Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Oscar and Lucinda is the best book by my favourite living author. I am a failed writer, and it is thanks to authors as talented as Peter Carey (and there are only a handful) that I chose to give up: I couldn't possibly hope to capture human life on the page, with all its infinite possibilities, as beautifully, gracefully, amusingly and touchingly as Peter Carey. As Angela Carter writes on the dust jacket of my copy, "It fills me with a wild, savage envy, and no novelist could say fairer than that". I am currently half way through my second reading of Oscar and Lucinda, and I know what is in store for me. I am prepared to sob like a child, and I am relishing it.Set in England and Australia in the nineteenth century, the novel is essentially about the precariousness of existence and how people's lives are constructed by chance. Its essence is perhaps best captured in Oscar's speech to Lucinda on the ship Leviathan: "Our whole faith is a wager...We bet that there is a God. We bet our life on it...We must stake everything on the unprovable fact of His existence". And so they sit down to a game of cards. Objectivity is perhaps an unattainable goal. When I recommend Oscar and Lucinda to my friends, they generally enjoy it. But this is not enough for me. I want them to feel it as keenly as I do - that Carey is an astonishing writer, possessed of an imagination, intelligence, wit and compassion, and the ability to imbue his writing with these qualities, unrivalled by any living author. And that Oscar and Lucinda is a strange, evocative, beautiful, tender novel which will make them laugh and make them cry and make them wish it would never end. I hope this is recommendation enough.
Rating:
Summary: defines brilliance
Review: brilliant plot, brilliant writing, characters a person can care about. . . it makes me cry.
Rating:
Summary: They walk in beauty like the night...
Review: I have paraphrased the famous verse to reflect the almost ethereal, twilight beauty this story holds for me. It is the most reached-for book on my shelf - there are so many favourite passages. The short chapter style of Carey lends itself to one dipping in and out of the novel, and this is no sin, as the chapters stand alone as examples of such beautiful writing. I have often snapped the volume shut, startling anyone unfortunate enough to be in earshot, calling out "what a book!". The delicate weaving of this love story achieves a form of perfection rarely seen in modern novels. This was one case where I saw the movie first, and I think you must watch the movie as a companion piece.I don't exaggerate when I add at this point that the re-telling of this story by Fiennes, Blanchett and Armstrong in the movie achieves the closest standard to perfection I can imagine. This story seems to float by as if the reader has joined the characters and been snared in a timeless dream. The particular relationship issues brought forward in this study are examined in such an unusual way. The actual process of falling in love - the feeling on the magical day when you KNOW it has happened - is so well described that I am moved to tears every time I read the relevant passages by the my own recollections of the same experience, such is the truthfullness of the telling. This story will elate and torment you - I hope you will find it unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Experience 19th-Century Australia
Review: For a week, all I wanted to do was read this book. I read it afew months ago, and I still think of the characters. A truly good bookoffers beginnings, struggles, strides and redemption, and this is such a novel. Lucinda is a hero like none other -- she transcends any conventionality. Her life and actions are so unexpected, so real. She is completely her own person, and I marvel at Carey's ability to know her so well. Carey does it all. He masterfully tells a story of theology, human weakness, passion, geography, politics and history. All this is implicit in the text -- you don't get the impression he's sticking stuff in for authenticity -- it's all relevant. Oscar and Lucinda is not a simplistic book, but it's such a quick read. Sometimes when an author is brilliant, they put you off by showing off. Carey is the kind of person you know is an excellent writer, but only because you love the story. And the characters will inhabit your life. I'm not being hyperbolic. I was fascinated with each life -- I cared what happened. I've never gambled, and yet I felt as excited as Lucinda when she entered the parlors and back rooms. Voyages and sweeping landscape made this the best book I've read in a long time -- maybe ever.
Rating:
Summary: Oscar and Lucinda: An Original Masterpiece
Review: Peter Carey's literary brilliance shines through in his 1988 winner of the Booker Prize, Oscar and Lucinda. Carey has created such quirky and believable characters that the reader feels compelled to reach out and touch them. Set in 19th century England and Australia, Oscar is a shy and doubtful clergyman and Lucinda is a fiery young business woman. Carey's use of symbolism, irony, dark humor and description in a tale of love, religion, and the interruption of fate demonstrate pure genious. The film version of Oscar and Lucinda was made in1997, starring Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett, which is also recommended. Keep in mind, however that the film changes the ending a bit (to one which is perhaps more satisfying than the novel's). Nevertheless, Oscar and Lucinda is in all senses a literally unforgettable story.
Rating:
Summary: One of the funniest, and most moving books ever written
Review: Oscar and Lucinda is a simply extraordinary novel. The words dance around in your head, and its human complications are very tender. The entire book is painted with vibrant images, and should be bedside reading for everyone. Mr. Carey is just brilliant, and this was the first and only book that moved me to tears.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant and well-written
Review: I could not put down this book. Oscar and Lucinda were both very real characters who were masterfully protrayed. The plot is quaint but touching, and the conclusion is unbearably ironic and sorrowful. I enjoyed this VERY much, and recommend it to anyone who loves a story with plenty of humor and humanity.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This is a wonderful book, meaning it is full of wonder. A page turner, but not in the style of "Jurassic Park" or the latest Stephen King, where you are kept going because you want to know what is going to happen. Here, you are compelled to keep reading in order to experience one more beautiful passage, one more lovely image. I saw the movie first, and it ruined the beginning of the book for me a bit. The book seems distant and cold at first. Nothing like the movie. But when Oscar and Lucinda begin their journey aboard the Leviathan, the book takes off, and where the movie didn't really make sense, the book is crystal clear. The characters become so real, until, finally, you love them as if you knew them yourself. One of the best books I have read in years.
Rating: 
Summary: ZZZZZ
Review: This is one of the most boring literary novels I have ever read! The only good thing about the book was the beautiful cover w/ Fiennes & Blanchett. Carey's writing is at times beautiful, but the snail's pace put me to sleep.
Rating:
Summary: Peter Crey's Masterpiece
Review: Oscar and Lucinda may be one of the most accomplished, impressively controlled books I have ever had the pleasure to read. I was drawn to the novel after reading a review of the film which mentioned the glass church in the novels final, tragic conclusion. The ideas flowing behind the imaginary immediately appealed to me. The quality of the writing, the delicacy of the characters and historical vissimilitude left a lasting impression on me. Even the minor characters, Wardley-Fish in particular, breath on after the last page has been finished. I love Carey's ability to remove the normal dryness of contemporary historical novels and replace it with a real feeling for the passions and irrational desires that pull history along. His evocation of convict-era Sydney is full of grimy, squalid detail. The understanding of religious convictions also stood out and the Prince Rupert Drop metaphor will endure as long as me have the sense to realise great art.
|
