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reachant's review against another edition
3.0
I'm being somewhat generous giving BLISS 3 stars, it is more like 2.5. At one point I was ready to just ditch it I was so bored, but I persisted and it did pick up. So, fellow readers, take the writing as beautiful but the story as a bit tedious.
peter_fischer's review against another edition
5.0
I still remember vividly reading this shocking book when it first came out in 1981, but have been a fan of Carey’s ever since. It describes hell on earth in the form of a comic fable and almost every human vice is included. This book is now deservedly an Australian modern classic and has been adapted for film and even opera (!).
ichirofakename's review against another edition
3.0
A pretty good Carey, reminds me a bit of John Irving (a good thing). Australian hippie commune vs. the ad industry.
kellyxmen's review against another edition
2.0
Can someone tell me what the purpose of this book was? What message was meant to be conveyed?
The first half was funny and then it just sort of went on and on.
The first half was funny and then it just sort of went on and on.
mazza57's review against another edition
1.0
well i thought i was going to enjoy this certainly the first section was imaginative and well written but from there it all went to hell along with the main character. It was torturous and essentially meaningless and towards the end it was a real struggle not to put it down
jgwc54e5's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favourite books of all time. Brilliant characters, so funny and brilliant satire about modern society.
balloyd92's review against another edition
3.0
Peter Carey, probably: "You know what would be really cool to include in every novel ever? Incest. And sexual coercion. Not even as a plot point, just sprinkled in there like hundreds and thousands on fairy bread. Don't worry, it's casual, totally normal stuff. Just a brother and a sister having sex. No big deal."
There were moments of good writing, but ultimately, the children's storyline just detracts from the book as a whole and makes it very, very hard to read at times.
There were moments of good writing, but ultimately, the children's storyline just detracts from the book as a whole and makes it very, very hard to read at times.
jatridle's review against another edition
3.0
A lot of great language. Peter Carey is amazing at describing human beings in this book. He intentionally chose a unexceptional group of characters to follow in this book. They were okay people, not great, not terrible. I think that aspect is what made this book a slog for me to read. But it is also part of what the book is about. Creative plot with a lot of nice writing, but I had to fight my way through it. Took me forever to read.
edgeworth's review against another edition
2.0
Peter Carey is one of the greatest living novelists, widely tipped to become both Australia’s next Nobel prize winner for literature and the first man to win three Booker prizes. In 2010 I read his second Booker-prize winner, True History of the Kelly Gang, and found it to be a good book that only grew stronger in my memory. So it seems like a good idea to read his entire canon.
Bliss is his first novel, following the unfortunate circumstances of Harry Joy, who has a heart attack one day and dies for nine minutes before being resuscitated. He comes back to find that his wife is cheating on him, his son is selling drugs and his advertising company has for years been promoting carcinogens. He believes himself to literally be in hell.
There’s a strange, semi-dreamlike feeling hanging over much of Bliss, as though you’re reading it through a clouded pane of glass. This is a stylistic choice; apparently many of Carey’s early works have an essence of magical realism to them. Certainly, Carey seems to draw inspiration from Borges and Marquez; South America is often mentioned, and the novel takes place in an unspecified tropical land which is probably Queensland, the prose thick with frangipani and jacarandas and banana trees.
I guess it’s a decent book. It’s the kind of novel that’s difficult to review, because I personally found it boring yet I know it’s objectively good. I still want to read more of Carey, and I own his next book, Illywhacker, but I may skip past that and read his Booker-winning Oscar and Lucinda or the intriguing Jack Maggs.
Bliss is his first novel, following the unfortunate circumstances of Harry Joy, who has a heart attack one day and dies for nine minutes before being resuscitated. He comes back to find that his wife is cheating on him, his son is selling drugs and his advertising company has for years been promoting carcinogens. He believes himself to literally be in hell.
There’s a strange, semi-dreamlike feeling hanging over much of Bliss, as though you’re reading it through a clouded pane of glass. This is a stylistic choice; apparently many of Carey’s early works have an essence of magical realism to them. Certainly, Carey seems to draw inspiration from Borges and Marquez; South America is often mentioned, and the novel takes place in an unspecified tropical land which is probably Queensland, the prose thick with frangipani and jacarandas and banana trees.
I guess it’s a decent book. It’s the kind of novel that’s difficult to review, because I personally found it boring yet I know it’s objectively good. I still want to read more of Carey, and I own his next book, Illywhacker, but I may skip past that and read his Booker-winning Oscar and Lucinda or the intriguing Jack Maggs.