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Review
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A Globe and Mail Best Book
“Carey has a wicked talent for historical voice, particularly the richly humorous circumlocutions of 19th-century diction.”
— Annabel Lyon, The Globe and Mail (Best Book)
“Carey’s brilliant evocation of the life of Alexis de Tocqueville explores themes of democracy, art, taste and class––all in the rich language of one of the world’s finest writers.”
— Financial Times
“Carey braids his story carefully, lovingly. It has all his telltale favorite elements—lawlessness, revolution, hope for the future, men driven by passion. At its heart, Parrot and Olivier in America is a western; the simplest story in history, sculpted down to a twinkle in a philosopher’s eye: Man’s search for freedom.”
— Los Angeles Times
“Carey’s traditional strengths are here in abundance: rich and meticulously researched detail, a soaring imagination, wonderfully inventive imagery and, most welcome of all, a caustic wit.”
— Daily Telegraph
“Carey’s novel cranks its energy, like Don Quixote, out of the friction between two vastly different characters.”
— New York Magazine (Best Book)
Book Description
From the two-time Booker Prize-winning author: an irrepressible, audacious, trenchantly funny new novel set in the 19th century and inspired in part by the life of Alexis de Tocqueville.
With dazzling exuberance and all the richness of characterization, story, and language that we have come to expect from this superlative writer, Peter Carey explores the birth of democracy, the limits of friendship and whether people really can remake themselves in a New World.
The two men at the heart of the novel couldn't be any more different: Olivier is the son of French aristocrats who (barely) survived the French Revolution. Parrot is the motherless son of an itinerate English printer. But when young Parrot is separated from his father (after a stupendous conflagration at a house of forgery) he runs into the powerful embrace of a one-armed marquis who will be his conduit - like it or not - into a life as closely (mis)allied with Olivier's as if they were connected by blood. And when Olivier sets sail for America - ostensibly to make a study of the American penal system, but more precisely to save his neck from the latest guillotineurs - Parrot, unable to loosen the Marquis's grip, is there too: as spy, scribe, comptroller, protector, foe and foil.
As the narrative unfurls, shifting between the perspectives of Olivier and Parrot, 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.
From the Hardcover edition.
With dazzling exuberance and all the richness of characterization, story, and language that we have come to expect from this superlative writer, Peter Carey explores the birth of democracy, the limits of friendship and whether people really can remake themselves in a New World.
The two men at the heart of the novel couldn't be any more different: Olivier is the son of French aristocrats who (barely) survived the French Revolution. Parrot is the motherless son of an itinerate English printer. But when young Parrot is separated from his father (after a stupendous conflagration at a house of forgery) he runs into the powerful embrace of a one-armed marquis who will be his conduit - like it or not - into a life as closely (mis)allied with Olivier's as if they were connected by blood. And when Olivier sets sail for America - ostensibly to make a study of the American penal system, but more precisely to save his neck from the latest guillotineurs - Parrot, unable to loosen the Marquis's grip, is there too: as spy, scribe, comptroller, protector, foe and foil.
As the narrative unfurls, shifting between the perspectives of Olivier and Parrot, 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.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
`I had not known America would be like this.',
By J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Parrot and Olivier in America (Hardcover)
The novel opens in France where sickly, sensitive Olivier de Garmont and the remnants of his aristocratic family have survived the Revolution and the Terror of 1793, and are surviving the Bonaparte regime in their chateau in Normandy. The restoration of the monarchy brings no joy to Olivier's family, and his family decides to send him to America - ostensibly to study prison reform.Parrot, considerably older than Olivier, is the son of an itinerant English printer. Olivier and Parrot are brought together by the mysterious one-armed Marquis de Tilbot whose presence looms large across the novel. When Olivier sets sail for America, Parrot accompanies him as both protector and spy. The narrative shifts between the perspectives of Parrot and Olivier, covering both their adventures together and their separate lives. This enables the introduction and exploration of a number of different themes in the novel: including love, politics and ambition. I especially enjoyed the differing views of democracy: `In a democracy, it seemed, one could not go against a servant's will.' (Olivier) `I read Tom Paine by candlelight, but for 18 hours a day I was a vassal.' (Parrot) Olivier is trapped by his past, caught between his aristocratic past and a brash new world where equality means dealing with people of different classes and station in life as though they are equals. Olivier is never really comfortable in America, although when he falls in love with an American heiress he sees some possibilities. Parrot, on the other hand, has already experienced much in his life and is more flexible in his approach to opportunities. It is Parrot's narrative that particularly enriches the story because it enlarges the world beyond that of the myopic Olivier. The novel may have been inspired by Alexis de Tocqueville's travels through America, but there is more than one story in this novel. Parrot's life has been far more varied and he is, it seems, far better equipped to survive in the New World. I am tempted to write more about this novel: it's vibrant, energetic and vastly entertaining. But for me, a lot of the pleasure was derived from reading the novel without knowing what was likely to happen next, and I don't wish to spoil this for others. Read it for pleasure, dissect it for significant themes if you so choose. But if you do choose to explore those themes then you may need to reread the novel - or read it at a far more leisurely pace than I did. `Who would have imagined such an extraordinary world?' Jennifer Cameron-Smith
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pleasantly surprised, Carey will get my readership again for sure,
By
This review is from: Parrot and Olivier in America (Hardcover)
I haven't read a genuinely skillful writer like this in a long time. Or maybe I just have old-school tastes, I don't know. Anyway, chalk this book up as a literary work that isn't hard to read through. And it's not even that plot-driven, when it comes down to it. It's really driven by the relationship between 2 characters in a strange place who don't have much in common. And yet they grow to understand each other more and more as the novel progresses. It is a funny book, mostly in a tongue-in-cheek manner. And you never know what's going to happen next, but you know its going to be good.Did I mention that it's written very well?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful!,
By
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This review is from: Parrot and Olivier in America (Paperback)
The ripples of the revolutions of the last quarter of the eighteenth century have not settled yet, as the author takes us into the third decade of the nineteenth. Two unlikely partners navigate the reshaping societies of Europe and America, and through their turmoil and adjustments, find their places. Carey allows his two protagonists to tell us their stories, capturing in their voices the complexities of the changing worlds. It is a delightful book, rich in its language, and yet sensuous and funny at the same time. It is a worthy finalist of the 2010 Booker prize.
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