Lucifer, Book 11: Evensong

Book Description

From the pages of Neil Gaiman's THE SANDMAN comes thestory of Lucifer Morningstar, the former Lord of Hell who is unexpectedlycalled back into action after he receives a mission from Heaven. In this final volume, the war is over and a new order is rising from theashes. His own fate now decided, Lucifer begins to settle his affairs --only to discover that he still has one deadly enemy unaccounted for.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent ending, irritating coda.......2007-05-14

This wraps up most of the loose ends in the "Lucifer" series in a satisfactory way. The open-ended nature of Lucifer's fate is appropriate and suitable, and the mood and method of his final parting from his father Yahweh is ...hmm, properly consistent with his character; so is his farewell gift to Mazikeen. Elaine's choice of immanence rather than transcendance as her path of Godhead is well-justified and portrayed.

Unfortunately, the pretty but meretricious separate episode "Nirvana", which is a sort of filler to the whole thing, spoils the mood. This piece of orientalist trash should have been mercifully forgotten, rather than resurrected here. Surely it would not have hurt Carey to have actually talked to a few Buddhists to find out what Nirvana is actually conceived to be, rather than inflicting his own ignorance on his readers.

That's all, folks..........2007-02-15

The Lucifer series is over. And if you know Mike Carey, when he finishes something, he likes to make sure nobody can ever pick it up again. In a word, this really is it.
I'd like to start off by saying a few words about the entire series. Lucifer is easily one of the best comic series Vertigo has ever produced, in part because Mike Carey is one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to know. I place him on a level with Gaiman in terms of inventing characters and settings that have never been used before, and utterly without peer for keeping his plot threads tightly wound. More than once I have stood in awe of the way he manages to pull things back together for a startling climax.
Evensong has many things in common with the last book of the Sandman series, The Wake, in that it occurs after all the action has taken place, and exists mainly to wrap things up. Therefor, it should not be surprising that the big "go out with a bang" comes and the end of the last book, and Evensong is, if not exactly a whimper, then perhaps only the fading echo of the bang that was.
In true Carey fashion, all major characters drift off where it would be difficult, if not impossible, to pick them up again. I have no wish to spoil the endings, but Jill Presto lives happily ever after, Elayne decides to start taking her God roll seriously, and even Gaudium enjoys some level of respite.
Then there's Lucifer, easily the most entrancing character to ever walk through literature. In the final comic, Lucifer comes full circle with his past, and has the final confrontation with his father that we have been expecting since the first book. As you might imagine, Lucifer cannot help but be himself, and nothing is resolved. The last comic even manages to force you to sympathize with God's position, and the ending is more than a little sad as Lucifer fades away into the sunset (or lack of sunset, as the case may be).
Now, I hate to nitpick, but when someone with Carey's reputation for thoroughness misses anything, it's easy to be critical. My number one complaint over the entire series is that, back many novels ago, when Lucifer is searching for the ship made of dead men's nails, he promises Loki to hold him up over the side of the ship come the day of Ragnorok. This is a small thing, but because of Lucifer's penchant for never being forsworn, I at once assumed that he was going to fullfull this oath before the end of the series. Come the last issue, Loki has never again made an appearance, and Lucifer has placed himself in a position to make it obvious he no longer cares. I find it hard to believe I am the only one to notice that Lucifer has been foresworn, and as with anything, one mistake ruins the formula.
The other notion I have issue with is the entire storyline of the Japanese death goddess. Evensong deals extensively with her, being the only true enemy of Lucifer's left alive, and she acheives what could be best termed a stalemate with him. Somehow, her final meeting with him is referenced as though it foreshadows her doing something very important, and very detrimental to Elaynes cosmos, but the book doesn't go into any detail, and it doesn't finish her story very satisfactoraly.
These two small things are the reason I have to give this book four instead of five stars. Given the scope of the series, and the way Carey has impressed us before, I think fans were expected something truly spectacular. What we see is an impressive feat any other author would be proud to call his own, yet still not par with Carey's other works. In spite of this, I will be reading the series again and again.
Because as I said, this is it, and it's more than a little sad now that it's over. For the last time, "that's all folks..."

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Let it STEAL you.
It Stole My Time
A hysterical and heady masterpiece
Make it stop...
Paint-By-Wonders

Theft: A Love Story
Peter Carey
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0307263711
Release Date: 2006-05-09

Book Description

From the two-time Booker Prize–winning author and recipient of the Commonwealth Prize comes this new novel about obsession, deception, and redemption, at once an engrossing psychological suspense story and a work of highly charged, fiendishly funny literary fiction.

Michael—a.k.a. “Butcher”—Boone is an ex–“really famous” painter: opinionated, furious, brilliant, and now reduced to living in the remote country house of his biggest collector and acting as caretaker for his younger brother, Hugh, a damaged man of imposing physicality and childlike emotional volatility. Alone together they’ve forged a delicate and shifting equilibrium, a balance instantly destroyed when a mysterious young woman named Marlene walks out of a rainstorm and into their lives on three-inch Manolo Blahnik heels. Beautiful, smart, and ambitious, she’s also the daughter-in-law of the late great painter Jacques Liebovitz, one of Butcher’s earliest influences. She’s sweet to Hugh and falls in love with Butcher, and they reciprocate in kind. And she sets in motion a chain of events that could be the making—or the ruin—of them all.

Told through the alternating points of view of the brothers—Butcher’s urbane, intelligent, caustic observations contrasting with Hugh’s bizarre, frequently poetic, utterly unique voice—Theft reminds us once again of Peter Carey’s remarkable gift for creating indelible, fascinating characters and a narrative as gripping as it is deliriously surprising.

Customer Reviews:

Let it STEAL you........2007-08-22

Having just finished Peter Carey's latest novel, Theft, I have mixed feelings.
I liked the book, and simultaneously, found it... difficult.
First off, in the "liking it" department, well... it is Peter Carey!
You don't win the Booker Prize twice by writing poop even once! He is an incredibly good writer.
I loved his Oscar & Lucinda, and My Life As A Fake.
But this one, Theft. I did not love it, per se. I liked it.
I needed help. Parts of it got away from me, like a lifejacket floating out of reach, and I often had to rely upon my Reading Partner to haul me into the boat, as it were.

Theft is sub-titled "A Love Story" and it is!
The story of Michael Boone, an ex-"really famous" painter, born 1943, in Bacchus Marsh, Australia. [? As was Carey himself, in both time and place. Let the reader interpret!]
Newly divorced and down on his luck, Michael retreats to the unoccupied house of his patron, Jean-Paul, in an effort to here, perhaps re-invent himself.
With him is his near-autistic brother Hugh. Michael takes care of Hugh in lieu of the only other option, which would be abandoning him to an institution.
And so Michael sets out out to work on a series of new paintings.

But into this peaceful backwoods setting, a beautiful woman appears one rainy night, her car stuck in the mud.
28-year old Marlene Cook is not only vivacious, but also an art expert.
Michael soon discovers she's married to the son of the now-deceased 20th-century artist, Jacques Leibovitz, and is involved in the authentication of Leibovitz's works.
Michael has been a fan of Leibovitz since his high school years.
Needless to say, his interest in Marlene knows no bounds!
Soon he will wish there were bounds to his interest, as she involves him in a web of thievery and chicanery that threatens all he has ever stood for, in the production of authentic, genuine ART!
Not to mention, he loves her. And she, him, apparently.

Scamming, double-crossing, faking, severe cheatitry.
In many ways, this novel is rip-roaring good. Roller-coastery good!
Funny, too.
In style, Carey is as subversive and non-generic as ever. The narration alternates, chapter by chapter, between Michael and Hugh. Hence, we are given dual perspectives of simultaneous events, and this keeps the reader [if the reader is me] fully engaged and on the edge of their seat. Or the edge of the boat, as it were.
But a few times I fell into the lake.

I got a bit lost in the intricacies of exactly what is done in the art world as presented, regarding counterfeit painting and related forgery activities. I think that Carey is counting on a real savvy reader here.
It's not the kind of book you read while driving a tractor along a straight furrow. Or while stirring a pot of soup with one hand and changing a diaper with the other.
You're just not going to get it unless you are paying attention.

Throughout the book this one sentence is, themewise, center-stage:
How do you know how much to pay if you don't know what it's worth?
Hmmm.... a good question. As for me, I like to pay nothing!
My own walls are filled with laminated posters I stole from Starbucks, so what do I really know about the higher realms of art?

Because I needed a friend with this book, I suggest it as a Reading Group selection. In the multitude of voices, this book has gemstone potential.

It Stole My Time.......2007-08-21

Perhaps an Australian reader might appreciate this novel more than I did. It is filled with references to life in Sydney and the Austrailian bush which I did not fully understand. I believe that some of the language includes Australian colloquialisms lost on me. Any book that sends me to the dictionary as often as this one did should be fabulous. It isn't. Theft is the story of an australian artist now fallen out of favor who is saddled with the care of his retarded brother, Hugh. After his acrimonious divorce he falls in love with the beautiful sociopathic young wife of the son of a now deceased famous artist. The story follows him as he follows her to Japan and NYC while he hopes that his future is secured by finding a rich patron. The art theft and forgery around which the story turns churns the plot forward albeit slowly. The book is obviously humorous as well as an example of black humor which I usually like. However, I found it tedious. It is technically well written, but I only finished it because I read it for book club. This author won the Booker prize. However, unlike most of the prize's winners, his language includes particularly foul words. Nevertheless, they are not gratuitious, and that is not the reason I didn't find it engrossing.

The narrative switches from Butcher Bones in the first person to his brother, Hugh. However, the diction and vocabulary emited from the supposedly mentally disabled, Hugh, was unconvincing. The sentence structure and vocabulary were simpler but not sufficiently so. In fact had the author used such simple diction for the narration from Butcher I might have liked it better. However, other than walking around with a folding chair and his rigidity of routine, Carey does not portray Hugh realistically enough. I cannot say this was bad fiction, because it is not. Someone should inform this author that when writing is reduced to simple sentences and vocabulary, the story is enriched. I felt he was trying to impress. Still the plot might make a good movie.
I recommend reading something else.

A hysterical and heady masterpiece.......2007-08-03

Peter Carey's novels have always traversed the line between truth and fiction, trading action for intent, and forcing the reader to re-examine what we understand as truth. He's done this fairly overtly in his last two novels, My Life as a Fake and True History of the Kelly Gang. Both titles call attention to the truth theme and by following a thread where fiction and truth overlap and twist in so many ways that fact is no longer the underlying key to truth, the novels shake up the reader in a pleasurable but unexpected way. Although the title isn't quite so overt in Theft, there is a similar theme on reality versus truth in Carey's latest book. Although the truth theme continues to be compelling, it never takes precedence to the original and natural integrity of the story, which is overwhelmingly entertaining, first and foremost. On pure plot and characterisation alone, Carey is a master. That Theft like all of Carey's books, is also linguistically beautiful and full of the kind of transcendency that makes literary fiction so much more than light entertainment, is icing on what is already an excellent cake.

The story follows a heady period in the life of artist Butcher Bones, an Australian painter who has fallen out of favour after a nasty divorce and term of incarceration for trying to "retrieve" his best work "which had been declared "Marital Assets". Set in 1980, the novel opens on Bones' release as his lawyers and a wealthy collector `exile' him to a country property in Bellingen with his challenging brother Hugh where he attempts to begin painting again. One wet evening he meets Marlene Leibovitz, daughter-in-law of one of the greatest painters of the 20th century, and Bones and Marlene begin a love affair which takes them deeper into the political machinations of the art world as they travel to Tokyo and New York in a complicate thread of sexy intrigue, real and fake art, murder and a certain amount of chaos. The story is well plotted, and as is always the case in Carey's novels, is fast paced enough to push the reading forward, while the writing and characterisation are so rich and powerful that it's an almost necessary effort to continue slowing the pace to savour and re-read the gorgeous prose.

Right from the start of the book, Carey sets up the paradox between real and fake as he begins sipping a non-alcoholic beer with his patron Jean-Paul, which is "Like the real thing." (6) The house is almost like the real thing too, although impossible to paint in until Bones destroys it, and his neighbour Dozy Boylan owns a real Leibowitz painting. Marlene, a would be American, whose real Manolo shoes Bones ends up washing mud off, is a classy art savant, whose delicate beauty and sophistication contrasts with Hugh's brutish childishness. Between The Magic Pudding and Benalla High School we learn that the truth isn't always as obvious as formal certification (or "droit moral").

The narrative is told in alternating chapters of first person singular between Butcher and Hugh. Carey links the separate paragraphs with shared memories and a rough vernacular which bisects, but it is Hugh's chapters which are almost startling in their vivid intensity and the raw truth they emit.

The difference between the two narratives is a gulf between perspectives and is often funny as the narratives describe the same situations in absolutely different ways. The relationship between brothers is almost as much of a love story as that between Butcher and Marlene. It isn't a perfect love affair by any means. The filial tension is almost unbearable at times as both Hugh and Butcher see themselves as subservient to the other and jealousy, love, need and resentment all collide.

Butcher's own description of the power of colour and quality is immediately accessible to the reader, taking words beyond their usual medium.

The ride is hysterical at times, and the reader will often grimace, or laugh outloud following Hugh's exploits with his metal chair, or the feverishly naïve attempts of Butcher to try and control the events which take him over and still maintain a sense of bravado and artistic integrity. The line between self-creation, deception, crime, and reality start to blur with a rapidity that can be dizzying. It's the best kind of dizzy. However crazy the story gets, and however tricky the relationship between true and false in the end, it is as clear as the title makes it that there is simply one truth that underpins the story - love.

Like Carey's other masterpiece, Oscar and Lucinda the fantastic, easy to read plot almost masks the fact that the work is an ode to the non-discursive nature of love. There are many thefts in Theft including the theft of a child, of a life, of a painting, and of a heart, but the final theft is one where the ultimate thief is unclear, and there is only one truth. The painting is beside the point. This is a stunning novel and one which certainly lives up to Carey's claim as a modern master.

Magdalena Ball is the author of Sleep Before Evening.

Make it stop..........2007-07-17

Carey is a terrific writer. Theft, however, is a stupendously dull novel, chock-full of vapid characters and insipid storylines. To the extent that the emptiness of this novel was intended to mirror or riff on the emptiness of the contemporary 'art world', I guess it succeeds, but who's interested in an endless story about boors behaving boorishly? To the extent that this novel is intended as a black comic sendup of the same -- as some reviewers have suggested -- it fails. It is a slog from start to finish.

Paint-By-Wonders.......2007-07-13

Two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey has a command of the language that is beautiful in its simplicity. Just as three primary colors can make up the universe's sumptuous palette, so too does Carey's uncluttered prose create a world so detailed and rich that you might re-read some passages just to wonder how the man did it. The words are there, naked and innocent, but Carey's talent is locked somewhere behind them.

In "Theft," Carey tells the story of two brothers. Michael Boone is an artist who has just been released from jail, where he was held for trying to steal his own art from his ex-wife. Hugh Boone is mentally-disabled, a looming child of a man who enjoys a good chair, a good chicken sandwich, and a children's book called "The Magic Pudding." Michael, fresh from his incarceration, has discovered that he is no longer "in," his fame has fled, and he is now reduced to playing caretaker for his not-so-simple sibling.

"Theft" claims to be a love story, and it is on several levels, but it's hard to say which level actually works. Certainly Michael is a man in love with himself as much as with his art (and at a loss to distinguish between the two). And there's a good chance he loves his brother, although there's not much evidence of that, other than his dogged (often resentful) dedication to the lumbering man-boy. Perhaps he loves Marlene.

Marlene is an authenticator of paintings, specifically those by the late Jacques Liebovitz, one of Michael's profoundest influences. She strides into Michael's life, wet, harried and wearing three-inch Manolo Blahnik heels, and she trails with her not just rainwater and mud, but also a mystery involving a missing painting, a murder, and the possibly fradulent work of Jacques Liebovitz. She's a beautiful woman, a complex and fragile work of art herself, so it's no wonder why Michael falls moronically in love with her.

Less clear is why she would fall for Michael. Maybe that's the point. In spite of the book's lucidity (and its even, measured tone) much remains muddied, like a priceless canvas that is in want of careful cleaning. The story is told from both brother's perspectives, although the narrative leaps don't happen with any kind of discernable regularity. Hugh's voice makes it easy to see why he is at odds with a world that pretends to be sane. Still, in spite of the gaps and flaws in the poor man's mind, he's eloquent enough to seem at least as coherent as Michael, if not quite as grounded. These are mostly worthless descriptions, anyway. Carey seems to be suggesting that artists, at heart, aren't that different from self-absorbed mental defectives.

That sounds harsher than the novel is. Carey mingles technical details and slick cityscapes with loving precision, and although no character in the book could be called likeable per se, they all certainly seem real enough. It's this unswerving reality that makes it hardest to like the novel, which ends with a poignance that is deserved but somehow dull. Carey's artwork is beautiful, but it feels unfinished, unframed, and lacking the last, finishing touches. His technique is flawless, but the overall effect lacks clarity. Come for all the fantastic colors, but try not to stare too long at the big picture. It's not nearly as wonderful as the brushstrokes it's made of.

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Masterful portrayal of the social conditions of the time
Brilliant narrative voice and atmosphere outweighs inevitable plot
Excellent Heroic Myth-Making
Mirrors the Jerilderie Letter
Simply put

True History of the Kelly Gang: A Novel
Peter Carey
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375724672
Release Date: 2001-12-04

Amazon.com

"What is it about we Australians, eh?" demands a schoolteacher near the end of Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang. "Do we not have a Jefferson? A Disraeli? Might not we find someone better to admire than a horse-thief and a murderer?" It's the author's sole nod to the contradictory feelings Ned Kelly continues to evoke today, more than a century after his death. A psychopathic killer to some, a crusading folk hero to others, Kelly was a sharpshooting outlaw who eluded a brutal police manhunt for nearly two years. For better or worse, he's now a part of the Australian national myth. Indeed, the opening ceremonies for the Sydney Olympics featured an army of Ned Kellys dancing about to Irish music, which puts him in the symbolic company of both kangaroos and Olivia Newton-John.

What's to be gained from telling this illiterate bushranger's story yet again? Quite a lot, as it turns out. For starters, there is the remarkable vernacular poetry of Carey's narrative voice. Fierce, funny, ungrammatical, steeped in Irish legends and the frontier's moral code, this voice is the novel's great achievement--and perhaps the greatest in Carey's distinguished career. It paints a vivid picture of an Australia where English landowners skim off the country's best territory while government land grants allow the settlers just enough acreage to starve. Cheated, lied to, and persecuted by the authorities at every opportunity, young Kelly retains no faith in his colonial masters. What he does trust, oddly, is the power of words:

And here is the thing about them men they was Australians they knew full well the terror of the unyielding law the historic memory of UNFAIRNESS were in their blood and a man might be a bank clerk or an overseer he might never have been lagged for nothing but still he knew in his heart what it were to be forced to wear the white hood in prison he knew what it were to be lashed for looking a warder in the eye ... so the knowledge of unfairness were deep in his bone and in his marrow.

Ned Kelly as literary hero? Strangely enough, that's what he becomes, at least in Carey's rendering. Pouring his heart out in a series of letters to the country at large, Kelly wants nothing more than to be heard--and for the dirt-poor son of an Irish convict, that's an audacious ambition indeed. It's not so surprising, then, that his story continues to speak to Australians. Like all colonial countries, Australia was built at a steep human price, and the memory of all those silenced voices lives on. True History of the Kelly Gang takes its epigraph from Faulkner: "The past is not dead. It is not even past." And like Faulkner's own vast chronicle of dispossession, it's haunted by tragedies as large as history itself. --Mary Park

Book Description

“I lost my own father at 12 yr. of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silences my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will contain no single lie may I burn in Hell if I speak false.”

In True History of the Kelly Gang, the legendary Ned Kelly speaks for himself, scribbling his narrative on errant scraps of paper in semiliterate but magically descriptive prose as he flees from the police. To his pursuers, Kelly is nothing but a monstrous criminal, a thief and a murderer. To his own people, the lowly class of ordinary Australians, the bushranger is a hero, defying the authority of the English to direct their lives. Indentured by his bootlegger mother to a famous horse thief (who was also her lover), Ned saw his first prison cell at 15 and by the age of 26 had become the most wanted man in the wild colony of Victoria, taking over whole towns and defying the law until he was finally captured and hanged. Here is a classic outlaw tale, made alive by the skill of a great novelist.

Customer Reviews:

Masterful portrayal of the social conditions of the time.......2007-10-17

I don't know enough about the history of Ned Kelly to comment on the historical accuracy of the events, though I gather that the novel is quite well researched. What makes the book such an enjoyable read though is the remarkable portrayal of life in colonial Australia. You get a visceral sense of how it might have felt to be poor in the dog-eat-dog world of Ned Kelly's time, of the desperate struggle to conquer the Australian bush, of the constant oppression by authorities for whom laws rarely provide an effective check on power, of the solidarity of human beings brought together by their shared trials and tribulations. Carey has managed to convey a sense of this era in a way that few writers are able to. It is a portrait of social conditions that can be compared to the novels of Charles Dickens.

Brilliant narrative voice and atmosphere outweighs inevitable plot.......2007-08-27

I tried this book for no other reason than I liked the title and premise. For a story where every reader knows the inevitable outcome, it manages to be both absorbing and fresh, with a unique voice in the form of Ned Kelly's narration. There's just enough taken from history, and enough extrapolated from bits and pieces of known correspondence and journalism, to make it feel like you are reading a historically-accurate (though clearly subjective) document - which, while not quite true, comes a lot closer than most "fictionalized history" novels. It isn't thrilling, because nothing recounted in the form of letters is ever thrilling, but it exerts its own kind of hold that keeps you constantly wondering what choice Ned will make next, and either cheering for him or wanting him to hold back. That's the sign of great characterization, and will keep me on the lookout for more novels by this author.

Excellent Heroic Myth-Making.......2007-04-26

Americans and Australians share many personality traits: both countries are vast expanses of wilderness, explored and settled by stubborn, independent people who often defied the British leaders. Their people also have a weakness for turning villains into heroes. In America, citizens cheered the exploits of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Bonnie and Clyde. In Australia, the lower class hero was a man named Ned Kelly, the son of dirt-poor Irish immigrants who led a gang of outlaws who made fools of the authorities for almost two years. This unusual historical novel purports to be the autobiography of Ned Kelly, written in painstaking script on stolen paper, envelopes and foolscap by an almost illiterate hero. By turns, touching and profane, the story details Ned's inevitable journey into thievery and lawlessness because of his fierce love for his mother. Ellen Kelly was a fiery beauty whose marriage to a weak-willed Irishman forced to flee Ireland after betraying his friends set the stage for tragedy. Unable to support his growing clan, Ned's father deserts them. When Ellen spurns the attention of the local policeman, she inspires a vendetta that curses her family for a lifetime. Desperate to provide for Ned, she apprentices him to a powerful highwayman. Soon Ned is learning the ways of thieves and robbers. The book chronicles his adventures with Harry, his eventual rebellion against the cruel criminal and his futile attempts to return to a normal law-abiding life working the farm for his mother. Carey has written a brilliant novel that captures the spirit and heart of a man who inspired the devotion of his neighbors and friends. Ned is clever, courageous, stubborn, profane, but at the heart of his character is his fierce loyalty to his mother, to his wife and to the daughter that he will never see. Carey captures the pride and honor that makes Ned so sympathetic and inspiring to his countrymen.

Mirrors the Jerilderie Letter.......2007-04-13

An excellent account of the Ned Kelly gang in the form of a series of letters.
The story is a fantastic read, though the style does take a little getting used to. Carey has mirrored Ned Kelly's famous The Jerilderie Letter in his prose, hence the roughness and lack of punctuation. The likeness is so clever, and the story so wonderful, that this book won him the ManBooker prize in 2001.
I highly recommended this book.

Simply put.......2007-01-05

It's one of the best adjectival books I've ever read.

Average customer rating:

The Lightbringer's plans begin...
Excellent! Worthy of being in the "Sandman" universe.
Absolutely Stunning!

Lucifer: Children and Monsters, Book 2
Mike Carey
Manufacturer: Vertigo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1563898004

Customer Reviews:

The Lightbringer's plans begin..........2007-08-14

Having obtained a means of escaping Yahweh's creation, Lucifer begins to gather his resources for the greater task ahead. First he must regain his wings, which are being held by the children of Amaterasu (Japanese pantheon) as part of a clandestine plan of their own. Despite being physically helpless upon entering their realm, Lucifer still manages to outwit his "hosts"--thereby earning the ire of several enemies who will cause him a great deal of trouble later on. It goes to show that the devil's most dangerous weapon is his will.

Further stories in this volume have to do with a very old and dangerous baby in a bottle, the primeval shapeless things known as the Jin En Mok, and the true nature of Elaine Belloc. The latter will turn out to be essential to the arc of the series as a whole. And expect to meet Lucifer's brother before it's all over. Since Lucifer doesn't bother to share his plans with us, the relationship among these things might not make sense yet. But this will become clear in future volumes, as his plans come to fruition (though not without a fair share of setbacks).

The various mythic themes and settings are drawn together in a way reminiscent of Gaiman's work on The Sandman. And it stands to reason that fans of the latter series will be predisposed to like this one on general principle. But Lucifer is really a different animal, and with this volume Carey continues to gain momentum, finding his own voice along the way.

It's hard to rate the individual volumes' relative merits, but the series as a whole is recommended. Lucifer is a strangely compelling and charismatic protagonist, despite his utter self-absorption, and the plots involved are truly world-altering in every sense. In the end, even the omniscient are surprised.

Excellent! Worthy of being in the "Sandman" universe........2002-04-25

"Children and Monsters" starts exactly where "Devil in the Gateway" ended: after Lucifer finished doing God's quest, he received a gate into the void - a place outside of creation. That is the main storyline of this novel. This graphic novel also contains three parts:

The first story tells how Lucifer journies into the Japanese dimension of death. As we found out in the previous novel, the Japanese goddess of Death obtained Lucifer's wings (which were torn off him). Thus, Lucifer embarks on a quest to get back his wings. I loved this part! If I didn't know, I could've sworn Neil Gaiman wrote this part.. it really felt as if it belonged in the "Sandman" universe.

The second story is above an immortal girl who was born thousands of years ago, yet can't die because she was cursed by her gods for not getting an abortion.

The third story unites the previous novel with the first two parts of this one.. Lucifer comes back with his wings and wants to enter the void, only to have an army of angels try and stop him. All the previous threads come together here.

I think this graphic novel was much better than the previous one. It definitely feels more and more like an extension of the original "Sandman" series. If this level continues - I am definitely going to stay till the end! Highly Recommended!

Absolutely Stunning!.......2002-02-05

As an avid (trader paperback-only) reader of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, and the non-Gaiman spinoff "The Dreaming," Mike Carey's "Lucifer: Children and Monsters" wins top marks all around.

The first Lucifer collection "Devil in the Gateway" re-introduced us to Lucifer from the Sandman stories. "Sandman" fans will recall that he gave up his wings, closed shop, retired to a nightclub in Los Angeles and watched the ensuing chaos resolve itself.

In "Devil in the Gateway," Lucifer named his price for a task requested of Heaven. Not much of a task... the mere disposal of a few ancient gods. In exchange for this errand, Lucifer's price is paid: a Letter of Passage.

Lucifer transforms the letter into a gateway leading Outside of Creation. The gateway is crafted with the divine name so that even the Creator himself cannot close it without destroying all of Creation.

In "Children and Monsters" Lucifer's must reclaim his wings from the Japanese pantheon of gods (on mortal terms, no less), deal with the assembled Armies of Heaven, and finally resolve a unfinished scenario with one of his fellow Fallen.

Since I'm not one for buying issues each month, I can only say that I eagerly await the third book.

Average customer rating:

Basanos' mega saga is pure genius

The Duel, The Wings, The Loan

End of a great story arc

What a story!

Excellent Fantasy Fiction

Lucifer: Inferno - Volume 5 (Lucifer (Graphic Novels))
Mike Carey , Peter Gross , Ryan Kelly , Dean Ormston , and Craig Hamilton
Manufacturer: Vertigo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Lucifer: Mansions of the Silence - Volume 6 (Lucifer (Graphic Novels))

Lucifer: The Divine Comedy - Volume 4 (Lucifer (Graphic Novels))

Lucifer: Exodus - Volume 7 (Lucifer (Graphic Novels))

Lucifer: The Wolf Beneath the Tree - Volume 8 (Lucifer (Graphic Novels))

Lucifer: A Dalliance with the Damned, Book 3

ASIN: 1401202101

Customer Reviews:

Basanos' mega saga is pure genius.......2006-09-15

With the four part story arc titled Inferno, ends one of the most ambitious and extraordinary dark fantasy sagas of modern fantasy.
Comprising of about thirty two numbers that began on the first trade The Devil in the Gateway, Carey's epic of power and ambition ranks among the best theological/urban/dark fantasies ever written.
Carey is a master of continuity, allusion, indirectness and oblique multilayered narrative, metaphor and arcane religious symbolism.
Like the majority of comic book writers, Carey's visual imagination(sometimes disturbingly surreal) and plotting are strong, unlike them his attention for style, characterization, tone and atmosphere is remarkable.He is a literate who chose the comic book medium to express his vison about power, arrogance and ambition.
It's the many levels of significance that puts Lucifer apart of other comics books.
I wouldn`t do the book justice if I didn`t mention the excellent artwork and coloring of the artistic team.Regular artists Peter Gross (story arcs) and Dean Ormston (single issues)did an excellent job; the equally excellent artist Chris Weston left the book early.
Gross` drawings on the first issues seems to me rather crude and sketchy but in later issues gets much better.Ormston's disturbingly creepy gothic drawings gives the perfect mood for the single issues, I love his work.The colour pallete is rich; sometimes dark and moddy, sometimes bright and colourful.
For the true conoissieurs Lucifer is an indipensable comic book.

The Duel, The Wings, The Loan.......2006-03-18

Inferno marks the conclusion of a major story arc: whatever happened to those blasted wings of Lucifer? Last seen in the possession of Susano-O-No-Mikoto, they left the battlefields as the Basanos committed suicide, apparently into the mists of time (or whatever passes for cryptic walking- off- into- the- sunset in Lucifer's world anyway.)

Lucifer duels with Amenadiel - that duel promised in Lucifer #2, Children And Monsters (p.196), but sends his deputy to deal with the wings. Along the way, she meets... someone from her past. A Lilum like herself, which would technically make the union incest, but hey, this is 'Lucifer', after all, and there are no taboos.

The duel fought and won (sort of, on a technicality), Lucifer ends the book by taking on a loan from Loki, setting the stage for Lucifer #6: Mansions of the Silence.

As usual, there's a kooky laugh-at-it story within this collection as well: look out in particular for the bizarre-bittersweet "Bearing Gifts", with Dean Ormston's distinctive art.

End of a great story arc.......2004-03-19

This is the end of the first big story arc that has been foreshadowed in the divination of the Tarot deck in part one. And, please note, this part one is not 'Sandman presents: Lucifer' but 'Lucifer: Devil in the gateway'. (That's why the first review by millernw was not helpful, although I fully support his message.)

Well, almost all that has been foreshadowed. Except the divination of the 'innocence' card where Lucifer has been told that he'll have to repay the favour of Elaine Belloc. The last two-parter 'Come to judgement' that nicely ties up loose ends such as the fate of Cestis starts Lucifer's quest to do exactly that.

In the main story arc I particularly liked the re-telling of the old Venus-Vulcanus-Mars story. (The ugly engineer and his pretty wife ...) I know that the originals are Greek gods, not Roman gods, but few readers would know 'Hephaistos' would they?

Also very impressive how the whole story is told by the Duke of Gly. His comments show that Carey has not lost one bit of his ability to surprise the reader with a sentence that you may think about for a long time afterwards. (As you may do about the last words of the inspector at the very end of this book.)

What a story!.......2004-03-04

Man, I just stumbled onto this series after getting turned on to the Sandman library, Lucifer is a science fiction fan's dream come true-

Incredible plots, great art, it's the best thing I've seen since, well, Sandman.

I sure hope this series runs for a long time, I'm amazed at the creativity that has gone into this title!

Excellent Fantasy Fiction.......2004-02-17

You'll do yourself a disservice if you think of this book as anything other than a fantasy fiction novel. The engrossing, inventive storylines and the detailed characters will capture you from the first page. Mike Carey has taken Neil Gaiman's version of the fallen prince of angels and developed him into a calculating, reflective manipulator on a cosmic scale.
This collection begins right as the last one ends, and just when you thought Lucifer was beaten and his plan completely unfolded, a completely new layer emerges, rising from the ashes like our prideful protagonist. Pick it up for something new, complex, and original.

Average customer rating:

This book is a must!!

Antarctica Cruising Guide
Peter Carey , and Craig Franklin
Manufacturer: Awa Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0958262942

Book Description

For many people, an Antarctic cruise is the dream of a lifetime. This is the definitive field guide to Antarctica for visitors travelling by luxury liner, adventure cruise or private boat. The authors are recognised world experts in Antarctic travel, wildlife and conservation, and the book is illustrated throughout with outstanding colour photographs.

Included are descriptions of the 26 most popular visitor sites on the Antarctic Peninsula, and the natural history of over 30 species of birds and mammals. Special attention is paid to explaining the threats to Antarctic conservation, including global warming, and there are tips on how visitors can minimise their own impact and help preserve this unique continent.

Measuring 5 x 7 inches, this beautiful little book fits neatly into a parka pocket and is fully illustrated with over 200 colour photographs, and 7 maps.

Customer Reviews:

This book is a must!!.......2007-02-27

I met the authors on a recent cruise to Antarctica and could not wait to purchase the book. During the cruise, they gave insightful and interesting talks about the continent. Once they told us about the book I was first in line in Ushuaia, Argentina at the only bookstore where it was available as I was still away and the book was not available at Amazon.com yet. This book is a must for anyone thinking of going or is going to Antacrtica. It is a beautiful book and I went and saw a lot of the places in the book. It reads easily as there is plenty of information on the wildlife and various places to see, but there is not too much information to overwhelm you. It is also very compact and can easily be brought on a trip. My only regret is that I didn't have it before I went to Antarctica.

Tales from the New Republic (Star Wars (Random House Paperback))

Average customer rating:

Solid collection of stories from the Star Wars Adventure Journal
Worst of the Tales from...
Star Wars
Good book, worth about 4 1/2 stars
Kind of like little Star Wars nuggets of truth . . .

Tales from the New Republic (Star Wars (Random House Paperback))

Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553578820
Release Date: 1999-12-01

Amazon.com

Yet another Star Wars Tales collection, Tales from the New Republic rescues a sheaf of stories that never saw publication in West End's now-kaput Official Star Wars Adventure Journal, with the addition of a tag-team novella by Star Wars fiction demigods Timothy Zahn (Hugo-winning author of Specter of the Past) and Mike Stackpole (founding member of the Rogue Squadron). This above-average anthology delivers on the same promise as other Tales collections, fleshing out hidden details in the Star Wars universe, with notable appearances by Mara Jade, Senator Garm Bel Iblis, Hal Horn, Talon Karrde, Kyp Durron, and the book's only true heavy-hitter--Boba Fett, in a fun, comic-book style frontal assault on a not-so-invincible Imperial garrison. The stories prove to be winners for the most part, with a good mix of old-hand authors and new bloods, but the Zahn-Stackpole collaboration is undoubtedly the star of the show. --Paul Hughes

Customer Reviews:

Solid collection of stories from the Star Wars Adventure Journal.......2007-09-20

Tales from the New Republic is the fifth and final collection of short stories in my chronological reading of the Expanded Universe. Like the preceding volume Tales from the Empire, it compiles stories originally published in the Star Wars Adventure Journal which are set during and after the Original Trilogy. Several of the authors overlap both volumes as well, including fan favorites Michael Stackpole and Timothy Zahn, who turn in another collaborative novella broken into four parts.

The Stackpole/Zahn effort "Interlude at Darkknell" kicks off the book with Zahn contributing parts one and four and Stackpole taking the middle two. Bizarrely, considering the title of this story collection, the novella is set all the way before A New Hope and utilizes the Death Star plans as the driving plot device. Senator Garm Bel Iblis, known to many EU readers from the Thrawn Trilogy, is swept up in an attempted assassination which sets him on the path to opposing Palpatine's Empire. Ties to Stackpole's Rogue Squadron books and comics include Corsec inspector Hal Horn (Corran Horn's father) and Ysanne Isard, a malicious and ambitious field operative for Imperial Intelligence. Unlikely alliances and sudden double-crosses are liberally sprinkled through the four parts, keeping the pace brisk and the plot exciting.

In addition to the novella, Zahn's "Jade Solitaire" was also selected for this compendium. Mara Jade is in charge of the Wild Karrde while her boss Talon Karrde is away on business. Bloated industrialist Ja Bardrin captures the Wild Karrde's crew and hold them hostage; his demand is that Mara set off to rescue his daughter, who was kidnapped by Drach'nam slaver Praysh along with a valuable prototype ship. This story has a terrific action sequence as Mara does what must be done to the slaver organization and also fills in the backstory of her vessel Jade's Fire.

Patricia Jackson contributes two stories to this volume. "The Longest Fall" rhapsodically recounts the strangulation of an unlucky Imperial officer. "Uhl Eharl Khoehng" tells of a Dark Jedi and his plotting with his son to perform the hardest play ever. Having already read one of her stories in Tales from the Empire, I continue to dislike her pretentious storylines, overly flowery language, and heavy-handed fetish for evil. Lucas has never portrayed the bad guys as role models in the films, and while I don't mind some shades of gray being explored in the EU, in terms of overall theme I believe good should always be held as the ultimate ideal.

The remaining stories in the volume are largely high-quality and engaging. Chris Cassidy and Tish Pahl are featured twice and utilize the same core characters in both stories. They also work in an interesting appearance by Kyp Durron in a story set after the events of the Jedi Academy Trilogy. Paul Danner's "No Disintegrations, Please" is a fun over-the-top story of Boba Fett doing ridiculously impossible things to chase down a bounty. Danner also has a second story in the book, and authors Jean Rabe, Laurie Burns, and Kathy Burdette have one story each.

I've enjoyed reading collections of short stories that stray from the beaten path of the main film characters, but I admit, at this point in my chronological reading I'm ready to get back to some longer stories featuring more prominent characters. I still feel the Tales concept is a strong one and would like to see more collections in the same vein someday.

Worst of the Tales from..........2007-01-26

Having read all of the "Tales from..." books, I can clearly say that this is the worst.

Unlike the others (except Empire), each story is not he backstory of someone you've seen or may be interested about. That was the real beauty behind the other ones, but I expected this one to be still interesting at least (like Empire was), but it was disappointing.

The stories weren't bad, really, but few of them had any characters that I could like, get to know, or even distinguish from the other characters. Some of the stories seemed to blend together a bit, not a good thing in a collection of separate stories. These stories just didn't keep me reading. This book actually broke my streak of books I'd read. I'd been reading a lot of Star Wars novels, then started on this one. I put it down in the middle of a story, and didn't bring myself back for months. I finally forced myself to finish it off, and now I'm back on track reading tons of books.

Some stories were definiately better than others. Jade Solitaire was pretty good, and Interlude at Darknell was cool, because I'm a fan of both the Horn family and Ysanne Isard.

Uhl Ehearl Khoehng, though, was AWFUL. Bizarre is not the word to use, even though it was. The story was bad and confusing, the writing sucked, and it kind of ignored nearly all of everything in Star Wars. If you do pick up this book, I urge you to skip over this story, because it was terrible.

Star Wars.......2003-01-15

This is a collection of short stories. While the main characters from the movies are mentioned only briefly, if at all it is still an interesting read.

Good book, worth about 4 1/2 stars.......2001-06-09

While this book is not as diverse as Tales of the Empire, and it perhaps better organized and focuses on a less concentrated time period. (ranging from the Old Republic to the middle of the Jedi Academy Trilogy (about seven years after Return of the Jedi)) The stories are intelligent and well written, and some of them even heartbreaking. I wouldn't however, recommend this to someone who has had little experience with the Expanded Universe, because they would be totally lost. Anway, the stories are:

Interlude at Darknell(four parts) Yet another collaboration between Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole! AN interesting story about a younger Bel Iblis and Corran's dad as well.

Jade Solitare: My favorite in the book. How Mara aquired her beloved ship, the Jade's Fire.

Gathering Shadows: A severely wounded man and woman sit in a cell and share their delirious miseries.

Hutt and Seek: The hilarious duo of Fen and Ghitsa mess with Shada D'ukal and her mistryl pals, not a good idea...

The Longest Fall: A chilling acount of an Imperial officer getting force-choked to death by Darth Vader.

Conflict of Interest: A young Rebel spy tries to desipher who is friend and who is foe.

No Disintigrations, Please: A fascinating Boba Fett story.

Day of the Sepulchral Night: A pair of greedy weequays get what they deserve.

Uhl Ehearl Khohng: A bizarre story that I'm guessing takes place at the end of the Old Republic. Warning: reads like a romance novel.

The Last Hand: A young man desperately wants a lightsaber and will go to any lengths to buy one.

Simple Tricks: Another story about Fen and Ghitsa and taking place some years later, during the Jedi Academy Trilogy. I never like Kyp Durron at all, but this story gave me somewhat of a different view of him.

Suffice to say, this is good book recommendable to anyone with a clear understanding of Star Wars.

Kind of like little Star Wars nuggets of truth . . ........2001-03-23

Combining a collection of never-printed short stories from the now-vaporized Star Wars Adventure Journal with a new novella between Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole, Tales of the New Republic scores. While most readers will probably give Zahn and Stackpole's novella as their favorite story, I would have to go with "No Disintegrations, Please" by Paul Danner. It is just a great little action piece starring Boba Fett, and with his moves, the whole slapstick-"death" scene in Return of the Jedi just looks the more ridiculous. Oh well, Lucas had no idea the character would create a mythos all its own. Anyway, all in all, this is a great time-killer and an easy introduction into the Star Wars world (although some references might be lost to new readers).

Myths for the Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe

Average customer rating:

A Wold Newton heroic delight
What a fantastic book!!
Welcome to the universe!
Chris Davies is WRONG!
It Opened up the Farmer World to Me

Myths for the Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton Universe
Win Scott Eckert , Philip Jose Farmer , Matthew Baugh , Christopher Paul Carey , Peter Coogan , Rick Lai , Brad Mengel , Jess Nevins , Dennis E. Power , and John A. Small
Manufacturer: MonkeyBrain Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1932265147

Book Description

In his classic biographies of fictional characters (Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life), Hugo- and Nebula-award winning author Philip Jose Farmer introduced the Wold Newton family, a collection of heroes and villains whose family-tree includes Sherlock Holmes, Fu Manchu, Philip Marlowe, and James Bond. In books, stories, and essays he expanded the concept even further, adding more branches to the Wold Newton family-tree. MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSE FARMER'S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE collects for the first time those rarely-seen essays. Expanding the family even farther are contributions from Farmer's successors-scholars, writers, and pop-culture historians-who bring even more fictional characters into the fold.

Customer Reviews:

A Wold Newton heroic delight.......2006-10-12

This is a further exploration of the relationships in Philip Jose Farmer' s Wold Newton Universe, as seen in books like Tarzan Alive, Doc Savage - His Apocalyptic Life, and the Other Log of Phileas Fogg.

Myths for the Modern Age is worth it for the Captain Nemo is Moriarty piece alone, not to mention the fabulous cover, complete with Modesty Blaise!

Here you have a collection of essays that inter-relate various characters, families and other information, by several different authors, including a compatriot, as well as Eckert himself, not to mention Farmer himself, so you could call this an anthology.
Please be aware that this is not a novel, if that is what you are looking for.

Eckert has a passion for this stuff, yes, you could call it obsessive monomania, but that is what collecting, which is really what this is all about, 'collecting' characters into universes and relationships, and utter, utter, fandom.

He is also a Philip Jose Farmer expert, to boot.

This is just fantastic stuff. Check out his and Farmer's various websites too, they are great. There are also related mailing lists that are worth it, if you are interested to this level.

Something else I have found : if you ask these authors a question, or anything like that, they will answer. They are completely devoted.

Outstanding book, in presentation, content, and participation. I am sure Farmer is quite pleased.

5 out of 5

What a fantastic book!!.......2006-09-30

I'm so glad that all these bits about The WNU have been collected in one volume. I first got interested in PJF's concept when I read his Doc Savage bio. I've been lucky enough to track down a mint HC version of it...at a very reasonable price! This book has made me almost miss my Metro stop on more than one occasion. If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, pulp heroes, or just want to read some very creative writing then you must buy this book. I plan on giving a couple as gifts this year.
I am also lucky enough to have been accepted into the Johns Hopkins University's Master of Arts in Writing Program. I showed this book to one of my instructors and he was fascinated by it. I gave him the nutshell explanation of WNU and told him that, after I get my degree, I would like to teach a course or two about it. If you are already an English/Writing teacher, please do the same. Let's srpead the fun around!!!

Welcome to the universe!.......2006-08-19

Philip Jose Farmer had created the Wold Newton Universe. The 'stargate' necessary to access that Universe is the book in question. Read it fast and by the end of it, you would be hooked. Read it slowly, you might feel sleepy. Neverthless, the book is wonderful.

Chris Davies is WRONG!.......2006-05-19

Having read both this book from cover to cover and the reviews that are posted on this sight, I can only conclude that one of the reviewers has an axe to grind with one or more of the writers responsible. Don't let that sway you; this is an excellent book that, yes, occasionally offers up contradictory information - if you take the time to read the introductory portion CAREFULLY, you will note that not only does Mr. Eckert acknowledge as much, but goes on to state that this is part of the fun in the game these writers are playing. Some people should lighten up and learn how to have fun already!

It Opened up the Farmer World to Me.......2006-05-09

The contributors for this book provide a wonderful look into the world of Philip Jose Farmer. I had only read one Farmer book (The Tongues of the Moon) before delving into Myths. The excitement and intelligent discussion of Farmer's works in this volume prompted me to order several other titles. I am now on my third.

Average customer rating:

An enchanting story
Beware
tale of a literary golem
A con artist poet
Australians should not read this book

My Life as a Fake
Peter Carey
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1400030889
Release Date: 2005-01-04

Book Description

Fiendishly devious and addictively readable, Peter Carey’s My Life as a Fake is a moral labyrinth constructed around the uneasy relationship between literature and lying. In steamy, fetid Kuala Lumpur in 1972, Sarah Wode-Douglass, the editor of a London poetry journal, meets a mysterious Australian named Christopher Chubb. Chubb is a despised literary hoaxer, carting around a manuscript likely filled with deceit. But in this dubious manuscript Sarah recognizes a work of real genius. But whose genius? As Sarah tries to secure the manuscript, Chubb draws her into a fantastic story of imposture, murder, kidnapping, and exile–a story that couldn’t be true unless its teller were mad. My Life as a Fake is Carey at his most audacious and entertaining.

Customer Reviews:

An enchanting story.......2007-03-30

This is an enchanting story. Peter Carey has borrowed the plot from a series of events that took place in Australia. He has changed the names, the times and the places but the core of the story is true. Carey writes exceptionally well. I found myself dog-earing pages to mark sentences and phrases that resonated with me so that I could return to them. The plot device he invokes is a bit of surrealism. If you like John Irving's stories you will like Carey's. He leads the reader into a bit of surrealism - if you accept it, all is well and on you go. If you can't accept it, best put the book down. I prefer not to divulge the nature of the surrealism - it spoils the story if you don't discover it for yourself

Carey is superb at charactier development. They develop out of their actions and their words, not from narrative. Carey is a great story-teller as well.

I have read two of his novels and this book will make me read another.

Beware.......2006-12-22

This book is clever enough, I suppose, but the characters are of no interest as individuals. For another book which is clever, well written, makes use of Tasmanian history, and has characters I was interested in, I recommend "English Passengers" by Matthew Kneale. Note: I only read half of the Carey novel.

tale of a literary golem.......2006-10-29

Carey's tale of literary high jinx and hoaxes owes as much to Golem mythology as it does to Frankenstein or the actual incident the novel is based on. What happens when creative energy is loosed into the world, in whatever form? It takes on an unpredictable life of its own, imbued with its creator's spirit but independent of the creator's will and intentions, and this independence can cause chilling and undesirable results.
The framing story is claustrophobic and vertiginous, a duel of wits between decrepit failed poet Christopher Chubb and literary magazine editor Sarah Wode-Douglass, but the main narrative is a cracking adventure through the jungles of Southeast Asia. The issues that both the framing story and the adventure narrative raise--questions of the meaning, intent and consequences of artistic creation; of the value of the truth; of the role of the spirit in defining character--are developed alongside the personal epiphanies of the narrator Sarah Wode-Douglass, whose internal struggles are as moving as the tale of woe she hears from Christopher Chubb.
This is a novel that gets more complex and interesting with reflection. It lives on in the imagination.

A con artist poet.......2006-08-11

Enjoying rave reviews from the NY Times Book Review and the NY Review of Books, this dense novel is about a frustrated book reviewer (no wonder the New Yorkers liked it) who discovers a poem so brilliantly crafted she sets out to find its author. The trail leads to the back alleys of Indonesia where she is confronted with one con artist after another, one of them a friend of long standing. But are these beggars and socialites only con artists--or something more?

What makes this work so fascinating (besides the good story) is the good storytelling. The author does not waste a single word. Every sentence is pregnant with meaning, and every sentence tells a story of its own. Unlike that real faker and virulent anti-American, (and also a Brooker award winner) Indian writer and darling of the literary teas, Arundhati Roy, whose attempt to impregnate every sentence with meaning succeeds only in revealing a rote formulaic, Carey's prose is fecund and deliciously reverberant.

It is rare that the Madam and I share the same opinion of fiction, but in this one we both heartily agree--two thumbs up.

Australians should not read this book.......2006-03-25

I was surprised how angry this book made me. The Ern Malley affair, the true event on which this book is based, is part of Australia's cultural history, and a key battle in the 20th century's war for freedom of expression. By using this event as the basis for his book, Carey has stolen something which belongs to all Australians. How dare he?! He asked nobody's permission to do this. What right does he have to appropriate this story for his own, personal ends?

Moreover, the actual events had serious consequences, with one of the participants, Max Harris, prosecuted for publishing obscene poems. Because of its re-imagination of historical fact, Carey's book trivializes these real events and their very real consequences. Carey owes every literate Australian an apology for his theft. While his apology remains ungiven, this Australian certainly will not read another of his novels.

Carey's international fame means that his version of the story is likely be more widely accepted outside Australia than the historical record. One hopes he is self-aware enough to feel, as an Australian, some guilt or shame about this. Or is he no longer an Australian?

Average customer rating:

Top Flight
Sick, Weird, Wild, and Wonderful
If You Like Wierd
Wildly imaginative and creative stories.
Short masterpieces

Fat Man in History
Peter Carey
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679743324
Release Date: 1993-01-04

Book Description

One of Australia's most highly regarded novelists...accomplished, surehanded." -- Newsday

If, in some post-Marxist utopia, obesity were declared counterrevolutionary, how would a houseful of fat men strike back? If it were possible to win a new body by lottery, what kind of people would choose ugliness? If two gun-toting thugs decided to take over a business -- and run it through sheer terror -- how far would their methods take them?

These are the questions that Peter Carey, author of The Tax Inspector and Oscar and Lucinda, brilliantly explores in this collection of stories. Exquisitely written and thoroughly envisioned, the tales in The Fat Man in History reach beyond their arresting premises to utter deep and often frightening truths about our brightest and darkest selves.

"Destined to [be] one of the most widely read and admired writers working in English."

-- Edmund White, The Times Literary Supplement (London)

"Marvelous!" -- Boston Globe

Customer Reviews:

Top Flight.......2007-09-14

If there's any rap against postmodernist writers, it might be that they are "too clever for their own good", creating dense stories full of pointless cerebration, with no real regard for the reader.

Peter Carey, blessedly, is none of those things. This volume of stories is accessibly written, stimulating and entertaining without being pompous or impenetrable. These stories stand up well after 30 years because of Carey's ability to mix a few supranormal or science fiction elements into a base of complete naturalism. Most postmodernists tend to get a little cute with the conceits they create, but Carey is a very cosmopolitan writer--the comparison with Calvino is very apt. The best stories in this collection ("Fat Man in History", "War Crimes", "The Chance", "Puzzling Nature of Blue") examine human nature from many angles, as through a lens, but never losing sight of the characters' humanity. If I were pressed to choose a favorite, it would be "War Crimes", which is the story of two nearly psychotic gonzos who take over a frozen food conglomerate. It's a very funny and perceptive pastiche of cutthroat capitalism.

Only a few stories disappoint. There are a couple, including "Last Days of a Famous Mime" which bring to mind Stephen Millhauser, and only serve to show that at the top of his game, Carey is a much better writer than Millhauser. Applause, applause, for this splendid writing!!

Sick, Weird, Wild, and Wonderful.......2007-07-05

Yes, Flannery O'Connor does come to mind, but actually Carey reminds me more of Charles Bukowski or Paul Bowles. As profane as Bukowski can be, though, I think that Bukowski was much more optimistic than Carey, who seems to share Bowles' view of man as an insect. Cruel, yes, but the cruelty of nature seems to be the prevailing view here. Man is a brute, with an impulse for perverse, sadistic acts, but what makes it all tolerable is the knowledge, Carey seems to suggest, that nature finally is capable of an even greater cruelty. Man acts with the hope of having an effect, but nature's final cruelty is to show once again that oblivion will be our reward. Is it the brutality of great empty spaces that teaches such a brutal metaphysic? Perhaps. Carey is exhilarating because his imagination stabs at our greatest fear. He writes completely free of the need to please. Yes, life is horrible. We read on because, as Nietzsche argued, we are stimulated by the truth.

If You Like Wierd.......2006-02-24

Peter Carey is a writer who lives in NY but is mostly known in the British Isles. He has won the Booker Prize--the most prestigious award in the book world over there--a couple of times. He is a writer that offers a truly unique perspective on obsessions about fame and glamour--thoughts that this gossip and personal appearance fixated society should consider. The writing is always tight and surprising, and something that stays in your thinking. This may not be beach reading, exactly, but it is really excellent literature.

Wildly imaginative and creative stories........1999-02-25

This collection of short stories by Peter Carey are the most imaginative stories I think I have ever read. Not only does he create such fantastic settings and characters, but the actual ideas and metaphors he creates for each one are stunning and contain so much meaning. There is the strange and absurd in his storytelling, but they don't distract you from the main idea, on the contrary, the strange and absurd give his ideas a real life of their own.

Short masterpieces.......1998-11-12

It must be something to do with Australia. Shortly after Patrick White would win the Nobel Prize for literature, a young author named Peter Carey would publish his first book of short stories, quickly followed by another. Both of these books would be compiled in 1980 and released as "The Fat Man in History," which is, quite simply, one of the greatest collections of short fiction I've ever read, ranking easily with the best of O'Hara, O'Connor, Borges and Calvino. Though the first two stories get the book of to a slow start, the third hits the ground running and the book never looks back. "Do You Love Me?" is a brilliant meditation on the nature of love and memory; in a world where reality is based on the census, what happens when the census is wrong? Buildings begin to disappear, quickly followed by people. All of these stories occur in a mirror world not quite our own, where, perhaps, Australia and the US share a border. Where, maybe, pleasure giving birds from another planet begin to pollinate trees from their homeworld, trees that threaten the very balance of life as we know it. Read this book. It will make you think. It will make you smile. It will make you cringe. It will make you want to read more Peter Carey.

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