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Oct 03, 2011

Karen rated it:

I'm a Peter Carey junkie, slowly coming down again from the wild rush that his books give me. There's hardly a writer whose books are just so much damned FUN. This is another example of his versatility and originality, especially obvious in the two narrative voices of the two brothers, so different at the beginning of the book, but that seem to approach each other more and more. It becomes clearer and clearer that Butcher Bones is the less reliable of the two, his 'damaged' brother Hugh, the 'id More...

18 comments like (8 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2009

David rated it:

The more I read of Peter Carey, the better I like him. I found "Oscar and Lucinda" tough sledding. "My life as a Fake" explored some interesting ideas, but wasn't altogether successful, in my opinion. In "Theft", Carey revisits some of the themes which clearly continue to interest him - Australian art and literature, and how they are perceived both within and outside Australia. "My Life as a Fake" dealt with literature and made obvious reference to the inf More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 18, 2007

Robert rated it:

I read Peter Carey's My Life as a Fake and Wrong About Japan, and didn’t like either of them. I just couldn’t get hooked into the effusively praised My Life as a Fake, and Wrong About Japan, though it had a few clever insights, seemed too slight to be a book.

So I wasn’t planning to read any more Carey, but a review of Theft made me waver. I like books about fictional artists, and the subject of art crime and fraud has long interested me. The fine art trade is very lightly regulated, More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 07, 2011

Nick rated it:

Australia baffles me. The place, the people, the cultures are so foreign to me, everything I read (or see in films) by Australians has an air of mystification about it which leaves me scratching my head – “What just happened heah, mate?”

Peter Carey’s noir-ish tale of thievery in the art world would appear to bridge the gap between this cultural mystification and more familiar territory from the rest of the world. But it’s very essence of “Aussieness” dominates and I am left as confus More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Johnathan rated it:

Fantastic book! This is one worth sticking through, for the ending is really killer. I had my doubts in the beginning, but the novel really delivered. I loved the alternating first person POVs. (My novel does the same thing, and I've been struggling with it. Now I feel like I can move forward.) I grew to love both characters, Hugh's ignorance as much Butcher's anger. Loved the thriller, mystery aspect, tempered always by beautiful observations and lyrical turns of phrase. Carey's got a great han More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2008

Rachel rated it:

I really didn't care for this book. It was a painful read. The story is told by two narrators: an artist, who is a bit crazy and a drunk, and his brother, who is mentally challenged (though you never really learn what his diagnosis is). It is told in a stream of consciousness and the chapters can be very hard to follow. It tells the story of the theft of a famous piece of art in Australia and how it intertwines with this artist's life. It improves as the story unfolds, but I just found myself wa More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 17, 2011

Tony rated it:

Carey, Peter. THEFT. (2006). ***. Carey, a writer from Australia, is a two-time winner of the Booker Prize (“Oscar & Lucinda,” and “The True History of the Kelly Gang.”) – the only other writer to do so being J. M. Coetze. His books are usually eminently readable and are full of wit and humor. He manages to draw his characters so perfectly that we think we know someone just like them – but wouldn’t admit it. In this novel he tells the story of two brothers: Michael “Butcher” Boone, More...

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Mar 02, 2010

Stella rated it:

Peter Carey is a very amusing Australian author who lives and teaches in New York. The best thing about him is that he always writes a completely differnt book to anything he has done before, though they always have some preposterous component and they are always funny. He is probably best knows for his Ned Kelly book but the others are also well worth reading.
Theft is set in Australia and New York. The protagonist is an artist, who takes care of his mentally-challenged brother. He fall More...

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Oct 31, 2007

Erik rated it:

This masterwork of storytelling will enthrall the most jaded reader. A once-famous artist is reduced to living as a caretaker with his mentally challenged younger brother. Their insular world is suddenly torn asunder by a mysterious woman who sets their lives on a course that could devastate them all. Carey's subversive dark humor, and uncanny gift for authentic characterization and searing emotional tension makes for an utterly engrossing tale of deception and salvation.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 21, 2011

Laura rated it:

I liked this book. The characters are all horribly flawed, even ulikeable. I don't think I'd like to share a meal and a bottle of wine with any of them (really only 3 main characters, but even the extras are sort of nasty pieces of work). But somehow I kept wanting to know where their bad choices were going to take them.

A great artist with a bad attitude (only made worse by his divorce and the resulting loss of much of his work in the property settlement) is lumbered with his mentall More...

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Oct 28, 2010

Ben rated it:

A strangely constructed book in that most of the key plot points unfold out of sight - or are related through the gauzy lens of Hugh's narration - but this approach is fitting; after all, this is a story all about forgery, deceit, and the fallability of "authenticity" in art.

What we end up with is a clever tale that we always feel just outside of. Sentence by sentence, there's nothing but quality. Carey oozes it, like a great basketball player who even on a bad shooting n More...

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May 14, 2010

Debbie rated it:

I listened to this book, just as - a few years ago - I listened to Carey"s My Life as a Fake. I think both those books are different experiences as audio books - maybe partly because I'm a U.S. midwesterner, and professional actors let me hear the intended accents.

I liked My Life as a Fake better - it was just more....I don't know.. fascinating.

I liked this book OK, and I liked the device of having two narrators tell the same story, but I never was completely suck More...

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Aug 14, 2011

Linda rated it:

This weird story of Australian artist Butcher Bones, divorced father of Billy and caretaker of his learning disabled brother, Hugh, grabbed me from the beginning. It's not my preferred genre, but the language was most engaging. I had to read carefully to determine whether Butcher or Hugh was telling the story. Although Hugh has many eccentricities, such as his habit of always carrying around a folding chair to set up for observing the world, he gets it right more often than his short-tempered More...

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Dec 19, 2008

Charlotte rated it:

I cant quite decide if I enjoyed this book or simply finished out of a sense of commitment to reach the end. The plot seemed captivating, hence why I started reading in the first place, but it was difficult to immerse myself wholly in the story. The unfamiliar landscape of Australia and constant jumps into individual trails of thought was both distracting and charming. One difficult tendency was the lack of segue between key events, often times travel and great changes were only offhandedly rema More...

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Nov 22, 2011

Becky rated it:

I absolutely loved this book! It was so nostalgic for me, as I’m currently aboard and I love the Australianness about Carey’s characters. His use of that Aussie vernacular really made the characters relatable to myself; I could picture them as being people back home.
I also loved the play between the two narrators; who was the more reliable witness to the events, who did I find more enjoyable. I loved the character of Hugh, I felt like he was the only clear headed character. Yes, he had fla More...

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Apr 22, 2011

Lindsey rated it:

I've been meaning to check out Peter Carey for a long time, and I'm glad I did. Theft is something of a caper--there's plenty of mischief, some fairly implausible plot twists, and a sleuth or two who always seem to appear out of nowhere looking for answers. But it's also a story about desperate people desiring relevance and recognition, what authorship means in a world of fakes, and Australian cultural isolation. Carey's style conveys the pleasure of whacking a watermelon with a hammer--it's tir More...

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

While it may not reach the aesthetic heights of his Booker Prize?winning novels Oscar and Lucinda and The True History of the Kelly Gang, Peter Carey's new work is no fraud. His masterful use of voice is present here in the alternating (if unreliable) narration of Michael and his brother Hugh. For all the accomplished circuitousness of his plot and "jewel-encrusted prose" (Esquire), especially that focused on the painting process, the real strength of the novel lies in the relationshi

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Jun 09, 2009

Dana rated it:

Two other Peter Carey books (Oscar and Lucinda, Illywhacker, both of which I loved) had taught me that I had to be patient in being drawn into the story, but this one tested my patience. Only because it was a gift did I keep going, and past the halfway mark I was finally pulled in by the people and events. I found it a little too vague -- people and events that seemed inconsequential appeared later (and I couldn't remember what/who they were), and there were things alluded to that I couldn't p More...

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Oct 03, 2010

Christa rated it:

I have a history of choosing fiction for the worlds they build/ideas encountered/puzzles solved and not for experiencing normal life through the eyes of the characters involved. "Literature" as such has always seemed to be less about interesting plots than muddling through a bunch of emotions causing completely illogical turns of plot in a relatively boring world (mine). Maybe I'm just getting romantic in my old age but I found the mucked up relationships between the brothers Bone and More...

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Oct 19, 2009

Cheryl rated it:

Enjoyed Carey's confident characterisations of the two narrators, which were essentially a mix of belligerence and hidden concern toward's one's sibling.

I kept thinking that Slow Bones was going to surprise us all with some revelation at the end, his tone held that tinge of menace, and that Butcher was very close to achieving recognition as an artist but they turned out to be two ordinary guys who had a bit of an adventure and we were lucky to be travelling with them.

The More...

1 comment like

Apr 18, 2011

Cynthia rated it:

Carey’s humor is transcendent in this book. It’s the story of Michael, an alcoholic nearing middle age painter who leaves the detritus of his failed marriage and some legal tussles in Australia and immigrates to New York city with his new (and ever scheming) love and his mentally challenged brother Hugh (though you find yourself continually wondering who has the largest handicap, Michael or Hugh). Most of the happenings are tragic but you find yourself laughing anyway especially reading Hugh More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 02, 2008

Ariel rated it:

I wanted to adore this book, I really did. After The Kelly Gang, I was ready to walk through fire if Peter Carey said, "Go."

Sadly, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong--it was good, it was enjoyable, and it was intriguing. Maybe I need to be a little more familiar with the art world for it to be more compelling, or maybe it was the right book at the wrong time (see how willing I am to put the blame on this one onto myself?).

I'd recomme More...

2 comments like

Aug 05, 2010

Mag rated it:

Great narration in two voices, one of an artist, once famous painter, Bill (Butcher) Bones, and the other one of his slow and crazy brother, Hugh (Slow) Bones. In the end, one didn’t prove crazier than the other; I liked them both too, and the whole book with its plot, tempo and the subject matter- art, artists, art dealers, love, swindles, and how art is assessed. It sucked me right in and didn’t relent until the very end. It’s very well written, ironic, intelligent, informative, facetious and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 23, 2010

Nena rated it:

Carey's books can be compared to Queen's songs. They are always completly different from one another, but still they hold the same signature, the same soul. In this instance, two very distinct brothers narrate this crazy story and you always know immediately whose turn it is to give you their perspective of things. They tell an amazing tale: funny and deeply sad, full of rage but most of all about love. Even the love people pretend not to feel, the love they try to deny themselves. Coarsely chop More...

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Jan 03, 2009

Berty rated it:

A really interesting book, but one I probably would never have picked up myself. It has a switching 1st person POV from 2 brothers, one an artist and one with a learning disability. Their opposing views of the events - both vehement, bold and blunt - give great depth of understanding and add a human touch to what would otherwise be a bleak tale. The character building was subtle and intimate, and left you with an insight into the brothers lives and their interdependence that was both sad and str More...

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Sep 17, 2011

Erin rated it:

The story starts with an intriguingly damaged main character: an artist who is in dire straits, financially and emotionally after a divorce. He holes up in a friend’s country house to paint and takes his developmentally disabled brother with him. The audiobook performer narrates as the artist, Michael, his brother, Hugh, and as someone called “the Butcher.” This character was sort of an amalgam of the artist’s father and his own artistic temperament/id. The passages by the Butcher and by Hugh sh More...

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Jul 02, 2011

Arianna rated it:

I wish I could remember where I first heard of this book, years ago. (I believe it was a very positive review in some paper or on some website.) I promptly added it to my PaperbackSwap queue and was rewarded with it after much patience. Since then, I’ve been excited to get around to it. But it’s been quite disappointing, despite calling to mind elements of Palahniuk, Faulkner, and Steinbeck.

Pahalniuk because of the “edgy” writing, modern speaking voice, and general feel of disdain More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 17, 2009

James rated it:

Remember J. P. Donleavy? The Ginger Man? I remembered Donleavy about p200 of Theft. Peter Carey's prose isn't quite so verbally manic. But this novel is joyously written and full of energy. Those qualities reminded me of Donleavy. I thought it very well-written. Fun to read. Fun to return to every day. This novel did something few novels can do: it made me laugh out loud. Yet it's also serious. The plot of Theft is essentially an art theft caper. That in itself isn't exciting, thoug More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 24, 2008

Susan rated it:

Michael Boone, alias Butcher Bones, is a once celebrated Australian artist who’s just got out of jail for various crimes that resulted from his divorce and what he sees as the appropriation of his work as marital property. His reputation is in the toilet and he’s broke. His only benefactor, a collector named Jean-Paul, provides a rundown rural house in the far north of New South Wales and, there being no alternative, Michael and his retarded brother Hugh (for whom he’s legal guardian) light out More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 15, 2008

Emilyfn rated it:

If you want a vivid picture of the dark side of the international art world, very well written, read this; otherwise, go to the museum and meditate on some true art. Overall, I found this read gratuitously obscene; however, the author is a Booker Prize winner, and it was my book club selection, so I persisted and finished it. It is told from the alternating perspectives of two brothers, Michael, a famous painter, who has fallen from fame, divorced, (he refers to his former wife as the “Plainti More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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