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Oscar and Lucinda
Peter careys novel of the undeclared love between clergyman oscar hopkins and the heiress lucinda leplastrier is both a moving and beautiful love story and a historical tour de force made for each other, the two are gamblers - one obsessive, the other compulsive - incapable of winning at the game of love
511 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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About the author
Peter Carey
98books1,021followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the ŷ database with this name. .
Peter Carey was born in Australia in 1943.
He was educated at the local state school until the age of eleven and then became a boarder at Geelong Grammar School. He was a student there between 1954 and 1960 � after Rupert Murdoch had graduated and before Prince Charles arrived.
In 1961 he studied science for a single unsuccessful year at Monash University. He was then employed by an advertising agency where he began to receive his literary education, meeting Faulkner, Joyce, Kerouac and other writers he had previously been unaware of. He was nineteen.
For the next thirteen years he wrote fiction at night and weekends, working in many advertising agencies in Melbourne, London and Sydney.
After four novels had been written and rejected The Fat Man in History � a short story collection � was published in 1974. This slim book made him an overnight success.
From 1976 Carey worked one week a month for Grey Advertising, then, in 1981 he established a small business where his generous partner required him to work only two afternoons a week. Thus between 1976 and 1990, he was able to pursue literature obsessively. It was during this period that he wrote War Crimes, Bliss, Illywhacker, Oscar and Lucinda. Illywhacker was short listed for the Booker Prize. Oscar and Lucinda won it. Uncomfortable with this success he began work on The Tax Inspector.
In 1990 he moved to New York where he completed The Tax Inspector. He taught at NYU one night a week. Later he would have similar jobs at Princeton, The New School and Barnard College. During these years he wrote The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, Jack Maggs, and True History of the Kelly Gang for which he won his second Booker Prize.
He collaborated on the screenplay of the film Until the End of the World with Wim Wenders.
In 2003 he joined Hunter College as the Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing. In the years since he has written My Life as a Fake, Theft, His Illegal Self and Parrot and Oliver in America (shortlisted for 2010 Man Booker Prize).
Peter Carey was born in Australia in 1943.
He was educated at the local state school until the age of eleven and then became a boarder at Geelong Grammar School. He was a student there between 1954 and 1960 � after Rupert Murdoch had graduated and before Prince Charles arrived.
In 1961 he studied science for a single unsuccessful year at Monash University. He was then employed by an advertising agency where he began to receive his literary education, meeting Faulkner, Joyce, Kerouac and other writers he had previously been unaware of. He was nineteen.
For the next thirteen years he wrote fiction at night and weekends, working in many advertising agencies in Melbourne, London and Sydney.
After four novels had been written and rejected The Fat Man in History � a short story collection � was published in 1974. This slim book made him an overnight success.
From 1976 Carey worked one week a month for Grey Advertising, then, in 1981 he established a small business where his generous partner required him to work only two afternoons a week. Thus between 1976 and 1990, he was able to pursue literature obsessively. It was during this period that he wrote War Crimes, Bliss, Illywhacker, Oscar and Lucinda. Illywhacker was short listed for the Booker Prize. Oscar and Lucinda won it. Uncomfortable with this success he began work on The Tax Inspector.
In 1990 he moved to New York where he completed The Tax Inspector. He taught at NYU one night a week. Later he would have similar jobs at Princeton, The New School and Barnard College. During these years he wrote The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, Jack Maggs, and True History of the Kelly Gang for which he won his second Booker Prize.
He collaborated on the screenplay of the film Until the End of the World with Wim Wenders.
In 2003 he joined Hunter College as the Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing. In the years since he has written My Life as a Fake, Theft, His Illegal Self and Parrot and Oliver in America (shortlisted for 2010 Man Booker Prize).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,098 reviews
June 27, 2022
Oscar and Lucinda is a Dickensian novel � both in plot and in style� Similar to Peter Carey peoples his novel with odd personages but nonetheless he remains postmodernistic all the way through.
Life is a game of chance� Both Oscar and Lucinda are incorrigible gamblers�
Winning and losing� Today you’re lucky and tomorrow you’re unlucky� Now it’s up and now it’s down�
In the end, like in the tales of old, evil is punished� But somehow good is punished too.
Chance can’t distinguish between good and bad.
Life is a game of chance� Both Oscar and Lucinda are incorrigible gamblers�
In order that I exist, two gamblers, one Obsessive, the other Compulsive, must meet. A door must open at a certain time. Opposite the door, a red plush settee is necessary. The Obsessive, the one with six bound volumes of eight hundred and eighty pages, ten columns per page, must sit on this red settee, the Book of Common Prayer open on his rumpled lap. The Compulsive gambler must feel herself propelled forward from the open doorway. She must travel towards the Obsessive and say an untruth (although she can have no prior knowledge of her own speech): “I am in the habit of making my confession.�
Winning and losing� Today you’re lucky and tomorrow you’re unlucky� Now it’s up and now it’s down�
In the end, like in the tales of old, evil is punished� But somehow good is punished too.
Chance can’t distinguish between good and bad.
March 7, 2024
Oscar and Lucinda is a typically Victorian large-scale novel, a period of the second half of the 19th century marking the height of the Industrial Revolution of the British Empire and rich in great stories, which the author successfully contrived to resurrect. The narrator pays tribute to the original figure of his great-grandfather, Oscar Hopkins.
The latter lives alone in Devon with his father, Theophilus. A member of one of the branches of evangelical Christianity, the Plymouth Brethren. He is no longer having his mother die of cancer and losing a brother and a sister carried away prematurely by the disease. He is educated in religion's rigorous and rigid principles by his father, a fierce and severe being yet a magnet. As a result, the child's mind was riddled with a jumble of infantile mysticism, always quick to reject the possibility of coincidences to see the sign of God's presence and the will everywhere. In any case, he shows excellent consistency when looking for him. By the grace of a somewhat unique hopscotch game, he convinced himself that his father is living in error, that he must find the bosom of the Anglican Church, while the latter sees in his prodigal son the instrument of divine wrath in the face of his pride. Oscar leaves his father's house and goes to the Stratton rectory. After studying at Oxford, he became a pastor, a spiritual leader of an unusual type, because he was engaged in the fever of gambling and betting to serve a pious objective: to raise the necessary funds to become a missionary and evangelize South New Wales from Australia. Oscar is a somewhat grotesque character who would have his place in a Dickensian novel.
On the other side of the world, Lucinda Leplastrier, daughter of English settlers living in Australia, leads a life that, at its beginnings, is not unlike that of Oscar. She lost her father, thrown down from his mount at an early age, and the Spanish flu carried away her mother. Inheriting a plump fortune that she has difficulty assuming, she directs her existence in a free and determined manner in the throes of attempts to lock her into the world of conventions that society wants her even to adopt. She must arm herself in the face of this human universe. Oscar and Lucinda will meet in the bowels of the liner the Leviathan, brought together by their ludomania, to converge their ordinary madness towards the realization of an obscure project: the erection of a glass church.
The novel, published in 1988, is of a beautiful scale and offers the challenging ambition to be part of the great tradition of the Victorian novel. I particularly appreciated the evocation of the chapel quarrels between Puritan sects of England, the dives in the shallows of London and Sydney, and the living tableau of the Leviathan, the first giant liner, the largest ship ever. So built-in is its time and the narration of the art of glassworking. Like a novel by training, historical fiction, and satire, this work is successful, crowned with the 1988 Booker Prize.
The latter lives alone in Devon with his father, Theophilus. A member of one of the branches of evangelical Christianity, the Plymouth Brethren. He is no longer having his mother die of cancer and losing a brother and a sister carried away prematurely by the disease. He is educated in religion's rigorous and rigid principles by his father, a fierce and severe being yet a magnet. As a result, the child's mind was riddled with a jumble of infantile mysticism, always quick to reject the possibility of coincidences to see the sign of God's presence and the will everywhere. In any case, he shows excellent consistency when looking for him. By the grace of a somewhat unique hopscotch game, he convinced himself that his father is living in error, that he must find the bosom of the Anglican Church, while the latter sees in his prodigal son the instrument of divine wrath in the face of his pride. Oscar leaves his father's house and goes to the Stratton rectory. After studying at Oxford, he became a pastor, a spiritual leader of an unusual type, because he was engaged in the fever of gambling and betting to serve a pious objective: to raise the necessary funds to become a missionary and evangelize South New Wales from Australia. Oscar is a somewhat grotesque character who would have his place in a Dickensian novel.
On the other side of the world, Lucinda Leplastrier, daughter of English settlers living in Australia, leads a life that, at its beginnings, is not unlike that of Oscar. She lost her father, thrown down from his mount at an early age, and the Spanish flu carried away her mother. Inheriting a plump fortune that she has difficulty assuming, she directs her existence in a free and determined manner in the throes of attempts to lock her into the world of conventions that society wants her even to adopt. She must arm herself in the face of this human universe. Oscar and Lucinda will meet in the bowels of the liner the Leviathan, brought together by their ludomania, to converge their ordinary madness towards the realization of an obscure project: the erection of a glass church.
The novel, published in 1988, is of a beautiful scale and offers the challenging ambition to be part of the great tradition of the Victorian novel. I particularly appreciated the evocation of the chapel quarrels between Puritan sects of England, the dives in the shallows of London and Sydney, and the living tableau of the Leviathan, the first giant liner, the largest ship ever. So built-in is its time and the narration of the art of glassworking. Like a novel by training, historical fiction, and satire, this work is successful, crowned with the 1988 Booker Prize.
April 24, 2019
”In order that I exist, two gamblers, one Obsessive, the other Compulsive, must meet. A door must open at a certain time.�
The narrator is the great-grandson of Oscar Hopkins, and in this passage there followed an explanation of the other criteria that were necessary for Oscar and Lucinda to have met, which ultimately led to the family line surviving through the generations resulting in his own birth. Although the narrator never named himself, once (but only once), someone in his story called him ‘Bob�. Whether this was a nickname or just an off-the-cuff catch-all name we don’t know. This is because this story isn’t about the narrator and although he tells the story, he effectively keeps himself out of it except for that one tiny and isolated reference.
The Odd Bod’s face was ghastly, a mask carved out of white soap, and you did not need to be a mind-reader to know that God was sending him to New South Wales. This happened on 22 April 1863. My great-grandfather was twenty-two years old.
Odd Bod was the nickname a school chum had given to Oscar Hopkins; initially as an insult but later as an address of some affection. Oscar is a character so naïve in many ways, so pure of mind and heart, that his oddness and strange habits become endearing. This is not a short story � it is a long, involved, sometimes convoluted one � and yet, I wanted more.
I grew to care deeply about Oscar and Lucinda as well as many of their friends and acquaintances in the area of Australia known as New South Wales. This story has so many layers of depth and yet it rollicks along with subtle humour and gave cause for me to stop and reflect. Often.
Dennis Hasset looked at the eyes and, knowing how eyes worked, was astonished, not for the first time, at the infinite complexity of Creation, wondering how this thing, this instrument for seeing, could transmit so clearly its entreaty while at the same time � Look, I am only an eye � deny that it was doing anything of the sort.
This novel stands out for so many reasons, both blatant and subtle, and yet as I look back on my time spent with this story, it was so tightly and cleverly woven that it is nearly impossible to say “this stands out� or “that stands out�.
For me, the entire experience of reading this novel stands out � all of it � the characters, the plot, the writing, stirred in with wit and wisdom, all are like a home-cooked spaghetti sauce: a far more vast and intricate taste sensation than the individual ingredients added to the pot.
The narrator is the great-grandson of Oscar Hopkins, and in this passage there followed an explanation of the other criteria that were necessary for Oscar and Lucinda to have met, which ultimately led to the family line surviving through the generations resulting in his own birth. Although the narrator never named himself, once (but only once), someone in his story called him ‘Bob�. Whether this was a nickname or just an off-the-cuff catch-all name we don’t know. This is because this story isn’t about the narrator and although he tells the story, he effectively keeps himself out of it except for that one tiny and isolated reference.
The Odd Bod’s face was ghastly, a mask carved out of white soap, and you did not need to be a mind-reader to know that God was sending him to New South Wales. This happened on 22 April 1863. My great-grandfather was twenty-two years old.
Odd Bod was the nickname a school chum had given to Oscar Hopkins; initially as an insult but later as an address of some affection. Oscar is a character so naïve in many ways, so pure of mind and heart, that his oddness and strange habits become endearing. This is not a short story � it is a long, involved, sometimes convoluted one � and yet, I wanted more.
I grew to care deeply about Oscar and Lucinda as well as many of their friends and acquaintances in the area of Australia known as New South Wales. This story has so many layers of depth and yet it rollicks along with subtle humour and gave cause for me to stop and reflect. Often.
Dennis Hasset looked at the eyes and, knowing how eyes worked, was astonished, not for the first time, at the infinite complexity of Creation, wondering how this thing, this instrument for seeing, could transmit so clearly its entreaty while at the same time � Look, I am only an eye � deny that it was doing anything of the sort.
This novel stands out for so many reasons, both blatant and subtle, and yet as I look back on my time spent with this story, it was so tightly and cleverly woven that it is nearly impossible to say “this stands out� or “that stands out�.
For me, the entire experience of reading this novel stands out � all of it � the characters, the plot, the writing, stirred in with wit and wisdom, all are like a home-cooked spaghetti sauce: a far more vast and intricate taste sensation than the individual ingredients added to the pot.
January 27, 2015
For the past few years, I've thought about endings a lot. I've excused a lot of novels (esp contemporary ones) for bad or unsatisfying endings. Some novels end in a way that goes against all you've learned from the novel; others just... stop. Then there are the "conservative" endings of Victorian novels that many scholars complain "shut down" or tidy the "subversive" or threatening ideas raised in the novel. Lately I've found myself arguing against this complaint, because even if a novel ends conservatively, I don't think that erases what's come before it. After all, you don't read just to get to the end, do you? That's one reason I find it annoying when people complain Victorian novels are "too long" -- are you just reading in order to finish? (One of the students in my Victorian novel class complained that Dickens's BLEAK HOUSE ended at all -- she said, in a wistful way that proclaimed her love for the novel, that she was disappointed because she "thought it would never end.")
And then, once in a while, there comes an ending that makes you believe in endings again. Many people here on GoodReads did not like the ending of this novel, which I understand. It is deeply unsettling and unexpected, even though you realize when you get there that the novel sets you up for it for some time. The night I finished reading the novel, I couldn't shake the sadness of the ending and actually woke up in the middle of the night because I was having a bad dream about it. Yes, it was that striking. And that's exactly why I found it to be brilliant.
Part of the reason the ending is so good is that the novel simultaneously prepares you for it and upends your expectations. The ending would never be so striking if the novel didn't take its time with the characters -- not just the eccentric title characters, but also the supporting ones. (The word "Dickensian" often gets unfairly slapped on undeserving texts, but what is Dickensian about this novel is the way it approaches each chapter from a distinct perspective and gives you insight into even the most seemingly fleeting and insignificant characters.) If you didn't understand all the feelings, all the convoluted motivations of the characters, the things they reveal to and conceal from each other, then the ending wouldn't have the impact it does.
Finally, the ending reveals something that is there throughout but which the reader often forgets: the novel is simultaneously a personal story of two unusual individuals, a story about the lives they touch -- including their progeny, and a story about something much bigger: the very nation those characters inhabit -- the ways they consciously shape it, and the ways they are unknowingly complicit in something they never intended.
Plus, Carey writes some gorgeous prose.
And then, once in a while, there comes an ending that makes you believe in endings again. Many people here on GoodReads did not like the ending of this novel, which I understand. It is deeply unsettling and unexpected, even though you realize when you get there that the novel sets you up for it for some time. The night I finished reading the novel, I couldn't shake the sadness of the ending and actually woke up in the middle of the night because I was having a bad dream about it. Yes, it was that striking. And that's exactly why I found it to be brilliant.
Part of the reason the ending is so good is that the novel simultaneously prepares you for it and upends your expectations. The ending would never be so striking if the novel didn't take its time with the characters -- not just the eccentric title characters, but also the supporting ones. (The word "Dickensian" often gets unfairly slapped on undeserving texts, but what is Dickensian about this novel is the way it approaches each chapter from a distinct perspective and gives you insight into even the most seemingly fleeting and insignificant characters.) If you didn't understand all the feelings, all the convoluted motivations of the characters, the things they reveal to and conceal from each other, then the ending wouldn't have the impact it does.
Finally, the ending reveals something that is there throughout but which the reader often forgets: the novel is simultaneously a personal story of two unusual individuals, a story about the lives they touch -- including their progeny, and a story about something much bigger: the very nation those characters inhabit -- the ways they consciously shape it, and the ways they are unknowingly complicit in something they never intended.
Plus, Carey writes some gorgeous prose.
February 9, 2013
technicolor and wide-screen in scale and spectacle, quirky and consistently surprising in characterization and incident. virtually a catalog of bizarre imagery, you-are-there historical detail, and way-off-center characters. so many beautiful sequences linger on in the mind, so many wonderful characters, such a surprising lightness of tone, such gorgeous prose... it all almost, but not quite, causes the reader to forget the bleakness at this novel's core. strange, compassionate and, finally, transcendent. oh the beautiful tragedy of it all!
there are so many wonderfully odd and evocative parts. "evocative" - an overused word. but it fits this novel. Carey is a generous and intelligent writer, one who does not stint on detail (so much of it at times, some descriptive passages seem to be bursting at the seams) and one who also knows exactly when dry, deadpan dialogue is required. although a tragic story (perhaps), it is also a mordantly amusing one as well.
the title characters of Oscar and Lucinda are bold creations. they are endearing despite themselves - Carey does not try to stack the deck by making them too loveable. for me, one of the more absorbing things about their individual characterizations was seeing the difference between an obsessive gambler (Oscar) and a compulsive gambler (Lucinda). i also loved how this novel places gender and race dynamics at the forefront but does not breathe down the reader's neck contstantly with the injustice of it all. crazy Oscar and crazy Lucinda are rebels against society who don't particularly realize their own rebellious nature - they just know that they are somehow different. they don't particularly understand how society puts down blacks, women, and innovative square pegs... but at some level, at times an unconscious one, they recognize injustice and try to fight against it, in their own small ways. they are Beautiful Losers.
beautiful novel!
there are so many wonderfully odd and evocative parts. "evocative" - an overused word. but it fits this novel. Carey is a generous and intelligent writer, one who does not stint on detail (so much of it at times, some descriptive passages seem to be bursting at the seams) and one who also knows exactly when dry, deadpan dialogue is required. although a tragic story (perhaps), it is also a mordantly amusing one as well.
the title characters of Oscar and Lucinda are bold creations. they are endearing despite themselves - Carey does not try to stack the deck by making them too loveable. for me, one of the more absorbing things about their individual characterizations was seeing the difference between an obsessive gambler (Oscar) and a compulsive gambler (Lucinda). i also loved how this novel places gender and race dynamics at the forefront but does not breathe down the reader's neck contstantly with the injustice of it all. crazy Oscar and crazy Lucinda are rebels against society who don't particularly realize their own rebellious nature - they just know that they are somehow different. they don't particularly understand how society puts down blacks, women, and innovative square pegs... but at some level, at times an unconscious one, they recognize injustice and try to fight against it, in their own small ways. they are Beautiful Losers.
beautiful novel!
March 10, 2016
“She thought: When we are two, they do not notice us. They think us a match. What wisdom does a mob have? It is a hydra, an organism, stupid or dangerous in much of its behavior, but could it have, in spite of this, a proper judgement about which of its component parts fit best together?�
� Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda
A book to love. A book to wade in, submerge into. A novel that tempts one to grab it around the middle and squeeze, even as it dances away like a shadow. It flickers like the quiet, mirrored Doppler effect of water flowing around a pair of swans. It plays coy. It trips backwards. At times, it really IS too much. But I still love/d it. The prose? Beautiful. The story? Magnificent. Worlds of glass, chance, love, passion, obsession, stars-crossed, God, compulsion, sin, materialism and generosity of spirit. Just like a coin spun/tossed/launched at midday into the sky will twist head over tails -- at once both reflecting and in turn blocking the sun-- this book twists between obsessive Oscar and compulsive Lucinda and spun wildly around a whole slew of characters and just spun there, suspended forever, threatening never to come down. And then it did. And it was glorious.
� Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda
A book to love. A book to wade in, submerge into. A novel that tempts one to grab it around the middle and squeeze, even as it dances away like a shadow. It flickers like the quiet, mirrored Doppler effect of water flowing around a pair of swans. It plays coy. It trips backwards. At times, it really IS too much. But I still love/d it. The prose? Beautiful. The story? Magnificent. Worlds of glass, chance, love, passion, obsession, stars-crossed, God, compulsion, sin, materialism and generosity of spirit. Just like a coin spun/tossed/launched at midday into the sky will twist head over tails -- at once both reflecting and in turn blocking the sun-- this book twists between obsessive Oscar and compulsive Lucinda and spun wildly around a whole slew of characters and just spun there, suspended forever, threatening never to come down. And then it did. And it was glorious.
June 14, 2017
Well, I can see why Peter Carey has been compared to a contemporary Charles Dickens. His characters and the world he creates have a similar eccentricity and inventiveness and energy. Oscar’s childhood is a sheer delight to read. He’s the son of an overbearing fire and brimstone preacher and marine biologist and there are some memorable images of the two of them on beaches searching for fossils in rock pools. When his wife dies, Oscar’s father takes all her clothes and throw them in the sea. As a result Oscar has a deep seated phobia of salt water. It smells like death to him. At university he’s nicknamed “odd bodd� and discovers he has a mania for gambling, a huge obstacle to his clerical ambitions.
Lucinda grows up in a hut in Australia. She’s a kind of pioneer feminist with an obsessive passion for glass. She too is prone to gambling. Like Oscar she has wild hair. She and Oscar meet on a ship bound from the UK to Australia where Oscar is to begin missionary work. What follows is a bittersweet romance of a wholly original nature. They fuse their passions in the idea of building a church made wholly of glass.
This novel has it all � a great plot, fantastic character development, brilliant writing � the visual descriptions are consistently wonderful. Absolutely recommended.
Lucinda grows up in a hut in Australia. She’s a kind of pioneer feminist with an obsessive passion for glass. She too is prone to gambling. Like Oscar she has wild hair. She and Oscar meet on a ship bound from the UK to Australia where Oscar is to begin missionary work. What follows is a bittersweet romance of a wholly original nature. They fuse their passions in the idea of building a church made wholly of glass.
This novel has it all � a great plot, fantastic character development, brilliant writing � the visual descriptions are consistently wonderful. Absolutely recommended.
March 15, 2019
3.5 stars. The story of 2 socially-unacceptables, both of whom are gambling addicts and come into constant conflict with religion in very different ways. Not a warming tale and only partly a love story with some plausibility issues. While I personally did not connect, I am glad to say I have read Peter Carey.
Honestly. I found his writing style somewhat annoying. The dialogue seems to drag on to the point of grating. And, imo, he overuses the phrase "he/she thought," including repeated instances of several in a row over a page or so when it seemed one or two would do.
It was well structured and vividly descriptive.
Honestly. I found his writing style somewhat annoying. The dialogue seems to drag on to the point of grating. And, imo, he overuses the phrase "he/she thought," including repeated instances of several in a row over a page or so when it seemed one or two would do.
It was well structured and vividly descriptive.
April 17, 2017
This is a marvellous love story from Mann Booker prize winning author Peter Carey. It is both about modern Australia and the love of these beautifully drawn protagonists and one that I must absolutely reread.
July 3, 2024
First off, I thought this was well-written. The prose and writing style was descriptive, simple & complex, and matured. The story was themed around gambling and faith; taking a gamble or letting God work out the details; adherence to religious dogma or being in control of one's own life & actions. The Christian faith in this story almost acted as a third main character throughout this novel.
Oscar's character had internal struggle of faith & discipline centered around the Anglican faith. He was living a life submitted to God yet discovering a knack for gambling. When he met the free-spirited Lucinda, they would form an intimate relationship and a well-developed romance.
Overall this was a good and unique story. It was turned into a movie in 1997 starring Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett. I haven't seen it so I don't know how they compare. I would recommend this for a thought provoking read. Thanks!
Oscar's character had internal struggle of faith & discipline centered around the Anglican faith. He was living a life submitted to God yet discovering a knack for gambling. When he met the free-spirited Lucinda, they would form an intimate relationship and a well-developed romance.
Overall this was a good and unique story. It was turned into a movie in 1997 starring Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett. I haven't seen it so I don't know how they compare. I would recommend this for a thought provoking read. Thanks!
September 3, 2008
no spoilers; just synopsis
a) don't see the movie unless you read the book...something gets really lost between the two
b)Excellent, simply excellent!!! I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates superlative writing and a quirky story. If every book were like this one, I would be in Heaven!!!! The prose is outstanding and these characters are simply so real I thought they'd float off the page.
Oscar and Lucinda is set both in England and in Australia in the 19th century. In England, Oscar Hopkins is the son of a non-Anglican, religious fundamentalist who is also a naturalist, and up until he is about 15 Oscar grows up with the reassurance that he is among the saved. Oscar's mother died; he lives with his father in a little village called Hennacombe in Devon, in an austere house with no ornamentation; even the food is plain. One Christmas one of the cooks feels sorry for the boy and makes him a Christmas pudding, complete with raisins & a cherry; the ostentatiousness of the pudding leads Theophilus (Oscar's father) to lose it and he hits Oscar, who is then forced to cough up the pudding. Later, they are out wading in the ocean, and Oscar asks that God smite his father out of anger; just then, Theophilus has an accident that cuts him on the leg. Oscar realizes that he has to leave -- and the signs point to the Anglican Church. We next find him at Oxford, at Oriel College, where he discovers gambling. One thing leads to another and Oscar sets out to become a missionary in New South Wales but he has to go by ship...a problem since Oscar has this immense water phobia. It is on this voyage that Oscar meets Lucinda Leplastrier, returning to Australia, whose parents had died & whose mother, before dying, had their land subdivided and sold and Lucinda was now an heiress living off the profits. She is also the owner of a glassworks in Australia. Lucinda is obstinate, headstrong & like Oscar, she is a gambler. The lives of these two people come together on the ship, then meet again after Oscar discovers that there is no Missionary Work to be done in New South Wales, and that he is to be assigned to a posh vicarage instead. He meets Lucinda in a Chinese gambling house ... and things take off from there. I won't say another word... you really should read it for yourself.
The writing is excellent; the story is excellent and there are so many themes that are explored without the author ever losing track. My only complaint: the end came so fast (it was a great ending but rushed) that after having savored the story for so long I felt cheated. However, the rest of the book was absolutely stunning and so rich so I can overlook this.
Please try this book...I can totally see how it won a Booker.
a) don't see the movie unless you read the book...something gets really lost between the two
b)Excellent, simply excellent!!! I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates superlative writing and a quirky story. If every book were like this one, I would be in Heaven!!!! The prose is outstanding and these characters are simply so real I thought they'd float off the page.
Oscar and Lucinda is set both in England and in Australia in the 19th century. In England, Oscar Hopkins is the son of a non-Anglican, religious fundamentalist who is also a naturalist, and up until he is about 15 Oscar grows up with the reassurance that he is among the saved. Oscar's mother died; he lives with his father in a little village called Hennacombe in Devon, in an austere house with no ornamentation; even the food is plain. One Christmas one of the cooks feels sorry for the boy and makes him a Christmas pudding, complete with raisins & a cherry; the ostentatiousness of the pudding leads Theophilus (Oscar's father) to lose it and he hits Oscar, who is then forced to cough up the pudding. Later, they are out wading in the ocean, and Oscar asks that God smite his father out of anger; just then, Theophilus has an accident that cuts him on the leg. Oscar realizes that he has to leave -- and the signs point to the Anglican Church. We next find him at Oxford, at Oriel College, where he discovers gambling. One thing leads to another and Oscar sets out to become a missionary in New South Wales but he has to go by ship...a problem since Oscar has this immense water phobia. It is on this voyage that Oscar meets Lucinda Leplastrier, returning to Australia, whose parents had died & whose mother, before dying, had their land subdivided and sold and Lucinda was now an heiress living off the profits. She is also the owner of a glassworks in Australia. Lucinda is obstinate, headstrong & like Oscar, she is a gambler. The lives of these two people come together on the ship, then meet again after Oscar discovers that there is no Missionary Work to be done in New South Wales, and that he is to be assigned to a posh vicarage instead. He meets Lucinda in a Chinese gambling house ... and things take off from there. I won't say another word... you really should read it for yourself.
The writing is excellent; the story is excellent and there are so many themes that are explored without the author ever losing track. My only complaint: the end came so fast (it was a great ending but rushed) that after having savored the story for so long I felt cheated. However, the rest of the book was absolutely stunning and so rich so I can overlook this.
Please try this book...I can totally see how it won a Booker.
January 1, 2015
I definitely expected to like this book a lot more than I did, based on another Carey novel I remember loving years ago (True History of the Kelly Gang). The difference, for me, comes down to tone and characterization. While I liked the title characters in Oscar and Lucinda well enough, I wasn't terribly attached to either of them by the end. And something about the tone of this novel I disliked: there's a certain balance (or in my opinion, imbalance) between serious drama/tragedy and comedy/wit that seems trendy these days, which always rubs me the wrong way. That's not to say that the combination of the two can't be brilliant and genuine, when done with less, well, smugness. That's probably a terribly unfair description, but that's the word that comes to mind, along with jaded, guileful, practiced...etc.
The ending, while I appreciate the realism, was a bit too deliberately crafted for shock and effect to resonate with me. It's obviously a polarizing ending, and I can understand why some people would love how different and daring it is, just as others would consider it depressing and unsatisfying. Personally, it just struck me as a too obvious attempt to be edgy.
I know I've been pretty negative so far (and maybe TOO negative, due to my own bias towards the tone and style I attempted to describe above) but I actually did enjoy the book for the most part. It's not one I would personally recommend, or ever re-read, but it's interesting enough as a work of historical fiction.
The ending, while I appreciate the realism, was a bit too deliberately crafted for shock and effect to resonate with me. It's obviously a polarizing ending, and I can understand why some people would love how different and daring it is, just as others would consider it depressing and unsatisfying. Personally, it just struck me as a too obvious attempt to be edgy.
I know I've been pretty negative so far (and maybe TOO negative, due to my own bias towards the tone and style I attempted to describe above) but I actually did enjoy the book for the most part. It's not one I would personally recommend, or ever re-read, but it's interesting enough as a work of historical fiction.
September 13, 2015
How many ways you can tell a love story? How many types of lovers are there in the world?
It tells about the two odd gamblers, Oscar Hopskins, a preacher's son and Lucinda, a heiress who buys a glass factory. The first one is obsessive and the other one is a compulsive gambler. They fell in love on their way to the 19th century Australia. Lucinda challenges Oscar that he cannot move the glass factory to another town and Oscar accepts the challenge and the end is I don't know. What I mean is if it justifies the means or if the slow build up (the book is 520 pages and starts when Oscar was a little boy punished by eating Christmas pudding) but earlier fantastic reviews here on ŷ say that this reflect the way Australia was built as a nation and that the characters juxtaposes Australia and its people and who am I to argue with as the reviewers probably know this better than I do.
There are many other memorable scenes. Reading is a bit dragging. Especially when I was done reading the book, I thought that this could be cut in a half and the story would still be the same if not more enjoyable. I have not seen the movie but I thought that given a choice I would like to see how they look like and all the fantastic images in my mind like the inverted cathedral. This is my first time to read a Peter Carey novel but I thought that with those images making prints in my mind, I have no doubt of his skillful artistry in telling stories.
I should read more Peter Carey. Thanks to 501 Must Read Books for making me buy this book!
It tells about the two odd gamblers, Oscar Hopskins, a preacher's son and Lucinda, a heiress who buys a glass factory. The first one is obsessive and the other one is a compulsive gambler. They fell in love on their way to the 19th century Australia. Lucinda challenges Oscar that he cannot move the glass factory to another town and Oscar accepts the challenge and the end is I don't know. What I mean is if it justifies the means or if the slow build up (the book is 520 pages and starts when Oscar was a little boy punished by eating Christmas pudding) but earlier fantastic reviews here on ŷ say that this reflect the way Australia was built as a nation and that the characters juxtaposes Australia and its people and who am I to argue with as the reviewers probably know this better than I do.
There are many other memorable scenes. Reading is a bit dragging. Especially when I was done reading the book, I thought that this could be cut in a half and the story would still be the same if not more enjoyable. I have not seen the movie but I thought that given a choice I would like to see how they look like and all the fantastic images in my mind like the inverted cathedral. This is my first time to read a Peter Carey novel but I thought that with those images making prints in my mind, I have no doubt of his skillful artistry in telling stories.
I should read more Peter Carey. Thanks to 501 Must Read Books for making me buy this book!
March 7, 2024
In order that I exist, two gamblers, one Obsessive, the other Compulsive, must meet. A door must open at a certain time.
Peter Carey is a historian with a magnifying glass in his hands: his novel/door opens up to the private history of two people born at planetary antipodes sometimes in the 1860s�. Oscar Hopkins and Lucinda Leplastrier are brought together by chance and by glass, they fall in love and they briefly burn brightly against the still untamed landscape of Australia.
Oscar is the son of a cold, self-absorbed Puritan father whose only passion is the study of marine lifeforms. He is studying to become a clergyman and is forever searching for the true path to faith amid a hodgepodge of sectarian dissent. Oscar is also a methodical gambler who believes he can study and conquer the laws of chance.
Lucinda is an orphan who tries to make her own path as a woman in a society controlled my men. She is an heiress with a passion for glass and a compulsive gambler who finds in betting the thrills a tightly laced society denies to independent-minded women.
This book is as much a love story as it is a historical novel, but even this is an oversimplification of a deeply layered and subtle argument that history is made as much by the individual small dreamers as it is in the high offices of political or war ministries.
I believe it deserves all the praise it received alongside its Booker Prize win.
The glass was by way of being a symbol of weakness and strength; it was a cipher for someone else’s heart. It was a confession, an accusation, a cry of pain. It was for this he wept.
Lucinda was moved by something much more simple � grief that such a lovely thing could vanish like a pricked balloon. But her feelings were not unlayered and there was, mixed with that hard slap of disappointment, a deeper, more nourishing emotion: wonder.
I haven’t seen myself a Prince Rupert’s drop of molten glass, not even when I worked for three years in a glass factory, but I immediately shared the author’s enthusiasm for the little scientific wonder that Carey makes the centrepiece symbol of his story. A sense of wonder that is transmuted in the alchemy of human passion between these two young people from a physical into a spiritual quest to celebrate life:
“No, it is not because I am amused by glass, but because you have a passion I am helping you for. I am a cold man warming himself in front of someone else’s fire.�
Carey takes his time with the story, but he puts the long introductory chapters that lead to the actual meeting of his two protagonists to good use in both getting to know Oscar and Lucinda intimately through their personal growing up histories and in sketching a panoramic view of the times and places they live in.
Oscar moves up from the desolate shores of Devon to seminary studies in Oxford and to pleasure gardens in London, with detours to the race track for some heavy betting. I liked in particular the sketch of early Notting Hill neighbourhood, one of my favourite places in London, and the description of the Leviathan , the greatest ship ever built, based on the real paddle steamer Great Eastern and the incredible engineering feats of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The real Great Eastern never made the crossing to Australia, but an author is allowed certain historical leeway in his storytelling.
Betting was like this: a monster that must be fed.
Before they even met, Oscar and Lucinda are connected by their gambling addictions. In this, as in the rest of the novel, Peter Carey explores not only the psychological aspects but also the symbolical, spiritual nature of the concept.
“Our whole life is a wager, Miss Leplastrier. We bet � it is all in Pascal and very wise it is too, although the Queen of England might find him not nearly Presbyterian enough � we bet that there is a God. We bet our life on it. We calculate the odds, the return, that we shall sit with the saints in paradise. Our anxiety about our bet will wake us before dawn in a cold sweat.�
The contrast between sophisticated/decadent London and vibrant/uncouth Melbourne is underlined by the way a woman will be equally persecuted and isolated by both societies. Contrarian and fiercely independent Lucinda is born almost a century too soon for her feminist spirit to be liberated, but it is her life affirming passion and not Oscar’s tormented soul searching that will leave its mark on history
She imagined this to be somehow her fault. She had been too forward again. She had frightened him away with her imperiousness. Her ironic manner had been offensive. She had not held herself in sufficiently, but why must she always hold herself back? They would have her tie a silk rope between her ankles so she would move in a fettered way.
Oscar and Lucinda are the misfits of their historical period, two sensitive people who refuse to conform to the expectations of their peers. Unsurprisingly, they are pushed to the gutter as social outcasts, but their coming together defies the odds who promised the inevitable failure of their lives.
The best part of the novel for me is the way Carey handles the romantic part of their relationship in this Victorian setting that sees carnal passion as reprehensible and tabu in conversation. Unprepared by parents or peers to understand and control their attraction to each other, Oscar and Lucinda are lost in what the author calls at one time ... the viscous, sour, treacly chemicals of loneliness. yet somehow manage to sublimate their love into an actual wonder of the world:
“You have made a kennel for God’s angles.�
Whoa, she thought.
[...]
“But there is nothing irreligious,� he said. “How could we have a sense of humour if our Lord did not?� She smiled.
She thought: Oh dear.
“Do you not imagine,� he said, “that our Lord laughs together with his angels?�
She thought: I am in love. How extraordinary.
[...]
She thought: I cannot separate love from glass; I must be just a little mad.
It is a small parochial church made entirely of glass in an iron frame, and I don’t really care if this reveal can be considered spoilerish: it is in fact the defining moment of the whole exercise. In practical term, this glass church is a bet the two young people make against oblivion, and the torturous journey into the still savage heart of the continent to bring the gift church to an undeserving clergyman is filled with irony and black humour.
Laughter and tears are impossible to separate in this novel where it is proved once again the we humans are only playthings in the hands of a God whose sense of humour is incredibly cruel.
“We are alive,� said Lucinda and at that moment she felt herself to be what she said. “We are alive on the very brink of eternity.�
July 5, 2016
When I started this book I knew I was in for something different. Two gamblers fall in love and conspire to transport a glass church across the outback in colonial times? And it's good? Yes, it is good.
Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda was a great trip for me. I loved being immersed in the details of the 1850s and 1860s. I especially loved being immersed in the details of the mind from this period. This is not a simple love story. The characters feel deeply about many things, and have many different feelings: guilt, pleasure, holiness, despair, longing, loneliness. The list could go on. It's a rich rich book.
While the basic story is what's written above, it is more honest to say that the transporting a glass church thing is just something that happens in the book. It was a way for Carey to really dig into deep questions of the soul--faith, doubt, righteousness, hypocrisy, wickedness, the fragility of relationships. While I read this book I really cared for the characters as they struggled to find their identity amidst so much external and internal conflict.
The book is also pretty funny. There are several great parts that made me laugh out loud. It's the way Carey describes things and his sense of timing. But that same talent helps him also achieve a devestating effect in the reader. The comical story is real, but so is the tragedy and the despair. The relationships are so important to the characters, who have struggled so hard to connect with anyone, yet the relationships, while honest, are also desperate. It's hard to read at times for fear of what discoveries will be made.
The books started slowly, though not unpleasantly. We see Oscar and Lucinda growing up, experiencing their rather harsh childhoods. Oscar is a bit strange to others. Lucinda too, only its because she's a rather strong willed woman. Both recognize their situation, and even though they recognize that they should not worry because they feel they are being exactly who they should be, it still hurts. On a side note, almost, they each become addicted to gambling. Ultimately they gamble everything they care for on each other. This all somehow leads to a very insightful look at faith, colonialism, love, death.
Somehow in this book Carey has taken a million minute, seemingly unimportant details, and compiled them into something touching and important. I like the way one of the Best of the Booker judges described it as building the Taj Mahal out of matchsticks (or something along those lines).
Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda was a great trip for me. I loved being immersed in the details of the 1850s and 1860s. I especially loved being immersed in the details of the mind from this period. This is not a simple love story. The characters feel deeply about many things, and have many different feelings: guilt, pleasure, holiness, despair, longing, loneliness. The list could go on. It's a rich rich book.
While the basic story is what's written above, it is more honest to say that the transporting a glass church thing is just something that happens in the book. It was a way for Carey to really dig into deep questions of the soul--faith, doubt, righteousness, hypocrisy, wickedness, the fragility of relationships. While I read this book I really cared for the characters as they struggled to find their identity amidst so much external and internal conflict.
The book is also pretty funny. There are several great parts that made me laugh out loud. It's the way Carey describes things and his sense of timing. But that same talent helps him also achieve a devestating effect in the reader. The comical story is real, but so is the tragedy and the despair. The relationships are so important to the characters, who have struggled so hard to connect with anyone, yet the relationships, while honest, are also desperate. It's hard to read at times for fear of what discoveries will be made.
The books started slowly, though not unpleasantly. We see Oscar and Lucinda growing up, experiencing their rather harsh childhoods. Oscar is a bit strange to others. Lucinda too, only its because she's a rather strong willed woman. Both recognize their situation, and even though they recognize that they should not worry because they feel they are being exactly who they should be, it still hurts. On a side note, almost, they each become addicted to gambling. Ultimately they gamble everything they care for on each other. This all somehow leads to a very insightful look at faith, colonialism, love, death.
Somehow in this book Carey has taken a million minute, seemingly unimportant details, and compiled them into something touching and important. I like the way one of the Best of the Booker judges described it as building the Taj Mahal out of matchsticks (or something along those lines).
February 29, 2012
There must be something wrong with me. I know most people can't get enough of the sunken cathedral symbol, but it leaves me unmoved. Well, I could possibly make an exception for the diving bell sequence in Waterworld, but that was mainly because of the contrast with the rest of the movie.
In Peter Carey's novel, there's all this elaborate build-up, and what do we get at the end? A sunken cathedral. Okay, it's made of glass and it's been transported to the outback and... yes, yes, I can see the author's done his best and it's worked on plenty of other readers. But I'm just, ho-hum, another bloody sunken cathedral. Raise your eyebrows if you like. Shake your head. I don't care.
In Peter Carey's novel, there's all this elaborate build-up, and what do we get at the end? A sunken cathedral. Okay, it's made of glass and it's been transported to the outback and... yes, yes, I can see the author's done his best and it's worked on plenty of other readers. But I'm just, ho-hum, another bloody sunken cathedral. Raise your eyebrows if you like. Shake your head. I don't care.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2018
I can understand why Peter Carey is not for everyone. His novels tend to move slowly with a focus on subtlety. I find his work to be, much like the sentences he composes, charming. In "Oscar and Lucinda" we find subdued humor and understated actions that possess significant implications. Some might find this quiet approach boring, but I have a soft spot for novels that don't like to reveal too much at a time.
In this particular novel, Carey does a masterful job of portraying the awkwardness of courtship. Oscar and Lucinda are constantly misreading each other and it makes for a realistic account of the early stages of relationships. Carey is clearly having a lot of fun with this aspect of the story.
But this is not just a love story. This is a novel about the role of chance in our lives and how accidents can play a significant role in the formation of our perceptions. The ending, which did not unfold how I expected it to in any way, hammers that point home.
There's a lot to love about this one, but I can understand those who find it a little too tedious. "Oscar and Lucinda" confirmed my appreciation for the author.
In this particular novel, Carey does a masterful job of portraying the awkwardness of courtship. Oscar and Lucinda are constantly misreading each other and it makes for a realistic account of the early stages of relationships. Carey is clearly having a lot of fun with this aspect of the story.
But this is not just a love story. This is a novel about the role of chance in our lives and how accidents can play a significant role in the formation of our perceptions. The ending, which did not unfold how I expected it to in any way, hammers that point home.
There's a lot to love about this one, but I can understand those who find it a little too tedious. "Oscar and Lucinda" confirmed my appreciation for the author.
January 25, 2023
Story of two gamblers, one Obsessive and the other Compulsive, whose impulsivity, naïveté, carelessness and their failure to face their feelings affects their lives and lives of some around them, in unexpected ways. They indeed have inner voices directing them sensibly but at some key points in the story, I feel the Imp of the Perverse moulds their decisions. In the first half of the story the lives of the two eponymous characters is moulded by chances and decisions that leads these people who seem to have been subconsciously seeking someone like each other, to meet, on a long voyage and connect on their common weakness, gambling. They go their own ways after the voyage but fate pulls them together and sets a series of events. Still at times these characters invoke many feelings towards themselves; sympathy, care, and affection. They are imperfect like all humans and are defined by their choices. I went into the book expecting something else but still ended up liking the overall impact of the story.
The way the characters have been moulded in these pages is brilliant. Their quirks, ambitions, their inclination to ‘fit in�, their past, among others, makes them all too real; this characterisation works magnetically for the reader to indulge more in reading as the characters go through their eventful lives.
The way the characters have been moulded in these pages is brilliant. Their quirks, ambitions, their inclination to ‘fit in�, their past, among others, makes them all too real; this characterisation works magnetically for the reader to indulge more in reading as the characters go through their eventful lives.
November 2, 2012
“Writing long books is a laborious and impoverishing act of foolishness: expanding in five hundred pages an idea that could be perfectly explained in a few minutes" Jorge Luis Borges
“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.�
� Dr. Seuss
What a pity. There hasn't been a book that has annoyed me as much as this one. I can't take this prose style anymore. It talks about 2 "outcasts", I couldn't find a plausible reason other than their own assumptions of them being outcast. Lucinda keeps reminding that she is woman and is not accepted in business circle each time she surfaces in the novel. Oscar, I don't know! After 270 pages I still failed to like a single character, failed to understand what was so important in those 270 pages, don't understand what could be so stunning about lovestory between 2 hyped up characters, don't know what historical or cultural significance the novel could present what it couldn't till now! Whatever I read in 270 pages could have very well written off in 2-3 pages. I don't regret of stopping this despite of not getting a whiff of the love story between the main characters, which was supposed to be the idea behind this whole novel!
“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.�
� Dr. Seuss
What a pity. There hasn't been a book that has annoyed me as much as this one. I can't take this prose style anymore. It talks about 2 "outcasts", I couldn't find a plausible reason other than their own assumptions of them being outcast. Lucinda keeps reminding that she is woman and is not accepted in business circle each time she surfaces in the novel. Oscar, I don't know! After 270 pages I still failed to like a single character, failed to understand what was so important in those 270 pages, don't understand what could be so stunning about lovestory between 2 hyped up characters, don't know what historical or cultural significance the novel could present what it couldn't till now! Whatever I read in 270 pages could have very well written off in 2-3 pages. I don't regret of stopping this despite of not getting a whiff of the love story between the main characters, which was supposed to be the idea behind this whole novel!
November 2, 2021
As the title states, this is the story of two people � Oscar Hopkins and Lucinda Leplastrier, originally from England. Oscar, son of a clergyman, breaks from the strict religion of his father and becomes an Anglican preacher. Lucinda is a wealthy heiress who buys a glass factory, which will figure prominently in the outcome. They meet in 1864 on a ship bound for Australia. They discover a mutual interest in gambling and band together when they are socially ostracized.
The storyline flashes back to cover the earlier lives of the two protagonists, so it can occasionally feel disjointed. The book is written in the style of a 19th century novel. It is densely written, containing lengthy descriptive sentences and ornate prose. I tend to enjoy the classics, so I was predisposed to enjoy it.
The story unfolds gradually. It is written in short chapters, so it is easy to read it at a leisurely pace, taking advantage of many natural stopping points. I particularly enjoyed the interactions of Oscar and Lucinda and their mutual, sometimes humorous, misunderstandings. I enjoyed seeing two social misfits casting their lot together. It takes darker tone as it progresses. It has an unusual and, for me, unexpected ending.
The storyline flashes back to cover the earlier lives of the two protagonists, so it can occasionally feel disjointed. The book is written in the style of a 19th century novel. It is densely written, containing lengthy descriptive sentences and ornate prose. I tend to enjoy the classics, so I was predisposed to enjoy it.
The story unfolds gradually. It is written in short chapters, so it is easy to read it at a leisurely pace, taking advantage of many natural stopping points. I particularly enjoyed the interactions of Oscar and Lucinda and their mutual, sometimes humorous, misunderstandings. I enjoyed seeing two social misfits casting their lot together. It takes darker tone as it progresses. It has an unusual and, for me, unexpected ending.
January 26, 2020
A great novel. Two eccentric characters are thrown together with all the flaws multiples sevenfold. Oscar brought up by his father a Plymouth Brethren living in a remote village in Devon He develops odd habits and beliefs. He then decides to become Anglican and later a clergyman Oxford who supports his studies by gambling. There is a transition via the Reverend Stratton who supports his change of belief.
On the other side of the world Lucinda becomes an heiress after her father and later her mother dies. She also is a gambler. One compulsive the other obsessive. Lucinda buys a glassworks and then travels to England. Returning to Australia on the Leviathan she meets Oscar. Later in Australia she allows Oscar to move in with her after Oscar is kicked out of his church due to his gambling.
Then the two of them make a bet which changes their lives forever. The journey to fulfill the bet allows Oscar to see the reality of Australian landscape and the people. Evil, debauchery, drunkenness and results in a murder and Oscar making some extremely bad decisions. I liked the ending and somehow it seemed apt. Well worth a read an entertaining and in places funny book.
On the other side of the world Lucinda becomes an heiress after her father and later her mother dies. She also is a gambler. One compulsive the other obsessive. Lucinda buys a glassworks and then travels to England. Returning to Australia on the Leviathan she meets Oscar. Later in Australia she allows Oscar to move in with her after Oscar is kicked out of his church due to his gambling.
Then the two of them make a bet which changes their lives forever. The journey to fulfill the bet allows Oscar to see the reality of Australian landscape and the people. Evil, debauchery, drunkenness and results in a murder and Oscar making some extremely bad decisions. I liked the ending and somehow it seemed apt. Well worth a read an entertaining and in places funny book.
June 25, 2019
Loved the characters and setting, a really intricate, fascinating book.
I seem to be on a bit of a roll with my Australian authors at the moment - and I must confess, Peter Carey (despite being mega famous) was new to me.
I had zero concept of what the book would be about - perhaps I was expecting some sort of love story, set in the Australian outback? However, surprisingly I got a red-headed gambler, a wealthy Australian heiress, a glass factory, and lots more besides.
Plot
Oscar lives in Devon (UK) with his father. He gets a good education, becomes a clergyman, then travels to Australia. On the boat, he meets Lucinda, a wealthy woman in possession of a glass factory. They share a mutual passion - for gambling. However, this is a society that doesn't permit women to gamble, and it's not fond of men of the cloth doing it either.
Their gambling hides a far deeper connection, but one that is also marred by the expectations of society, and the people around them. Oscar is ruined (partly due to Lucinda's actions), and she hires him in her glass factory. Their shared love of glass, combined with their reckless need to gamble, means they both take a wild risk with their fortunes... and not for the better.
My review
Peter Carey is another of those authors who perfectly captures the heat and hostility of the Australian landscape, combined with the personality of the place - the prosaic, sweeping elegance of it all, combined with the coarseness, and the struggle to survive.
Oscar and Lucinda are both unsuited to this challenging environment. I love how the author showed their vulnerability through their clandestine gambling sessions, Lucinda's crumbling factory, and Oscar's faltering career as a parson. They, like the Australian landscape, are being forced to comply with societal expectations, and both of them fail miserably.
The ending was a bit overblown (though I liked to sense of 'complete collapse' and self-annihilation), which is why I didn't rate it a 5* - it was gorgeously subtle up to that point, and I wanted it to stay that way. However, I loved the idea of the cracking glass-church - what an image!
I seem to be on a bit of a roll with my Australian authors at the moment - and I must confess, Peter Carey (despite being mega famous) was new to me.
I had zero concept of what the book would be about - perhaps I was expecting some sort of love story, set in the Australian outback? However, surprisingly I got a red-headed gambler, a wealthy Australian heiress, a glass factory, and lots more besides.
Plot
Oscar lives in Devon (UK) with his father. He gets a good education, becomes a clergyman, then travels to Australia. On the boat, he meets Lucinda, a wealthy woman in possession of a glass factory. They share a mutual passion - for gambling. However, this is a society that doesn't permit women to gamble, and it's not fond of men of the cloth doing it either.
Their gambling hides a far deeper connection, but one that is also marred by the expectations of society, and the people around them. Oscar is ruined (partly due to Lucinda's actions), and she hires him in her glass factory. Their shared love of glass, combined with their reckless need to gamble, means they both take a wild risk with their fortunes... and not for the better.
My review
Peter Carey is another of those authors who perfectly captures the heat and hostility of the Australian landscape, combined with the personality of the place - the prosaic, sweeping elegance of it all, combined with the coarseness, and the struggle to survive.
Oscar and Lucinda are both unsuited to this challenging environment. I love how the author showed their vulnerability through their clandestine gambling sessions, Lucinda's crumbling factory, and Oscar's faltering career as a parson. They, like the Australian landscape, are being forced to comply with societal expectations, and both of them fail miserably.
The ending was a bit overblown (though I liked to sense of 'complete collapse' and self-annihilation), which is why I didn't rate it a 5* - it was gorgeously subtle up to that point, and I wanted it to stay that way. However, I loved the idea of the cracking glass-church - what an image!
February 25, 2022
Peter Carey is an amazing writer, and I'd be hard pressed to say which of his books is the "best". I've read more of his novels than I have reviewed here.
"Oscar and Lucinda" is reminiscent of South American magic realism, except set in Australia � as if Australia were not already magically surreal enough!
A writer of power and beauty. This novel won the Booker, and Peter Carey went on to win another Booker years later. His career is impressive and his books are rewarding. I always want to reread Peter Carey.
"Oscar and Lucinda" is reminiscent of South American magic realism, except set in Australia � as if Australia were not already magically surreal enough!
A writer of power and beauty. This novel won the Booker, and Peter Carey went on to win another Booker years later. His career is impressive and his books are rewarding. I always want to reread Peter Carey.
November 7, 2019
I picked this book up at a charity book shop a few weeks ago. It’s hard to say no to a Booker winner for £1, even if it is 30+ years old.
I found this a confusing book to read. About one-third of the way through I made a note that said “this seems to have suddenly become a different book�. It changed tone and became much darker, but it seemed to do it in the turn of a single page. And then it changed again toward the end and it goes to some very dark places in its final sections. This is all noticeable because the book starts off very light-hearted. If the move to darkness had been more gradual, I would probably be praising it for the way it drew me in. But as it is, it felt like it completely changed at a couple of significant points and that felt quite jarring. Perhaps this was intentional by the author.
The novel tells the unconventional love story of Oscar Hopkins and Lucinda Leplastrier. It’s an unusual love story because they spend most of the book unaware of one another and on completely the opposite sides of the world. This confused me for a while because I read a summary before I started that talked about them both being gambling addicts and making a wager. This does happen, but not until a good three-quarters of the book is in your left hand.
I was further confused by the mention of red-backed hawks in Devon, UK (to the best of my knowledge, we’ve never had those here) and by the talk of “electric megaphones� in use in 1865 when the Internet tells me these were invented in 1878.
So, for a variety of reasons, some of my own making, I spent a lot of this book in a confused state.
It is a historical novel set in Great Britain and Australia in the mid-late nineteenth century. Oscar Hopkins is the son of a Plymouth Brethren preacher who is often reminiscent of The Dice Man in the way he determines God’s will for his life by chance. It is chance that leads him to “convert� to Anglicanism and then on to Australia. But his commitment to chance also expresses itself in his obsessive gambling. His path crosses with that of Lucinda Leplastrier. Lucinda is a feminist ahead of her time who spends a large proportion of her significant inheritance on a glassworks in Sydney where she encounters major resistance to the idea of a woman being in business. But Lucinda’s life is also governed by a compulsion to gamble and it is this that draws the pair together. It is also the wager between the two of them that leads the novel to the darkness with which it ends.
The book is filled with arresting images. Perhaps the most memorable is that of a glass church floating on a raft down a river through the Australian bush. Large parts of this section of the book brought back memories of the movie Fitcarraldo where a man transports a steamship over a steep hill in the Amazon. It’s a fast moving story: in 511 pages it squeezes in 110 chapters and the story rattles along at the kind of pace that suggests.
For the most part, I enjoyed reading the book (apart from my self-induced confusion about some bits of it). But I never felt all that excited about it. Others have written about not being able to put it down even though it gives you chance to do that every 2 or 3 pages with the brief chapters. For me, I found that I was taking rather more of the opportunities it presented for a break than I would normally. I’m not quite sure why I didn’t fully engage with it. Maybe I should watch the movie.
I found this a confusing book to read. About one-third of the way through I made a note that said “this seems to have suddenly become a different book�. It changed tone and became much darker, but it seemed to do it in the turn of a single page. And then it changed again toward the end and it goes to some very dark places in its final sections. This is all noticeable because the book starts off very light-hearted. If the move to darkness had been more gradual, I would probably be praising it for the way it drew me in. But as it is, it felt like it completely changed at a couple of significant points and that felt quite jarring. Perhaps this was intentional by the author.
The novel tells the unconventional love story of Oscar Hopkins and Lucinda Leplastrier. It’s an unusual love story because they spend most of the book unaware of one another and on completely the opposite sides of the world. This confused me for a while because I read a summary before I started that talked about them both being gambling addicts and making a wager. This does happen, but not until a good three-quarters of the book is in your left hand.
I was further confused by the mention of red-backed hawks in Devon, UK (to the best of my knowledge, we’ve never had those here) and by the talk of “electric megaphones� in use in 1865 when the Internet tells me these were invented in 1878.
So, for a variety of reasons, some of my own making, I spent a lot of this book in a confused state.
It is a historical novel set in Great Britain and Australia in the mid-late nineteenth century. Oscar Hopkins is the son of a Plymouth Brethren preacher who is often reminiscent of The Dice Man in the way he determines God’s will for his life by chance. It is chance that leads him to “convert� to Anglicanism and then on to Australia. But his commitment to chance also expresses itself in his obsessive gambling. His path crosses with that of Lucinda Leplastrier. Lucinda is a feminist ahead of her time who spends a large proportion of her significant inheritance on a glassworks in Sydney where she encounters major resistance to the idea of a woman being in business. But Lucinda’s life is also governed by a compulsion to gamble and it is this that draws the pair together. It is also the wager between the two of them that leads the novel to the darkness with which it ends.
The book is filled with arresting images. Perhaps the most memorable is that of a glass church floating on a raft down a river through the Australian bush. Large parts of this section of the book brought back memories of the movie Fitcarraldo where a man transports a steamship over a steep hill in the Amazon. It’s a fast moving story: in 511 pages it squeezes in 110 chapters and the story rattles along at the kind of pace that suggests.
For the most part, I enjoyed reading the book (apart from my self-induced confusion about some bits of it). But I never felt all that excited about it. Others have written about not being able to put it down even though it gives you chance to do that every 2 or 3 pages with the brief chapters. For me, I found that I was taking rather more of the opportunities it presented for a break than I would normally. I’m not quite sure why I didn’t fully engage with it. Maybe I should watch the movie.
March 26, 2022
4.5 stars. An interesting, engaging, delightful, imaginative, original, memorable historical fiction novel set in England and Australia, 1838-1866 and 1970. A strange bedevilled love story with lots of plot twists. Oscar and Lucinda are such memorable, well developed characters. Oscar Hopkins is a shy, gawky, Oxford educated, hydrophobic, with a tortured conscience, who becomes an Anglican priest. Lucinda Leplastrier is a wilful, eccentric, frizzy haired young Australian heiress who buys a glass factory. They meet on the ship over to Australia. They have one thing in common, they love gambling.
Highly recommended.
This book won the 1988 Booker Prize and the 1989 Miles Franklin Award. It was shortlisted for the Best of the Booker.
Highly recommended.
This book won the 1988 Booker Prize and the 1989 Miles Franklin Award. It was shortlisted for the Best of the Booker.
January 14, 2015
3. What a wonderful novel. I'd forgotten all the story's intricate plot and about how Carey creates an Australian universe of characters with secret agendas and shames. It has gambling, religion, repression, and love. If you're looking for a good "book from every continent" book, this might be the one for you.
2. I want to reread more books this year. Less chasing of new things while still remaining current, but slowing down and experiencing books I said I loved to see if I still do.
1. I read this around the time it came out. I found a family copy of the book to re-read, but the cheap paper makes my sinuses hurt too much, so I'm buying a U.K. edition and will read it again. I remember loving it so much, so I want to experience the whole thing again.
2. I want to reread more books this year. Less chasing of new things while still remaining current, but slowing down and experiencing books I said I loved to see if I still do.
1. I read this around the time it came out. I found a family copy of the book to re-read, but the cheap paper makes my sinuses hurt too much, so I'm buying a U.K. edition and will read it again. I remember loving it so much, so I want to experience the whole thing again.
July 9, 2012
It's such a while since I read this book but it's right up there among my all time favourites.
Oscar and Lucinda are such improbable characters ... Unfit for the world on so many levels but with robust conviction in their own world view. While they should both be cowering forlornly in some remote and dimly lit place, they embark on a mad mission with the sort of passion we all hope to experience at least once in our lives but probably never will.
The Prince Rupert's Drop that so impresses the young Lucinda symbolically represents the incredible resilience and terrifying vulnerability that reside within us all and is so beautifully illustrated by the two misfit heroes of this book.
I love and I hate that Carey lied to me (or at the very least deliberately tricked me) and I went scrambling back through the book to find the point of deception
It's not the characters that make this book so thoroughly Australian, it's the way Carey tells the tale. It's there in the trickery, the irreverence and the affectionate contempt the narrator tells the tale. You can almost smell the eucalyptus
Oscar and Lucinda are such improbable characters ... Unfit for the world on so many levels but with robust conviction in their own world view. While they should both be cowering forlornly in some remote and dimly lit place, they embark on a mad mission with the sort of passion we all hope to experience at least once in our lives but probably never will.
The Prince Rupert's Drop that so impresses the young Lucinda symbolically represents the incredible resilience and terrifying vulnerability that reside within us all and is so beautifully illustrated by the two misfit heroes of this book.
I love and I hate that Carey lied to me (or at the very least deliberately tricked me) and I went scrambling back through the book to find the point of deception
It's not the characters that make this book so thoroughly Australian, it's the way Carey tells the tale. It's there in the trickery, the irreverence and the affectionate contempt the narrator tells the tale. You can almost smell the eucalyptus
March 14, 2017
I am declaring myself FINIS! but only because I'm horribly bored and can't take it any more.
April 8, 2015
What a bore of a book. I will give it 3 stars only because the first 100 pages seemed witty and humorous. I thought the whole book would be like this, but after those 100 pages from the beginning...I could not relate to it anymore. I missed on things and couldn't really appreciate its humor anymore. The lines had no more effect on me anymore.
April 9, 2014
I struggled to read just over half this book before it became unique. Unique in that it is the only book I've physically hurled across the room. Glad I didn't have it on my Kindle!
In my opinion - a greatly overrated author.
In my opinion - a greatly overrated author.
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