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Parrot and Olivier in America
451 pages
A boisterous, transatlantic romp that throws a traumatized aristocrat and a cynical servant into the chaotic crucible of early America.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like being swept up in a boisterous, theatrical stage play where the scenery is constantly shifting and the two lead actors are trying to out-narrate each other. The dual perspectives of a traumatized French aristocrat and his cynical, worldly English servant create a delightfully chaotic friction that drives the briskly paced narrative forward. Carey's prose is exuberant and richly textured, wrapping the reader in the mud, ambition, and hypocrisy of early nineteenth-century America. It is a deeply funny, irreverent exploration of class and democracy, but beneath the satirical jabs lies a surprisingly tender story of an unlikely bond. This is a feast for readers who love sprawling, witty historical fiction that prioritizes vibrant character dynamics over dry historical fact.
- Mood
- chaotic
- theatrical
- expansive
- adventurous
- Tone
- wry
- exuberant
- satirical
- irreverent
- affectionate
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- class collision · the myth of American democracy · unlikely friendships · historical reinvention · master-servant dynamics
- The writing
- Exuberant and densely textured, bursting with theatrical period detail, sharp wit, and distinct, dueling narrative voices.
- The arc
- Moves from mutual suspicion and cultural dislocation to a profound, if perpetually bickering, interdependence.
- Who it's for
- Readers who delight in sprawling, witty historical picaresques that use odd-couple dynamics to skewer societal myths.
Content notes
- classism
- historical prejudice
- mild violence
About the book
From the two-time Booker Prize--winning author comes an irrepressibly funny new novel set in early nineteenth-century America.Olivier--an improvisation on the life of Alexis de Tocqueville--is the traumatized child of aristocratic survivors of the French Revolution. Parrot is the motherless son of an itinerant English printer. They are born on different sides of history, but their lives will be connected by an enigmatic one-armed marquis. When Olivier sets sail for the nascent United States--ostensibly to make a study of the penal system, but more precisely to save his neck from one more revolution--Parrot will be there, too: as spy for the marquis, and as protector, foe, and foil for Olivier.As the narrative shifts between the perspectives of Parrot and Olivier, 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. And with their story, Peter Carey explores the experiment of American democracy with dazzling inventiveness and with all the richness and surprise of characterization, imagery, and language that we have come to expect from this superlative writer.From the Hardcover edition.
Description from Open Library.
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