Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Theft: A Love Story

3.39 of 5 stars 3.39 · rating details · 1,704 ratings · 241 reviews

Michael "Butcher" Boone is an ex-“really famous" painter, now reduced to living in a remote country house and acting as caretaker for his younger brother, Hugh. Alone together they've forged a delicate equilibrium, a balance instantly destroyed when a mysterious young woman named Marlene walks out of a rainstorm and into their lives. Beautiful, smart, and ambitious, she's...more

Hardcover, 272 pages

Published May 9th 2006 by Knopf (first published 2006)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Books of 2006

106th out of 381 books — 441 voters

Art Fraud And Theft

13th out of 87 books — 22 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 2,975)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Oct 03, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: australia-nz, f2f-book-group-reads

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

like 11 likes · see review

Apr 19, 2009 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009

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 infamous "Ern Malley" literary hoax of the...more

like 6 likes · see review

Sep 18, 2007 Robert W rated it 4 of 5 stars

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, but places a...more 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, but places a high premium on authenticity. So many crimes are crimes of falsified authenticity—forgery being the best known, but deliberate misattribution, misdating, and so on are probably more common. Theft deals with forgery, misattribution, and misdating, and uses the authenticity endowing concept of droit morale as the mechanism.

Butcher Bones (actually Michael Boone) is an Australian painter who had his day in the sun in the early 70s, spent time in prison for trying to steal his own artwork from his recently divorced wife, and by 1981 is living with his retarded brother Hugh (“Slow Bones”) at the vacation house of a former patron. He is painting very high quality works when he meets Marlene Liebowitz, the daughter-in-law of a great cubist painter, Jacques Liebowitz. Her husband has no interest in art, but does have droit morale—he can authenticate Liebowitz paintings. So her deal is to find questionable works (particularly ones that Liebowitz started, abandoned, and then were later finished by his scheming wife) and, usually working with a dealer or collector or some other partner, get Olivier, her husband, to officially authenticate them.

Butcher is somewhat appalled by this, but he sees all collectors and dealers as immoral scum anyway. He and Marlene start an affair, and Marlene uses him in her complex scheme to get a Liebowitz out of the country to Japan, thence to New York. Part of her plan is to establish provenance—a key aspect of authentication. If you can track where the painting has been since the painter created it, then you have the real thing.

Her plan is so complex and worth so much money, that part of it requires a Japanese collector to buy Butcher’s entire new show for $200,000. In other words, the potential profit of the scam is so great that $200,000 is a small capital expense in comparison.

In New York, Butcher hatches his own plan to forge a Liebowitz—partly for the challenge of doing so. But Olivier is no longer cooperating with his faithless wife, and she murders him (or so it is implied). Suddenly the game of art crime, which Butcher played along with because it seemed a way to revenge himself on the art world, was too much.

One out of three is a start. What can I say—this was a thoroughly entertaining book. The characters were deeply unpleasant and yet fascinating. Carey has some fun with the idea of people who have the eye for great art and those who don’t—Butcher, Hugh, and Marlene all do. (When Butcher intentionally paints a bad painting, Hugh can’t understand why.) The point being made is that “the eye” has nothing to do with intelligence or morality. Perhaps the bigger point is that art itself has nothing to do with these qualities. I embraced this sort of belief when I was younger because I thought it was cool. I still believe this, but I don’t comfortably embrace the idea of the artist who is beyond morality. On the contrary, I wince with guilt when I learn that an artist whose work I love turns out to have been a rotten sort of fellow.(less)

like 4 likes · see review

Oct 07, 2011 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: man-booker, australia

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 confused as usual....more

like 2 likes · see review

Apr 26, 2007 Johnathan rated it 5 of 5 stars

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

like 3 likes · see review

Apr 10, 2008 Rachel rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: bookclub

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

like 6 likes · see review

Feb 11, 2013 Dot rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dot-s-booklist-2013

I think that if there were an award for the greatest number of times the F word and it's derivations are used in a book...this novel would definitely win. Readers who shrink from such language are advised to give this book a miss but, given the personalities of the main characters, it does not seem out of place here and is merely the idiom that they use.

The book is about art forgery but is set in Australia where Michael Boone is struggling to survive and to care for his younger disabled brother....more

like · see review

Jan 19, 2013 Sandie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-books, contemporary-lit, romance, brit-lit

Take a little bit of the movie Dominick & Eugene, plus a pinch of Of Mice and Men, throw in a dash of Les Miserables add a magnificent high-stakes art theft, murder and an international crime investigation and you get just a tip of the magnificent iceberg called THEFT: A LOVE STORY. This is the story of individual identity that explores the relationship between Michael "Butcher" Boone, a has-been Australian artist just released from the slammer and his mentally impaired two hundred twenty po...more Take a little bit of the movie Dominick & Eugene, plus a pinch of Of Mice and Men, throw in a dash of Les Miserables add a magnificent high-stakes art theft, murder and an international crime investigation and you get just a tip of the magnificent iceberg called THEFT: A LOVE STORY. This is the story of individual identity that explores the relationship between Michael "Butcher" Boone, a has-been Australian artist just released from the slammer and his mentally impaired two hundred twenty pound brother, Hugh.

The story unfolds in alternating chapters related by the two brothers, each offering their point of view - one wildly ranting and pretentious and the other achingly literal. Similar in theme to another book I read recently called THE ART FORGER it examines the very nature of art, its validity and valuation. With descriptive writing oozing from its pages, THEFT is filled with language that is grousing, earthy and crude as it amusingly addresses items as mundane as farting and bad breath, plus an assortment of other "stinky" items while in reality painting its story on a much large canvas. What appears at the outset to be just another run of the mill story of zealous but washed-up artist falling for a femme-fatale art appraiser/valuator is in reality a good hard look at the "fashion" of art, of what's in, what's out, and what's saleable in the art world, while addressing the question of why the theft of a piece of art can suddenly increase its value. Ultimately, it seems that the value of any piece of art is whatever the consumer is willing to pay for it and that self-invention is the order of the day.

This is my first venture into Peter Carey country and I was pleasantly surprised. With THEFT, however, there are just too many layers for a reviewer to do it justice in a few meager paragraphs. I do believe that he is one of those authors that that offers no middle ground. One either loves his work or hates it. Guess you will just have to check it out for yourself to determine if you fall into the Love it or Hate it category. (less)

like · see review

Mar 17, 2011 Tony rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-mainstream

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, and his y...more

like 1 like · see review

Mar 02, 2010 Stella rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 falls in love...more

like · see review

Jun 21, 2011 Laura Rittenhouse rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 mentally handicappe...more

like · see review

Mar 06, 2013 Corey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was very excited to read my first Peter Carey novel since I have been wondering what all the hype was about for quite some time. Having now read Theft, I think perhaps I should have read one of the others first. The book was extremely well-written and funny, as I expected. Unfortunately, I am not sufficiently interested in the world of modern or fine art and I could not connect with the characters, so the book dragged hopelessly. This is not a good sign. I have read plenty of books about subje...more I was very excited to read my first Peter Carey novel since I have been wondering what all the hype was about for quite some time. Having now read Theft, I think perhaps I should have read one of the others first. The book was extremely well-written and funny, as I expected. Unfortunately, I am not sufficiently interested in the world of modern or fine art and I could not connect with the characters, so the book dragged hopelessly. This is not a good sign. I have read plenty of books about subjects which I find mind-numbingly boring which still managed to keep me engaged and interested to the end (eh hmmm… Catherine Alliott books about the cosmetics industry)… and Theft was shorter than many of these silly books. But that’s fine because not every book can be Booker prize material. I still want to read others by Peter Carey because I can see how his style would really work for me in a different book on a different subject.

To me, there were two parallel narratives going on in this book and they were not sufficiently tied in with one another to justify having them both in the same book. The main character, Butcher Bones, was a formerly very famous Australian painter. In the narrative, his work is considered out-dated, so he struggles to sell his art while going through a painful and costly divorce, basically leaving him broke and at the mercy of all sorts of pretentious art people. One of these people is a woman with whom he falls in love, and who draws him into some shady art deals. He is not a victim, though. He chooses to participate in the shady underside of the art industry as a result of his destitution coinciding with a “fuck-it” realization that the art world is inherently corrupt anyway. If his life does not suck enough already, Butcher Bones is also saddled with caring for his adult, mentally deficient brother, Slow Bones, who narrates every other chapter. To me, the Slow Bones part of the book really detracted from the overall narrative. It was distracting and unrelated. Slow Bones was present for some of the larger events that occurred in the book, but for others he was stuck at home doing his own thing and was very peripheral to the central narrative. The lives of both brothers read like watching a train-wreck about to happen. One train wreck would have been enough.
(less)

like · see review

Oct 28, 2010 Ben Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 night gets his 25 points...more

like · see review

May 14, 2010 Debbie rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 sucked in, mystified or amazed. I...more

like · see review

Aug 14, 2011 Linda Harkins rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 ge...more

like · see review

Dec 19, 2008 Charlotte rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 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 remarked upon in Hugh’s poetic ramblings.

The story is narrated by two brothers, Michael “Butcher” Boone and Hugh “Slow Bones” Boone. Michael is a bitter, lone-wolf type character who was formally a famous oil-painter. He recently experienced a traumatic divorce and separation from his wife and son and has since become the caretaker of his brother, Hugh. Hugh is mentally challenged with an unspecified illness, although he is immature in many ways, he is also very clever and a keen observer. In Hugh’s passages, the author created a very convincing approach to stream of consciousness; he is poetic and frightfully honest and confusing all at once. Butcher and Slow Bones are last of their immediate family and are isolated as such. Although they are not discussed in great detail, their mother and father are recalled often and with casual reflection that touches on deeper memories and themes which weave throughout the book.

Overall, the story managed to feel uneventful despite the outrageous sequence of events brought on by the arrival of a third character, Marlene. The plot took a backseat to the narration of the tale, as the three main characters matured as both individuals and in their mutual understanding of one another. Together they became entwined in a great adventure spanning multiple continents, a great scandal and the theft of a famous artwork. The conclusion to the tale was disappointing. I wanted to understanding what exactly had happened but didn’t feel the itch for more – that feeling of dread when a great books ends and you wished to live in the world for just a bit longer - that was not a feeling I shared with this particular novel.
(less)

like · see review

Nov 22, 2011 Becky Gill rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 flaws, b...more

like · see review

Nov 20, 2012 Anne Charnock rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: art-in-novels

Peter Carey delves into the murky world of art authentication committees telling a believable tale of corruption among commercial art dealers. He brings together three strong characters: Australian expressionistic painter Michael, struggling to find recognition outside his home country; Hugh, his brother who has learning difficulties; and Marlene who is ruthless in wielding her power to authenticate paintings by the deceased artist Jacques Leibovitz. Michael is a rather outmoded artist – torture...more

like · see review

Feb 28, 2012 Daniel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey has a command of the language that is beautiful in its simplicity. Just as three primary colors can make up the universe's sumptuous palette, so too does Carey's uncluttered prose create a world so detailed and rich that you might re-read some passages just to wonder how the man did it. The words are there, naked and innocent, but Carey's talent is locked somewhere behind them.

In "Theft," Carey tells the story of two brothers. Michael Boone is an artist w...more Two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey has a command of the language that is beautiful in its simplicity. Just as three primary colors can make up the universe's sumptuous palette, so too does Carey's uncluttered prose create a world so detailed and rich that you might re-read some passages just to wonder how the man did it. The words are there, naked and innocent, but Carey's talent is locked somewhere behind them.

In "Theft," Carey tells the story of two brothers. Michael Boone is an artist who has just been released from jail, where he was held for trying to steal his own art from his ex-wife. Hugh Boone is mentally-disabled, a looming child of a man who enjoys a good chair, a good chicken sandwich, and a children's book called "The Magic Pudding." Michael, fresh from his incarceration, has discovered that he is no longer "in," his fame has fled, and he is now reduced to playing caretaker for his not-so-simple sibling.

"Theft" claims to be a love story, and it is on several levels, but it's hard to say which level actually works. Certainly Michael is a man in love with himself as much as with his art (and at a loss to distinguish between the two). And there's a good chance he loves his brother, although there's not much evidence of that, other than his dogged (often resentful) dedication to the lumbering man-boy. Perhaps he loves Marlene.

Marlene is an authenticator of paintings, specifically those by the late Jacques Liebovitz, one of Michael's profoundest influences. She strides into Michael's life, wet, harried and wearing three-inch Manolo Blahnik heels, and she trails with her not just rainwater and mud, but also a mystery involving a missing painting, a murder, and the possibly fradulent work of Jacques Liebovitz. She's a beautiful woman, a complex and fragile work of art herself, so it's no wonder why Michael falls moronically in love with her.

Less clear is why she would fall for Michael. Maybe that's the point. In spite of the book's lucidity (and its even, measured tone) much remains muddied, like a priceless canvas that is in want of careful cleaning. The story is told from both brother's perspectives, although the narrative leaps don't happen with any kind of discernable regularity. Hugh's voice makes it easy to see why he is at odds with a world that pretends to be sane. Still, in spite of the gaps and flaws in the poor man's mind, he's eloquent enough to seem at least as coherent as Michael, if not quite as grounded. These are mostly worthless descriptions, anyway. Carey seems to be suggesting that artists, at heart, aren't that different from self-absorbed mental defectives.

That sounds harsher than the novel is. Carey mingles technical details and slick cityscapes with loving precision, and although no character in the book could be called likeable per se, they all certainly seem real enough. It's this unswerving reality that makes it hardest to like the novel, which ends with a poignance that is deserved but somehow dull. Carey's artwork is beautiful, but it feels unfinished, unframed, and lacking the last, finishing touches. His technique is flawless, but the overall effect lacks clarity. Come for all the fantastic colors, but try not to stare too long at the big picture. It's not nearly as wonderful as the brushstrokes it's made of.(less)

like · see review

Apr 22, 2011 Lindsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

like · see review

Feb 12, 2013 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

The voice of Michael "Butcher Bones" Boone, the central character & principal narrator, is wonderfully compelling, notably including his fierce insights re art-making. I was steered to this book from a Crime Fiction site, which skewed my expectations: It's emphatically a novel > mystery; the suspense comes more from brilliant, obsessive, eccentric characters in conflict than from the plot. Although full of action, the book's pace is encumbered by alternating narrators: Butcher & his a...more

like · see review

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 relationship between

...more

like · see review

Jun 09, 2009 Dana rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 put...more

like · see review

May 15, 2013 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the first Peter Carey book I have read. I enjoyed it immensely. I just love his style of writing and cannot wait to read another of his books. It had everything for me. There are plenty of reviews which outline the plot and the characters - so rather than repeat all this i will just say it was it was one of those books I was sad to finish! It has great humour, love, wit as well as a magical insight into the art world. An added bonus for me was being reminded of beautiful Sydney - where s...more

like · see review

Oct 19, 2009 Cheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australia

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 author did his research...more

like · see review

Apr 18, 2011 Cynthia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

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’s t...more

like 5 likes · see review

Jan 05, 2013 Catherine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing

Taken straight up to bed on the day it arrived and not put down until I finished: it certainly lived up to my expectations!

Hugh was definitely the most sympathetic character (and I loved his capitalised thoughts, surely more eloquent than those he expressed) but, in spite of his bluster, Butcher garnered my sympathy and even Marlene redeemed herself at the very end. I appreciated the way the depth of the relationship of the brothers was gradually revealed in parallel with the true nature of Marl...more

like · see review

May 08, 2013 Stella Bastone rated it 4 of 5 stars

Laugh-out-loud tragedy. Love it.

I'm still only a third of the way through (in a rush to try out this site as social networking tool for work), but so far I've broken into out-loud laughter several times--and one fleeting little sob too. What makes this story compelling is the contrast between the alternating narrators' take on events; the impatience of the primary narrator, the painter, is especially poignant (and hilarious) in contrast to the perspective of his "damaged" (autistic?) and equally...more

like · see review

Dec 02, 2008 Ariel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Lit Crit's who don't mind average prose.

Shelves: contemp-lit, highlights

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 recommend you read it if you enjoy his ot...more

like · see review

Feb 12, 2013 Joni Cornell rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-contemporary

The narrative unfolds through the eyes of ‘Butcher’ Bones and his idiot-savant brother ‘Slow’ Bones. Butcher is an Australian painter who’s fallen out of style by the early 1980s, and has been banished to a country town, where one rainy night he encounters Marlene. Lost, she alights from her car carrying her Blahniks, and announces to him that his neighbor has an original painting by Jacques Leibovitz, co-incidentally a painting which was seminal in Butcher’s own development as a painter. Soon a...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
What happened to Hugh?	1	8	Apr 30, 2012 06:56am

combine
Other Editions (26)

More editions...

Genres

Cultural > Australia

18 users

Art

11 users

Contemporary

9 users

Literary Fiction

8 users

Literature

8 users

Novels

7 users

Romance

6 users

Mystery

3 users

Book Club

2 users

Humor

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Remembering Babylon
by David Malouf
Death of a River Guide
by Richard Flanagan
Get a Life
by Nadine Gordimer
Dirt Music
by Tim Winton
Eucalyptus
by Murray Bail

About Peter Carey

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Peter Carey was born in Australia in 1943.

He was educated at the local state school until the age of eleven and then became a boarder at Geelong Grammar School. He was a student there between 1954 and 1960 — after Rupert Murdoch had graduated and before Prince Charles arriv...more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Peter Carey was born in Australia in 1943.

He was educated at the local state school until the age of eleven and then became a boarder at Geelong Grammar School. He was a student there between 1954 and 1960 — after Rupert Murdoch had graduated and before Prince Charles arrived.

In 1961 he studied science for a single unsuccessful year at Monash University. He was then employed by an advertising agency where he began to receive his literary education, meeting Faulkner, Joyce, Kerouac and other writers he had previously been unaware of. He was nineteen.

For the next thirteen years he wrote fiction at night and weekends, working in many advertising agencies in Melbourne, London and Sydney.

After four novels had been written and rejected The Fat Man in History — a short story collection — was published in 1974. This slim book made him an overnight success.

From 1976 Carey worked one week a month for Grey Advertising, then, in 1981 he established a small business where his generous partner required him to work only two afternoons a week. Thus between 1976 and 1990, he was able to pursue literature obsessively. It was during this period that he wrote War Crimes, Bliss, Illywhacker, Oscar and Lucinda. Illywhacker was short listed for the Booker Prize. Oscar and Lucinda won it. Uncomfortable with this success he began work on The Tax Inspector.

In 1990 he moved to New York where he completed The Tax Inspector. He taught at NYU one night a week. Later he would have similar jobs at Princeton, The New School and Barnard College. During these years he wrote The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, Jack Maggs, and True History of the Kelly Gang for which he won his second Booker Prize.

He collaborated on the screenplay of the film Until the End of the World with Wim Wenders.

In 2003 he joined Hunter College as the Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing. In the years since he has written My Life as a Fake, Theft, His Illegal Self and Parrot and Oliver in America (shortlisted for 2010 Man Booker Prize).
(less)

More about Peter Carey...

Books by Peter Carey

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Theft: A Love Story

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Theft: A Love Story

“About her husband, i did actually enquire, but she held her private life so fucking tightly, like a tourist clutching a handbag on the A train,..” — 2 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Theft: A Love Story
avg rating	preview: Theft: A Love Story Goodreads rating: 3.39 (1704 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40215.Theft?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1169432514l/40215.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40215.Theft?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey[/url]

Theft: A Love Story

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website