Parrot and Olivier in America – Peter Carey

In Parrot and Olivier in America friendship and democracy are explored in the brilliant new novel from one of Australia foremost writers, Peter Carey.

Olivier is a young aristocrat, one of an endangered species born in France just after the Revolution. Parrot, the son of an itinerant English printer, wanted to be an artist but has ended up in middle age as a servant.

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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. Through their adventures with women and money, incarceration and democracy, writing and painting, they make an unlikely pair. But where better for unlikely things to flourish than in the glorious, brand-new experiment, America?

A dazzlingly inventive reimagining of Alexis de Tocqueville’s famous journey, Parrot and Olivier in America brilliantly evokes the Old World colliding with the New. Above all, it is a wildly funny, tender portrait of two men who come to form an almost impossible friendship, and a completely improbable work of art.

“This is Peter Carey at his best: playful, extravagant, even rambling at times, yet fully in control. It is sometimes hard to know where these adventures are heading, yet they all finish up going somewhere meaningful and satisfying.” SMH

Links and Further Reading

• The Age Review
• Read A Free Extract
• Watch an interview with Peter Carey

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Related posts:

1. Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America – Peter Biskind
2. William Golding – John Carey
3. Waiting Room: A Memoir – Gabrielle Carey