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bekahpaige's review against another edition
3.0
This novel is a hot mess. I was first introduced to [a:Peter Carey|22595|Peter Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1334883386p2/22595.jpg] via [b:True History of the Kelly Gang|110090|True History of the Kelly Gang|Peter Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1427614607s/110090.jpg|2134852] in an Australian Literature class when I studied abroad at the University of Queensland. That is a 5-star book for me. Carey writes wonderfully, with clear fresh prose and characters that effortlessly come to life. The genius of "True History" is in the fact that Carey fabricates all of these source documents as if it is a truly historical piece, rather than a piece of fiction. The end result asks the reader to question what is "history", really, besides a fictional narrative written by people far removed from both the time and the culture, even if we desperately want to view it as "fact"? Can we ever know the "true history" of a person who has become a legend in Australia and over time? Who writes the true history of a dead person? Who gets to control the story for future generations?
This novel starts in a similar vein and we get very interesting introductions to parts of Australian history and its relationship with the US during WWII that I have never heard about in my life, neither as an American or my time spent studying abroad in Australia. With Carey you never know what is historical, based on the truth, or pure fiction, so I was excited to find out that the Battle of Brisbane, the Brownout Strangler, and the coup of 1975 were actual historical events that I have never heard about. Part One of this novel is fantastic.
Part Two I do not understand. It morphs into a long tedious tale of a narrator listening and writing a narration of events recorded from first person accounts into a tape recorder by a mother and daughter. The detail is staggeringly tedious and the characters are not interesting. I lost interest in the mystery and the story completely and ended up feeling dissatisfied by the end.
This novel starts in a similar vein and we get very interesting introductions to parts of Australian history and its relationship with the US during WWII that I have never heard about in my life, neither as an American or my time spent studying abroad in Australia. With Carey you never know what is historical, based on the truth, or pure fiction, so I was excited to find out that the Battle of Brisbane, the Brownout Strangler, and the coup of 1975 were actual historical events that I have never heard about. Part One of this novel is fantastic.
Part Two I do not understand. It morphs into a long tedious tale of a narrator listening and writing a narration of events recorded from first person accounts into a tape recorder by a mother and daughter. The detail is staggeringly tedious and the characters are not interesting. I lost interest in the mystery and the story completely and ended up feeling dissatisfied by the end.
skadinova's review against another edition
1.0
I'm listening to the audiobook and it's hard to tell whether I dislike this book because of the way it's being read or whether I just dislike it. Most likely a mixture of both. I seem to have a love/hate relationship with Peter Carey's books...mostly I absolutely love them and I was hoping this would be one of them. I am finding the plot confusing, the characters very underdeveloped and very unappealing. Unappealing can be interesting but not when there's no depth. I am still waiting for the storyline described in the blurb to appear. I don't know if I can finish this book, it might end up on the pile with Parrot & Olivier in America and The True History of the Kelly Gang.
scatterbooker's review against another edition
4.0
I received my copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amnesia by Peter Carey was not quite what I expected from the blurb, it was so much better. Rather than simply telling us the story of how an Australian hacker ‘Fallen Angel’/Gaby Baillieux hacked Australian prison systems to release detainees, Carey delves deep into Gaby’s and Australia’s political history to explain why a girl from Melbourne would decide to become a ‘hacktivist’ in the first place. The premise of the novel and inspiration for the name comes from the idea that America has at times been a bit of a bully towards Australia and Australians seem to just forget about it.
Gaby is accused of infiltrating the Australian prison system to release immigrants who have been detained in Australia which also inadvertently affects many American systems. The American government sees this as an act of terror and immediately demands that Gaby is extradited to face terrorism charges there. Peter Carey says that he drew inspiration for Amnesia from the Julian Assange case when he discovered that Assange’s mother was a Labor supporter (lefty) in Australia during the 70’s and began pondering the implications that this might have had on his political motivations. Read the interview in The Australian here.
Amnesia is told through the eyes of Felix Moore, a journalist and long time Labor supporter, who has recently been disgraced for falsifying stories. His career is effectively over and his marriage is on the rocks when he is offered the opportunity to write Gaby’s biography in an attempt to proclaim her innocence.
Gaby is the child of an actress and a Labor minister. During her teen years she is exposed to some very radical Labor followers and falls in love with a hacker who teaches her all of his tricks. This combination means that she is almost destined to become a political activist.
Carey discusses real historical events to describe the ongoing relationship between Australia and America, particularly the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in 1975 by the Governor General. The history books provide a number of factors that contributed to Whitlam’s dismissal, but in Amnesia, Carey claims that the CIA was behind it due to Whitlam attempting to take control of ASIO (Australia’s version of the CIA) and threatening to cease the agreement for the American army base at Pine Gap.
I’m not too sure on my thoughts about Carey’s claims but I do agree that Whitlam was an extremely radical prime minister and I can easily imagine that his policies would have threatened a lot of politicians, so I can believe that many politicians at the time would have wanted him gone. Some of Whitlam’s notable achievements while he was in office include the termination of military conscription (another factor that would have gotten him offside with the American government I would imagine,) institution of universal healthcare and free university education. As a side note, I find it extremely hypocritical that the politicians who are currently campaigning so vigorously to increase Australian university fees didn’t pay a cent for their educations thanks to Whitlam. I wonder if they would be so determined if they were asked to pay for their fees retrospectively?
I feel that Amnesia was published at a perfect time for me as I am currently studying a news and politics subject and it certainly gave me cause to ponder many issues from a different perspective. I also loved the many references to Melbourne suburbs and landmarks, although people from outside of Australia may find them a bit confusing or irrelevant. Amnesia was a thought provoking and extremely well written novel and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Australian history. Even if you are well versed on Australian history you will find yourself thinking about events in different ways and if you aren’t you will most likely be inspired to find out more as I was.
Amnesia by Peter Carey was not quite what I expected from the blurb, it was so much better. Rather than simply telling us the story of how an Australian hacker ‘Fallen Angel’/Gaby Baillieux hacked Australian prison systems to release detainees, Carey delves deep into Gaby’s and Australia’s political history to explain why a girl from Melbourne would decide to become a ‘hacktivist’ in the first place. The premise of the novel and inspiration for the name comes from the idea that America has at times been a bit of a bully towards Australia and Australians seem to just forget about it.
Gaby is accused of infiltrating the Australian prison system to release immigrants who have been detained in Australia which also inadvertently affects many American systems. The American government sees this as an act of terror and immediately demands that Gaby is extradited to face terrorism charges there. Peter Carey says that he drew inspiration for Amnesia from the Julian Assange case when he discovered that Assange’s mother was a Labor supporter (lefty) in Australia during the 70’s and began pondering the implications that this might have had on his political motivations. Read the interview in The Australian here.
Amnesia is told through the eyes of Felix Moore, a journalist and long time Labor supporter, who has recently been disgraced for falsifying stories. His career is effectively over and his marriage is on the rocks when he is offered the opportunity to write Gaby’s biography in an attempt to proclaim her innocence.
Gaby is the child of an actress and a Labor minister. During her teen years she is exposed to some very radical Labor followers and falls in love with a hacker who teaches her all of his tricks. This combination means that she is almost destined to become a political activist.
Carey discusses real historical events to describe the ongoing relationship between Australia and America, particularly the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in 1975 by the Governor General. The history books provide a number of factors that contributed to Whitlam’s dismissal, but in Amnesia, Carey claims that the CIA was behind it due to Whitlam attempting to take control of ASIO (Australia’s version of the CIA) and threatening to cease the agreement for the American army base at Pine Gap.
I’m not too sure on my thoughts about Carey’s claims but I do agree that Whitlam was an extremely radical prime minister and I can easily imagine that his policies would have threatened a lot of politicians, so I can believe that many politicians at the time would have wanted him gone. Some of Whitlam’s notable achievements while he was in office include the termination of military conscription (another factor that would have gotten him offside with the American government I would imagine,) institution of universal healthcare and free university education. As a side note, I find it extremely hypocritical that the politicians who are currently campaigning so vigorously to increase Australian university fees didn’t pay a cent for their educations thanks to Whitlam. I wonder if they would be so determined if they were asked to pay for their fees retrospectively?
I feel that Amnesia was published at a perfect time for me as I am currently studying a news and politics subject and it certainly gave me cause to ponder many issues from a different perspective. I also loved the many references to Melbourne suburbs and landmarks, although people from outside of Australia may find them a bit confusing or irrelevant. Amnesia was a thought provoking and extremely well written novel and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Australian history. Even if you are well versed on Australian history you will find yourself thinking about events in different ways and if you aren’t you will most likely be inspired to find out more as I was.
waynewaynus's review against another edition
1.0
Pretty average, a good start but just cant sustain the readers interest.
eyegee's review against another edition
4.0
Peter Carey is one of my favorite writers and I enjoyed Amnesia. Unlike most of his books I had a hard time keeping track of this story line. The timeline was confusing and often, when the scene changed, it took some effort to figure out which characters were in play and how they got to where they were. It may have been a literary device used to underscore the displacement felt by the narrator of the story. If so, it worked.
marrije's review against another edition
4.0
Very odd. Messy, often incomprehensible, but I think I liked its experimentation.
barrynorton's review against another edition
4.0
Had it not been for the messy, confused narrative structure in the middle, the ending might have made me give this 5 stars.
If you judge this book based on a review whose only insight is 'this isn't Oscar and Lucinda', you don't deserve it.
If you judge this book based on a review whose only insight is 'this isn't Oscar and Lucinda', you don't deserve it.
tenten's review against another edition
3.0
I love the technique of non-linear structure but I do admit that in this instance, there might have been too much of that and not enough of the plot described on the blurb.
My favorite thing about this is how steeped in Australian culture it was I actually knew of the Battle of Brisbane! I studied abroad in Australia around this time for four months last year and was researching it for a presentation about love letters. So that was fun to be reminded of.
My favorite thing about this is how steeped in Australian culture it was I actually knew of the Battle of Brisbane! I studied abroad in Australia around this time for four months last year and was researching it for a presentation about love letters. So that was fun to be reminded of.
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