Parrot & Olivier in America ***

By Peter Carey.
copy right 2009 by Peter Carey.
Published 2011 by Vintage International.  In New York.  A first edition.

Originally published 2009 in Australia by Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Group.
381 pages.

I have heard much about the reputation of John Carey.  About 10 years ago I read his Booker Prize Winner The True Story of the Kelly Gang.  It was historical fiction as is this one here and the subject matter (of both books) is something that interests me strongly.  But I struggled with it.  The cause was partly the language of the characters (they were Australian rough necks form the late 19th century) and his elliptical manner of writing in which he spells out very little for the reader and the reader has to work out what exactly it is that is happening.  This difficullty prevented me from tackling his other books until now, though I really did enjoy the Kelly Gang in spite of the difficulties.

This book is similiar.  It's language is thick and dense.  But for some reason I was able to follow it better.  Perhaps after all these years I'm simply a better reader.

Parrot and Olivier in America is historical fiction based loosely on the life of Alexis de Tocqueville. That character is Olivier.  Olivier is a French Aristocrat in the early to mid 19th century - during the time of the French Revolution, which of course is not a good time to be a French aristocrat.

Parrot is a poor Englishman who becomes the servant of a roguish yet aristocratic soldier - the Marquis.  The Marquis saves Parrot as a boy when he is found wandering the roads and they end up sailing to an Australian penal colony where the boy is left until he is an adult. For some reason the Marquis comes back and takes him to France.  It should be also said that Parrot has a talent for mimicking people, hence the name Parrot, and for drawing.

The over protective mother, who is friends with the Marquis, wants to send Olivier, fearing for his life, away from France.  The Marquis offers his servant Parrot as a companion/servant.  Being from completely different stratas of society, the two do not get along, yet Parrot sticks around as he is honor bound, plus he is being paid.   Eventually the two come to an understanding and a sort of weird friendship.  It's an odd couple story.

I really admired the gritty descriptions of the infant U.S.A.  It was not romanticized and touched on all sorts of debauchery and corruption.  It's not a very romantic description but probably closer to the reality of the situation.

It is also a funny book.  Parrot made much fun of Olivier's snobby attitude with some pretty bawdy language.

And finally, I liked some of the ideas presented about just what is America.  Olivier discourses on much of this of in his monologues about the nature of America.   Surprisingly, some of it still rings true today.  He believed that America was crass and concerned only with commercailism.  He didn't believe true art and fine culture could flourish in the country with out a noble class that has the time to appreciate and study art.  If one compares this to our modern society, one can see the similarities. Our culture and art is driven by tastes of the uneducated and undereducated common man.  There are a few lone wolves out there trying to make a difference but its a steep upward road. Though Parrot argues with him over this idea.  After all Parrot and his wife were artists and Parrot believed that it was possible to have great art in America.  Though his argument loses strength when his group of artists have to sell their art though theatric and circus like tricks.  This and the commercialism of America is a major theme of the book.

Carey's books are not easy reading, so I would not choose to read him when I need a quick read between obligatory reads, but if I have time, he's definitely worth returning to.

Here's a pretty succinct interview about the boook with Carey. I'm glad to see that I'm not that far off for once.



And some more thoughts...



And something a little silly...



And one longer interview for good measure...