Scan barcode
beastreader's review against another edition
1.0
I have been seeing this book make its way around the internet for a while. I was very excited to read this book. So you can imagine my excitement when I got my hands on a copy of this book. Ok, so I can see a slight glimmer of hope that this book could be but it was very brief and thus this book turned out to be a big disappointment to me.
I really tried to like this book and give it a chance but that chance kept getting smaller and smaller. There was no drama/action that took place in the first fourteen chapters that I read. Even though the set up for the story was good. None of the characters had any life to them. They were just one dimensional. They did not draw me in. In fact as I kept read this story, I was falling asleep. Too much talking and not enough action. I needed some hardy meat to chew on to make this story good.
I really tried to like this book and give it a chance but that chance kept getting smaller and smaller. There was no drama/action that took place in the first fourteen chapters that I read. Even though the set up for the story was good. None of the characters had any life to them. They were just one dimensional. They did not draw me in. In fact as I kept read this story, I was falling asleep. Too much talking and not enough action. I needed some hardy meat to chew on to make this story good.
essjay1's review against another edition
2.0
This book is really a thinly veiled parody of the corruption and failings of government, and I liked that however I found it way too long - even though it was quite lovely listening to Colin Friels.
kcfromaustcrime's review against another edition
1.0
The blurb on the back of AMNESIA reads exactly like that of a really good thriller. A threat that unleashes something frightening in the world, and the battle to find the perpetrator.
Which seemed, by the end of the book, to be written for another AMNESIA, somewhere in a parallel universe. One where the book we were reading actually addressed the major plot elements, rather than immediately meandering off into something or other about an ex-journalist / ghost writer who had a bit of a hump up with the world who ... something.
It's certainly possible to see what Carey was trying to do here. There's obviously an attempt at humour and lashings of irony. A bored observation of the boring concept of boring threats instigated by the world's biggest baddie. Or at least that's a best guess.
Which would be perfectly fair enough. It's not like the concept of political interference and corruption, cyber-threats and big-power lording it over supposed allies is new fare in the world of thrillers. There is a reasonable argument to be had about it being done to death. The difference is that in most of that style of book that this reader has read, the actual threats, the players, and the consequences are explored, analysed and frequently even explained.
In the case of AMNESIA it doesn't feel like any of that is even attempted. Added to that was a rather predictable pattern of "left and right" Australian political thought, yet another "perspective" on the 1975 Dismissal and, alas, a somewhat stunning lack of technical validity for the whole worm infection in the first place.
Add to that a tendency to pastiche the Australian-ness of the setting, and AMNESIA rapidly lurched into something that seemed more like a self-involved, navel gazing, rights of passage for some drunken old journo than anything like a thriller.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-amnesia-peter-carey
Which seemed, by the end of the book, to be written for another AMNESIA, somewhere in a parallel universe. One where the book we were reading actually addressed the major plot elements, rather than immediately meandering off into something or other about an ex-journalist / ghost writer who had a bit of a hump up with the world who ... something.
It's certainly possible to see what Carey was trying to do here. There's obviously an attempt at humour and lashings of irony. A bored observation of the boring concept of boring threats instigated by the world's biggest baddie. Or at least that's a best guess.
Which would be perfectly fair enough. It's not like the concept of political interference and corruption, cyber-threats and big-power lording it over supposed allies is new fare in the world of thrillers. There is a reasonable argument to be had about it being done to death. The difference is that in most of that style of book that this reader has read, the actual threats, the players, and the consequences are explored, analysed and frequently even explained.
In the case of AMNESIA it doesn't feel like any of that is even attempted. Added to that was a rather predictable pattern of "left and right" Australian political thought, yet another "perspective" on the 1975 Dismissal and, alas, a somewhat stunning lack of technical validity for the whole worm infection in the first place.
Add to that a tendency to pastiche the Australian-ness of the setting, and AMNESIA rapidly lurched into something that seemed more like a self-involved, navel gazing, rights of passage for some drunken old journo than anything like a thriller.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-amnesia-peter-carey
ineffablebooks's review against another edition
1.0
I expected this to be a fast paced cyber-thriller, and it turned out to be nothing like it at all. The second half was confusing and left me disconnected and uninterested - maybe that's why it's called Amnesia.
bookherd's review against another edition
2.0
Disappointing. Peter Carey has written some of my favorite novels ever (Oscar and Lucinda, The True History of the Kelly Gang), but this one seems like it is not fully formed. The synopsis sounds good: mysterious woman unleashes a computer virus which open up prisons in both Australia and the US. Discredited journalist is brought in by a friend connected to the hacker to interview her and write her story. People turn out not to be what they seem and a journalistic cyber thriller ensues. Lots of the connecting parts are engaging and well told, but they don't connect very well into a cohesive whole. I have a pretty good idea of what happened, plot-wise, but certain parts of the storyline which seemed significant frustratingly don't amount to much. Point of view shifts at odd times, so I was occasionally confused about who the narrator was. A major focal point of the story is a 1975 coup-like political action that Americans pulled on the Australian government, which obviously has reverberations into the future and plays a part in the hacker's motivations--but although the significance of that political action is clear, it's not clear how it fits into the main action of the story. So, this book is messy.
Bright spots: Funny dialogue between the discredited journalist Felix Moore and his frenemy Woody Townes. The dramatic story of Celine's mother and how Celine came to be. The love story between Gaby and Frederic.
Bright spots: Funny dialogue between the discredited journalist Felix Moore and his frenemy Woody Townes. The dramatic story of Celine's mother and how Celine came to be. The love story between Gaby and Frederic.
duncan99's review against another edition
3.0
Hard work, had lots of potential but the literary device of deliberately trying to confuse the reader and over show off research spoilt my enjoyment of it. Maybe the author's passion for the politics made the experience less rewarding than normal
cathylpowell's review against another edition
3.0
This is the first Peter Carey book that I have read. I must admit that I found the plot rather confusing. Having said that though Carey's prose is rather amazing and I was certainly willing to persist with this book in order to finish it and see what happened in the end.
oneeye's review against another edition
4.0
This turned out to be a far different book than the blurb on the cover promised. It's a story about Australia's 1975 "constitutional crisis," environmental activism, and Australian politics. That said, I liked more than the other Carey books I've struggled with in the past. I found its odd narrative compelling from the first pages.
jmatkinson1's review
3.0
Felix is a polemic left-wing journalist who has just lost a trial for defamation and his career is in tatters. Woody is a multi-millionaire friend with suspect motives who commissions Felix to write the story of Gaby, a member of a hacker collective that has infiltrated the Australian and American prison systems. Gaby's mother is Celine, an actress who is a old friend of Felix. Starting with the arrival of American troops on Australian soil during the second world war, the book looks at the underbelly of the relationships between the two nations and also the power of cybercrime.
The first half of this book was really enjoyable, it skipped along paralleling the stories in the present day and backstory of Gaby. However about halfway through it started to get a little bogged down in detail and so did I. Some of Carey's work is lucid, most is complex and some impenetrable, this novel encompasses all three - the best and worst of Peter Carey. It is an ambitious premise but between the complex plot and the complicated writing I got lost.
The first half of this book was really enjoyable, it skipped along paralleling the stories in the present day and backstory of Gaby. However about halfway through it started to get a little bogged down in detail and so did I. Some of Carey's work is lucid, most is complex and some impenetrable, this novel encompasses all three - the best and worst of Peter Carey. It is an ambitious premise but between the complex plot and the complicated writing I got lost.