive characters, including the one-armed Marquis de Tilbot, the forger Algernon Watkins who aspires to produce the best book of birds the world has ever seen (Carey is obviously inspired by John James Audubon here), and Martine, an artist s assistant whose work surpasses her master s. Carey is at the peak of his powers as a novelist and Parrot and Olivier in America fits into a long tradition of picaresque tales about journeying to America, including Daniel Defoe s Moll Flanders and John Barths The Sot-Weed Factor. Fans of Carey s work wont need much encouragement to pick this up, but it should have widespread appeal in Australia and overseas. Blair Mahoney teaches English, literature and philosophy at Melbourne High School and is the author of Poetry Reloaded, a textbook for secondary students
The eminently talented Carey (Theft) has the gift of engaging ventriloquism, and having already channeled the voices of Dickens's Jack Maggs and the Australian folk hero/master thief Ned Kelly, he now inhabits Olivier-Jean-Baptist de Clarel de Barfleur, a fictionalized version of Alexis de Tocqueville, whose noble parents are aghast at his involvement in the events surrounding Napoleon's return and the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X. To remove him from danger, they send him to America, where priggish snob Olivier inspires Carey's humor during his self-centered adventures in New York, New England, and Philadelphia. Olivier can't shake his aristocratic disdain of raw-mannered, money-obsessed Americans-until he falls for a Connecticut beauty. More lovable is Parrot, aka John Larrit, who survives Australia's penal colony only to be pressed into traveling with Olivier as servant and secret spy for Olivier's mother. Though their relationship begins in mutual hatred, it evolves into affectionate comradeship as they experience the alien social and cultural milieus of the New World. Richly atmospheric, this wonderful novel is picaresque and Dickensian, with humor and insight injected into an accurately rendered period of French and American history. (Apr.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
Olivier-Jean-Baptiste de Clarel de Garmont is French nobility, son of survivors of the French Revolution. Olivier has had every privilege and is acutely aware of his relative social position. Imagine his surprise and discomfort when he is banished, for his own safety, to newly emerging democratic America. Son of an itinerant English printer, with a colorful and varied past, Parrot proves an unlikely companion. Parrot is sent to accompany Olivier as his servant and secretary, with the secret mission of reporting Olivier's activities back to his mother in France. The story alternates between Parrot and Olivier, who narrate from their widely different points of view. Featuring well-developed and multifaceted characters (the novel was inspired by the life of Alexis de Tocqueville), this book is rife with humorous details and turns of phrase, and the language is sophisticated (readers might want to have a dictionary handy). Verdict Written by a two-time Booker Prize winner, this engaging book will be particularly appreciated by readers interested in early 19th-century American history, the French aristocracy, and emerging democracy. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/09.]-Sarah Conrad Weisman, Corning Community Coll. Lib., NY Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
