Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey - Available

Parrot and Olivier in America

by Peter Carey
Humphrey Bower
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available

Olivier, an improvisation on the life of Alexis de Tocqueville, is the traumatized child of aristocratic survivors of the French Revolution. Parrot is the motherless son of an itinerant English printer. Born on different sides of history, their lives will be joined by an enigmatic one-armed marquis. When Olivier sets sail for the nascent United States, ostensibly to make a study of the penal system but more precisely to save his neck from one more revolution, Parrot will be there, too, as spy for the marquis and as protector, foe, and foil for Olivier. As the narrative shifts between Parrot and Olivier—their adventures in love and politics, prisons and finance, homelands and brave new lands—a most unlikely friendship begins to take hold. And with their story, Peter Carey explores the adventure of American democracy with dazzling inventiveness.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    April 20, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781483071756
      • File size: 506828 KB
      • Duration: 17:35:53

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Humphrey Bower perfectly juggles a variety of complex characters and accents in Carey's historical novel. Olivier-Jean-Baptist de Clarel de Barfleur, a fictionalized version of Alexis de Tocqueville, is sent to America after his involvement in events surrounding Napoleon's return and the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X. Humphrey Bower inhabits Olivier's friend, the lovable Parrot, aka John Larrit, an ex-con who becomes Olivier's servant and a spy for Olivier's mother. Bower shows extraordinary vocal flexibility, pacing, and sensitivity as the relationship between Olivier and Parrot deepens against the remarkable tableau of undeveloped America and the rough-hewn people who created the greatest nation on earth. R.O. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 28, 2010
      Carey's fictionalization of Alexis de Tocqueville's trip to America that inspired Tocqueville's study Democracy in America makes for lively listening. As the arrogant Olivier-Jean-Baptiste de Clarel de Barfleur de Garmont—a nobleman (and Tocqueville stand-in) sent abroad by his parents who are scandalized by his political involvement—and Parrot, his Australian manservant (and a secret spy), arrive in the New World, Humphrey Bower dexterously juggles American, British, and French accents and keeps each characters distinct and multidimensional. He glides Parrot and Olivier's wild mood and opinion swings and makes romantic passages light and moving. A Knopf hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 9).

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Funding for additional materials was made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.