Home.Music.Film.Books.Games.Culture.Blogs.
Current Issue
new issue | cover story |
web extras | subscribe
renew | back issues
cd sampler sleeves

Paste Lifeline
  
Enter your email address to sign up for Paste's free email newsletter











Peter Carey

His Illegal Self [Alfred A. Knopf]

Writer: Andrea Hinds
Reviews, Issue 39, Published online on 19 Feb 2008

The Outback? Far out

It’s the social revolution of the ’60s and ’70s. Seven-year-old Che has been kidnapped by a hippie named Dial Well (if “kidnapping” is a term that can be used when a child is taken to see his radical mother).

In a series of dramatic turns, Che and Dial find themselves in a commune in sweltering Australia. Stripped from his restrictive yet cushy life with his “Upper East Side” grandmother, Che feels utterly misplaced in the Outback: “The boy had no idea where on Earth he stood. He understood the names of hardly anything, himself included.”

Carey, two-time winner of the Booker Prize, has written an addictive, intriguing, beautiful story about innocence—and what it means to be completely lost. His writing blends ingenious analogies, stunning imagery and lovely melodic flow in a fantastical story that pushes fiction to the limit. It’s a story that is sometimes crazy, but always in the best possible way.


Save & Share




Standalone









 


 
 


Non-U.S. Addresses | Privacy

Give the Gift
of Music


11 magazines
+ 11 CDs
+ the priceless joy of finally having someone to debate good music with

Give Now >

Paste offers a variety of subscription services online to best serve you.

Order Paste
  Subscribe
  Gift Subscriptions
  International Subscriptions
  Back Issues

Your Subscription
  Account Maintanence
  Address Change
  CD Sampler Sleeves
  Contact Us
  FAQs
  Pay Bill
  Renew Subscription
  Where to Buy


Contests.

Want to win free stuff?
Check out Paste's contest page!

Paste Magazine Culture Club.

Podcast Feature.

Episode 67
April 22, 2008

New music from Port O'Brien, Luke Temple, Molly Jenson, and The Riders, plus interviews from the Cayamo cruise and Langerado 2008.
// More Info
// Download

Subscribe in iTunes.