Parrot & Olivier In America (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
For the first time in a long time, I am giving up on a book. I have battled my way through a few tomes I did not enjoy, but this was the one to break my spirits. At the moment of surrender I am over 200 pages in, not even halfway through. A plot is yet to appear in front of me, but I say- screw this. I am done fighting. I may have opened a Pandora's box with this one that will lead to me giving up on quite a few books in the future, but this felt like pure torture and I could not take it any longer.Will not even try to talk about the writing style, the characters or the plot, because I have literally nothing nice to say.0 stars. I'm usually pretty skeptical about things working out. When things don't work out at the end of a book it seems much more realistic to me. Maybe that says more about me than anything else, but that's the way it is. Peter Carey has kind of a genius for taking stories that feel like they really ought to end badly and pulling some good out of it. I don't mean this is a "feel good" ending or anything, just that it's better than you're thinking it will be.Plus, things kind of work out for the character that you like more. I think I might be alone in this, but I did feel some sympathy for Olivier. He just seems to have been raised to exist in a world that doesn't exist by that time. I think there are probably quite a few people, including me, that have a feeling that they were prepared for a world that is gone. That said, he's still kind of an arrogant prick. And so it's Parrot that, angry and bitter as he is, is definitely more likeable. He also has the better ending, which totally makes sense. After all, the world that Olivier is finding difficult is also a world that's working toward being better for people like Parrot. Also, he succeeds commercially, which an aristocrat like Olivier would never even consider. The fact that things work out for him mirrors the political changes that Olivier has gone to America to document. Also, it's well written. I imagine it might at least owe something to having two very strong and outspoken characters that Carey is able to make them say excellent things. Parrot can rage eloquently, and Olivier will quietly and politely point out how stupid things are. And Carey will then write out all the extremely angry things that Olivier is actually thinking. I don't reread books that often. I always feel like I should be spending my time on new words. However, I'm fairly certain that this is a book I'll read again.
What do You think about Parrot & Olivier In America (2009)?
Quite an entertaining read - well written but rather Dickensian in style so needs concentration!
—Sam
I'll bet you 5 bucks that this is the funniest book ever written about Alexis de Tocqueville.
—wei2erd
