Monday, May 14, 2012

The Book We're Talking About This Week

Monday, May 14, 2012
"The Chemistry of Tears" by Peter Carey
Knopf, $26.00
Publishes on May 15th

What is it about?
A museum conservator in London learns of the death of her secret lover, and has a breakdown as a result. Her boss, the only other person who knew of her affair, gives her a new project to work on: unpacking and rebuilding a 19th-century automaton of a bird, along with the notes of its patron. She soon becomes fascinated with the personal papers of Henry Brandling, which detail the unusual lengths he had to go to commission this eerie creation. As she unravels emotionally, her obsession with the mechanical creature, and what it might reveal about life and death, intensifies.

Why are we talking about it?
Carey's work always demands attention. As with many of his other books, this one jumps between time periods, while occasionally mixing them up with remarkable skill. Both narratives in "The Chemistry of Tears" are compelling and unusual, and told in the first person.

Though it has its flaws, elements of this story and its characters stay with you afterwards; given that Peter Carey is a two-time Booker Prize winner, this could be one of the summer's big literary reads.

Who wrote it?
Peter Carey was born in Australia, and has lived in New York City for the past twenty years. He worked in ad agencies, writing in the evenings, before his short story collection, The Fat Man In History, was published. Since then, his most famous works are "Oscar and Lucinda," (which won the Booker Prize in 1988), "The Tax Inspector," "His Illegal Self" and the truly remarkable 2001 Booker Prize-winning "True History of the Kelly Gang."

Who will read it?
People who enjoy approachable literary fiction. People interested in art, conservation, museums. Fans of automata.

What's it similar to?
For the rest of this article, including a short excerpt from the book, click here.

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