| May 2010 - Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey |
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When Olivier sets sail for the New World — ostensibly to study its prisons, but in reality to avoid yet another revolution — Parrot is sent with him, as spy, protector, foe and foil. As the narrative shifts between the perspectives of Parrot and Olivier, between their picaresque adventures apart and together — in love and politics, prisons and finance, homelands and brave new lands — a most unlikely friendship begins to take hold. And with their story, Peter Carey explores the adventure of American democracy — in theory, in practice, and in ongoing argument. Parrot and Olivier in America is a dazzlingly inventive reimagining of Alexis de Tocqueville's famous journey, brilliantly evoking the Old World colliding with the New. Above all, it is a wildly funny and deeply tender portrait of two men who come to form an almost impossible friendship, and a completely improbable work of art. About the authorPeter Carey was born in Australia in May 1943 and is the author of six novels. He won the Booker Prize in 1988 for Oscar and Lucinda (which has since been made into a film starring Ralph Fiennes) and was shortlisted in 1985 with Illywhacker. His other novels include The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith and Jack Maggs (winner of the 1998 Commonwealth Writers Prize). He has also written a collection of short stories, The Fat Man in History, and a book for children, The Big Bazoohley. Peter Carey won The Man Booker Prize for the second time in 2001 with True History of the Kelly Gang and was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize in 2007 and 2009. (Courtesy of The Man Booker Prize Foundation) What the papers say: ‘This is Peter Carey at his best: a tour de force, a wonderfully dizzying succession of adventures and vivid, at times caricatured, characters executed with great panache...splendid ... captivating.’ Andrew Riemer, The Sydney Morning Herald ‘Carey dazzles his readers with his literary powers .... In this re-imagining of Alexis de Tocqueville's journey, Carey wakens all the senses.’ Blanche Clarke, Herald Sun (Australia)
Want to know more? Read the list of books that Peter Carey was reading while writing Parrot and Olivier In America. Read the Wikipedia entry on Alexis de Tocqueville, the French historian and political thinker, whose journey to America, and observations during this journey, inspired Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America. Watch and listen to Peter Carey talk about Parrot and Olivier in America in this short Youtube video (8min 27s)
Read the reading group guide - courtesy of Random House. Listen to Radio National's The Book Club interview Peter Carey about Parrot and Olivier in America Learn more about Peter's life leading up to the publishing of Parrot and Olivier in America Hear Peter Carey talk about his work on Saturday 22 May at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival. He will be also be delivering the Closing Address on Sunday 23 May. Have your say.. ( 3 Votes ) |
