![]() Then, it seemed to me that Carey threw the plot out the door and went off on a tangent. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but not one of the people involved get out scot-free, not even the horrible dad. That was what I had in mind when I kissed his poor, sad hand.” (p.36) A plot full of twists and disastersīy the end of the race, just about everything has gone wrong. I had seen his pale blue eyes staring out his bedroom window. The hand was slender, very shapely and shadowy in the knuckles and below the nails, but I did not need his confession on Gisborne Road to feel pity for him. My lips only brushed the fine blond hairs and I remarked his furrowed knuckles, as if his fingers were frowning too. “It was not his hand, more his wrist in any case. What could possibly go wrong? Well – everything. His love life is non-existent, he has a funny build and funny looks, but he is a very good map reader and navigator, and he has nice manners. He is reigning champion of a general knowledge radio quiz show called “Nothing to Lose”, yet practically broke, and lives surrounded by books, particularly maps. Willie, on the other hand, is out of a job because he hung a spiteful, racist teenager out of the classroom window by his legs. ![]() In the Redex Australia Trial cars raced on outback roads through a forgotten Aboriginal world (Image source: HOLTS AUTO, .uk) Since Titch is a very successful car salesman for his father’s dealership, they decide to open their own car dealership, and to get the money for it, they decide to enter – and win – the Redex Trial. Irene wants to get her husband out from underneath the thumb of his over-bearing sod of a father. Titch Bobs”, and “Willie Bachhuber”, a neighbour, their navigator, and apparently an educated fellow. ![]() ![]() Irene Bobs”, the diminutive wife of the dapper and diminutive car salesman, “Mr. There are two narrators, who take turns in the chapters – “Mrs. 203) it is just that: – a straight-forward depiction of some interesting, car-crazy characters, a fairly stable marriage, the road race from remote place to even more remote place, and the Australian automotive industry of the time. Up to about the last part of the book, called A Fork in the Road (p. The idea of the road race was to test the reliability of the cars, not their speed or the endurance of the drivers. It was run under various names, but the last one was called the PlayStation Rally Round Australia. The plot is based on the historical facts of the real Redex Trial, named after the REDeX brand of oil additive, which took place more or less annually from 1953 to 1998. So far, so good – travel and adventure in one. With them, they have a navigator, a former school teacher. So, when Peter Carey’s latest novel, A long Way from Home, came out, I thought the subject was worth exploring: in 1954, a couple embarks on a road race, the Redex Trial, across the country. I know that, like in Canada, the cities are clustered around the southern edge of the country, while up north, and in the centre, there are vast uninhabited, wild spaces. A Long Way From Home, by Peter Carey (Publisher: Knopf 1st edition Februhardcover: 336 pages my copy: Random House Canada)ĭespite two trips to Australia, I have failed to figure out the archetypal Australian or the layout of the country. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |