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Illywhacker
Contributor(s): Carey, Peter (Author)

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ISBN: 0679767908     ISBN-13: 9780679767909
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
OUR PRICE: $19.00  

Binding Type: Paperback - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: April 1996
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Annotation: In Australian slang, an illywhacker is a country fair con man, an unprincipled seller of fake diamonds and dubious tonics. And Herbert Badgery, the 139-year-old narrator of Peter Carey's uproarious novel, may be the king of them all. Vagabond and charlatan, aviator and car salesman, seducer and patriarch, Badgery is a walking embodiment of the Australian national character - especially of its proclivity for tall stories and barefaced lies. As Carey follows this charming scoundrel across a continent and a century, he creates a crazy quilt of outlandish encounters, with characters that include a genteel dowager who fends off madness with an electric belt and a ravishing young girl with a dangerous fondness for rooftop trysts. Boldly inventive, irresistibly odd, Illywhacker is further proof that Peter Carey is one of the most enchanting writers at work in any hemisphere.

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Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Literary
Dewey: FIC
LCCN: 95043450
Lexile Measure: 1070(Not Available)
Series: Vintage International
Physical Information: 1.14" H x 5.26" W x 8.03" L (1.05 lbs) 608 pages
Features: Price on Product
Review Citations: New York Times 11/10/1996 pg. 68
Publishers Weekly 04/01/1996
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
In Australian slang, an illywhacker is a country fair con man, an unprincipled seller of fake diamonds and dubious tonics. And Herbert Badgery, the 139-year-old narrator of Peter Carey's uproarious novel, may be the king of them all. Vagabond and charlatan, aviator and car salesman, seducer and patriarch, Badgery is a walking embodiment of the Australian national character--espcially of its proclivity for tall stories and barefaced lies.

As Carey follows this charming scoundrel across a continent and a century, he creates a crazy quilt of outlandish encounters, with characters that include a genteel dowager who fends off madness with an electric belt and a ravishing young girl with a dangerous fondness for rooftop trysts. Boldly inventive, irresistibly odd, Illywhacker is further proof that Peter Carey is one of the most enchanting writers at work in any hemisphere.

 
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