Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America
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A tour de force novel based on the life of Alexis de Tocqueville
Reading a Peter Carey novel should come with a warning to strap in and firmly secure one’s hands inside the cart — his narrative skills are so sure, his characters so unbelievably vivid and his plots so tightly schemed that the experience is the literary equivalent of a joyride. His 11th tour de force, loosely based on the life of Alexis de Tocqueville, is very much a typical Carey-esque epic. Standing in for de Tocqueville is Olivier de Garmont, a snobbish Bourbon noble whose interest in democracy at a time when the throne is being restored puts him at risk of death. In order to keep him alive, his mother arranges a trip to America to study prisons, and insists he take Parrot, a middle-aged Dickensian chap (who, unlike Olivier, has no basis in real life) along in his employ. The aristocracy is alive and well — on the voyage, at least — and Carey’s alternating takes from Olivier and Parrot’s points of view illuminate their resentment for one another. The unlikely pair goes on to explore the New World, finding romance, adventure and mutual admiration. If the big ideas this novel ambitiously tackles — Art, Capitalism, Morality, Democracy — are not enough to sustain reader interest, then Carey’s trademark humor and unrelentingly dazzling prose will do the job.
