In Australian slang, an illywhacker is a country fair con man, an unprincipled seller of fake diamonds and dubious tonics. And Herbert Badgery, the...
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reviews
Feb 04, 2012
Will
rated it: 
I tried thinking of a couple of clever ways to start this review, then I remembered this is just a personal internet thing. I loved this book and here's why.
Sometimes you just want to hear a great, rollicking, absurd yarn of a story that makes the elements of life seem larger and more important than they really are while still retaining a bittersweet sense of the transient nature of all things. Maybe it's hard to find books like that (it is) but this is one like that.
Ill More...
Sometimes you just want to hear a great, rollicking, absurd yarn of a story that makes the elements of life seem larger and more important than they really are while still retaining a bittersweet sense of the transient nature of all things. Maybe it's hard to find books like that (it is) but this is one like that.
Ill More...
Aug 04, 2009
Chip
rated it: 
My copy of this book was a gift, and I was suckered in by the adjective "funny" from the review on the cover. Intrigued, I read all the glowing reviews from the "big name" periodicals and prepared myself for one amazing read. By the first hundred pages, as I got familiar with the protagonist and the author's style, I began to wonder if I had been flim-flammed. I have to admit my first thought, upon finishing the book, was that this may have been the biggest waste of reading e
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Jun 18, 2009
Geoff
rated it: 
Ah, remember when books were important! And very very long. This teeming Dickensian Sydney, plonked in a Patrick White desert, was thrust at me by a wild-eyed enthusiast in 1985, shortly after it became the novel that should have won the Booker that year. I took one look at the size of the thing and decided to wait till I was more grown up - in my case another 24 years. To anyone who remembers the 80s it seems dated now by the fashions of the decade (Magic Realism, Wow!) though this effect wi
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Nov 10, 2009
Boy, it's been kind of gloomy around here recently, hasn't it? What with unanticipated abridgments, disorganized Englishmen, and lukewarm responses to historical fiction, things have looked rosier. But here, my friends, is the antidote: Peter Carey's rollicking Australian epic Illywhacker is robust and uproarious - a chewy, stew-like story you can really sink your teeth into, and which also offers a thought-provoking meditation on the nature of lying and the truth.
I've written be More...
I've written be More...
May 30, 2010
Carol
rated it: 
This novel is about Australia. Not just things that happened there, or people who lived there, but the place itself. It is narrated by Herbert Badgery who lives to be 139. However, Herbert spends very little time talking about himself and his own life - the book is mainly about the people he meets and lives with during his long life - friends, family, lovers, adversaries, etc. He delves into their characters, their histories, and their lives with near-omniscience. The characters are the most imp
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Dec 28, 2011
Emily
rated it:
I wish I could give this book a half star; for me, it hovers somewhere between 3 and 4.
"Illywhacker" was remarkable because of the incredible dexterity with which Carey handles his prose. In the first half of the book, Carey manages to shift narrative perspectives, discard his narrators again and again, and jump around in time without disorienting the reader at all. His descriptions of characters are amazingly vivid, unique, and interesting. The first half of "Illywhacke More...
"Illywhacker" was remarkable because of the incredible dexterity with which Carey handles his prose. In the first half of the book, Carey manages to shift narrative perspectives, discard his narrators again and again, and jump around in time without disorienting the reader at all. His descriptions of characters are amazingly vivid, unique, and interesting. The first half of "Illywhacke More...
Mar 02, 2009
Susan
rated it:
This is an old Peter Carey book from the 1980s that I never read. It encompasses the sweep of Australian history and identity through the eyes of the 139-year old narrator who is an adventurer and a con man. It gets a little long and a little surreal (800 pages and characters who live in cages in The Best Pet Shop in the World), but Carey is a wonderful and literary writer. Worth the effort.
Feb 04, 2010
Jean
rated it:
Never made it all the way through this one. Set in Australia, I thought I'd learn something about the country before I got there but this never quite materialized. It is an unusual story. Hard to really explain...jumped all over the place and became quite uninteresting. The characters were very bizarre and I really couldn't relate to them. Couldn't recommend it very much.
May 24, 2009
Trak
rated it:
Okay, I enjoyed this book, I liked the characters but as read further into the novel, I found myself wanting more of Herbert Badgery's story. About three quarters of the way, I get bogged into a whole heap of characters that I neither cared about or want to know. I was intrigued by Herbert and I found this massive slab of his story just disappeared as I was taken along to the story about his son and then grandson.
Parts of the book moved into the surreal with people living in cages and jus More...
Parts of the book moved into the surreal with people living in cages and jus More...
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May 08, 2008
Nick
rated it:
Savour every page in this tour-de-force by Australia's finest Booker prizewinner. It's not just 139 year-old Herbert Badgery's outlandish shaggy dog stories on women, aviation and the outback, it's not just the people and places that spring vibrantly from the page, it is the beauty of Carey's craftsmanship, his perfectly-proscribed prose and lovingly-nurtured descriptions that make this novel such a pleasure to read. Enjoy the ride of each and every chapter in what would be an overworked storyli
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Nov 09, 2010
Currently reading. My first PC novel and surprisingly more intelligent than I imagined. Love the sense of place he brings and the way the characters begin to dance closer in their sticky relationship. Looking forward to finishing.
Jan 02, 2011
Andrea
rated it:
What it means to be Australian is the resonating and insightful core of this book. I know only a small amount about Australia but after reading Illywhacker, I feel as if I've been plunged into the difficult and enticing history of their national identity. I have been entertained but greatly informed all through the words of the main protagonist who confesses his multiple cons and lies. After reading this, I am again daunted to write.
Jan 08, 2011
Sandy
rated it:
Read this during my Australian period. I really like Peter Carey. This was a good read (very Australian) but not as good as Oscar and Lucinda)
Jan 29, 2009
Patrick
rated it:
I've read this book a couple of times. I'd read it again but my copy has fallen apart. It's one of my ten favorite books.
Apr 22, 2011
Gerald
rated it: 
I want to like Peter Carey, seems I should, kindred spirit and all that, but so far I am not enlisted.
Sep 21, 2010
Shelley
rated it:
I had to read this for my last college class of English. It drove me crazy because I hated the plot but it taught me something about narrative voice.
Illywhacker means "con-man" in Australian. The narrator is the Illywhacker, so (not to give anything away) but he is telling the story. By the end you know you've been duped because the whole tale is told from his perspective.
I would respect him for being tricky if I hadn't hurled the book across the room the momen More...
Illywhacker means "con-man" in Australian. The narrator is the Illywhacker, so (not to give anything away) but he is telling the story. By the end you know you've been duped because the whole tale is told from his perspective.
I would respect him for being tricky if I hadn't hurled the book across the room the momen More...
Jan 13, 2008
Emily
rated it:
What an interesting book. Peter Carey's characters are always complex and his stories are epics, and this book is in the same vein, if a bit more... eclectic and bizarre. Illywhacker is an old Australian slang term for con-man or huckster, and it is the story of Herbert Badgery's life/tall tales spanning the late 1800s into the 20th century. It pulls in many threads in Australia's history, as well as some threads and plot twists that are just plain odd. But it's a well-written, very funny, enjoy
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Dec 19, 2009
Brent
rated it:
The first time I read this book, I bailed after 200 pages. For whatever reason, the non-linear structure was a major obstacle for me. On my second attempt, though, I became addicted, even re-reading many pages as I went. Peter Carey mixes dozens of characters with a strong set of themes and images to create a rambling, magical masterpiece. This book compares favorably with Midnight's Children and <Tin Drum</i>.
Aug 15, 2007
Jason
rated it:
If a novel's flaws are flaws of ambition, I forgive them pretty easily. Such is the case with this massive, sprawling, hilarious, poignant, stuttering epic about an Australian teller of tall tales that he passes off as his own personal history. It ends with an image I defy anyone to forget & features, as well, perhaps, the funniest scene I've ever encountered in fiction.
Jun 05, 2010
Martha
rated it:
This was my first Peter Carey book, and the title is evocative of what the reader will find within. I don't remember the plot; what I do remember is that it was totally off the wall and left me wanting more from this author. Definitely a fantasy.
Apr 10, 2008
Ali
rated it:
I loved it. The Illywhacker is about a lier and how his stories get out of hand, the end was just unbelievable, still makes me laugh.
Sep 29, 2008
Luke
rated it:
Great tale of an inveterate liar and his brood. Fact and bullshit combine to create one hell of a shaggy dog story.
Aug 06, 2008
Michelle
rated it:
Another all-time top favourite of mine.
I loved everything about this book, and the way Carey makes Australia come to life.
I loved everything about this book, and the way Carey makes Australia come to life.
