Carey, Peter. Oscar and Lucinda. Harper and Row, 1988.
Reason read: in honor of National Writing Month, I chose a Booker Prize winner. In truth, the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge also had the category of Booker Prize.
Confessional: I felt no affinity for the timid boy with flaming red hair who was afraid of everything. I felt no affinity for the wealthy heiress with the gambling problem. To be honest, I felt no affinity for Oscar and Lucinda the couple or the novel. It dragged on and on. For the most part, I found it was a tirade about the human condition.
As an aside, there are strange details all throughout Oscar and Lucinda. Even though I was bored most of the time, I still am curious about the significance and role of cauliflower to Lucinda when she was on the boat.
Quotes to quote, “The smile did what the Irish accent never could have” (p 121) and “She could marry this man, she knew, and she would still be captain of her soul” (p 329
Author fact: At the time of publication (1988) Carey lived in Australia.
Book trivia: Oscar and Lucinda won the Booker Prize. I have mentioned that before.
Playlist: “The Wearing of the Green”.
Nancy said: Pearl called Oscar and Lucinda “notable” and “Victorian”.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust twice. First, in “A Dickens of a Tale”. I don’t agree. Yes, Oscar and Lucinda is Victorian (19th century Australia), but it is Jack Maggs that is a Dickens reinterpretation. Oscar and Lucinda is also in the chapter called “Australian Fiction” (p 29). No argument there as the story takes place in Australia.
~*LunaSea*~ 