Amnesia
by CAREY, PETER
- Used
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Very Good +/Very Good +
- Seller
-
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Faber & Faber, 2014. First Edition. Boards. Very Good +/Very Good +. 8vo. Illustrated boards with white and yellow lettering to spine. In an illustrated acetate dust jacket. Flat signed by Peter Carey on the title page. Some crinkling to the acetate at lower extremeties, otherwise a nice copy. Appears unread.
Reviews
On Apr 16 2016, a reader said:
Amnesia is the fourteenth novel by award-winning Australian novelist, Peter Carey. The Angel Worm: a virus that proves to be a security nightmare when it opens prisons around Australia. And worse still, infects the big parent security firm in the United States, attracting the ire of the CIA and other security entities. When the hacker is discovered to be a young Melbourne woman, journalist Felix Moore is surprised to find himself involved.
Actress Celine Baillieux is desperate to prevent her daughter, Gaby's extradition to the United States for unleashing said virus, and calls on her old Uni mate to write a biography that will exonerate this feisty young woman. Property developer, Woody Townes, the man who has extracted Felix from many a dire situation, is enlisted to facilitate matters.
But is Felix, "the most controversial journalist of his age", known for ruining reputations and manufacturing quotes ("He freely admitted that he not only made up quotes but had also been accused of making up quotes, 'but never the quotes I actually made up.'") the right person for the job? It seems Felix has a fixation on the role of the United States in Australia's politics: the "Battle of Brisbane" and the 1975 Dismissal feature prominently in the tale he constructs.
Carey gathers together a diverse cast of characters, people the reader will recognise from everyday life: the Local Member intent of preserving image; the ageing actress isolated from her theatre milieu in a working-class suburb; the highly intelligent students able to run rings around security to further their cause; the property developer with a finger in many pies; petty crooks trying to make it big; and greenies determined to expose corporate cover-ups.
Carey gives the reader plenty of humour, both in the dialogue between the characters and in the predicaments in which he places his protagonist. Felix is charmed, spoiled, kidnapped, isolated, forced to live rough and made to produce his manuscript with technology that is virtually obsolete (cassette tapes, paper and a typewriter, no less!). The back-cover blurb is quite misleading, as the story goes in a completely different direction. The pace could perhaps have been faster: occasionally, the story seemed to lose momentum. Nonetheless, an enjoyable read.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Karol Krysik Books, ABAC/ILAB, IOBA, PBFA (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 41945
- Title
- Amnesia
- Author
- CAREY, PETER
- Format/Binding
- Boards
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good +
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good +
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- Publisher
- Faber & Faber
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 2014
- Keywords
- First Edition, Signed
Terms of Sale
Karol Krysik Books, ABAC/ILAB, IOBA, PBFA
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Karol Krysik Books, ABAC/ILAB, IOBA, PBFA
Biblio member since 2012
Toronto, Ontario
About Karol Krysik Books, ABAC/ILAB, IOBA, PBFA
Interesting and unusual books and printed matter. Visual items, illustrated books, private press, mythology/folklore, modern first editions. Member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Canada (ABAC) and theIndependent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA)
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...