Oscar and Lucinda
August 12th 2007 05:04
Image: middlemiss.org
Last month’s book club choice, Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda, was never going to be a popular one. Most of our group have either tried reading it in the past or have steered away from it all together.
It tells the quirky tale of two very off-beat characters, namely Oscar and Lucinda, who meet by chance and are drawn to each other by an obsession with gambling. But there are other forces at work here and the story that builds around these two protagonists weaves into a complex set of life lessons that only Carey can pull off in a novel.
Our opinions varied – which was completely expected. Nancy and Tera gave it a firm “No thank you.” Their comments included; Too wordy, terrible ending, jumps around too much and characters not real enough. Lorna could find no empathy with the characters at all and Carol found it hard work. “I had to plough my way through”, she commented.
But on the other end of the scale Denise and Jeanette thought it a wonderful book. Full of beautiful words, great research with so much to say about Australia and its people. Viti loved the language, the short chapters and the symbolic nature of the story.
We did all agree that Peter Carey’s writing does not make for an easy read and either you like him or you don’t. But I believe Oscar and Lucinda to be a very unique story that has the ability to cater to a vast number of readers. But you must open the book with an open mind, otherwise you won’t get past the first chapter! I read this book about 10 years ago after being told “it was a load of rubbish!” by a library customer.
Here we have the crux to finding good books. One man’s rubbish becomes another’s treasure - even more so with a writer like Peter Carey. There is no doubt that his view of life has a distinct kink on the surface, but his characters have an inner reality that is recognisable in most of us.
I’ll end with a quote from Denise who summed it up with “I’m so glad I read Oscar and Lucinda. It is a book I will never forget.”
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