Parrot and Olivier in America
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Knopf/Doubleday (US)
Faber & Faber (UK)
2010 (US & UK)
 Cover of Australian edition | |
| Author | Peter Carey |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Hamish Hamilton (Australia) Knopf/Doubleday (US) Faber & Faber (UK) |
Publication date | 2009 (Australia) 2010 (US & UK) |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 464 pp |
| ISBN | 978-1-926428-14-7 |
| OCLC | 426034998 |
Parrot and Olivier in America is a novel by Australian writer Peter Carey. It was on the shortlist of six books for the 2010 Man Booker Prize.[1] It was also a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award.[2]
The book, according to its publisher, is "an improvisation on the life of Alexis de Tocqueville", and focuses on Tocqueville's trips to the United States.[3] The novel mimics this life with the fictional character, Olivier de Garmont, to the life of Tocqueville, to help the reader explore Tocqueville's life.[3] The titular "Parrot" is Garmont's secretary, which New York Times reviewer Thomas Mallon describes as "Dickensian" character, and a guardian of Garmont as they explore the American environment.[3]
While Carey was developing the novel, an excerpt was published in 2009 in Granta as "Parrot".[4]
As the novel opens, Olivier recalls his childhood. Born to members of the French aristocracy, Olivier grows up a strange, unhealthy, and eternally curious boy. Meanwhile, Parrot grows up in working-class England, where his father works for a printer, and Parrot spends his days taking care of Watkins, an elderly engraver and counterfeiter.
