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  • The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith

  • By: Peter Carey
  • Narrated by: Mark Lucas
  • Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (3 ratings)
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The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith cover art

The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith

By: Peter Carey
Narrated by: Mark Lucas
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Summary

Peter Carey hilariously conjures up dystopia in his picaresque The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith.  

‘My name is Tristan Smith. I was born in Chemin Rouge in Efica - which is to say as much to you, I bet, if I declared I was from the moon.’

Severely afflicted, doomed never to be taller than three-foot-six, Tristan Smith faces death and danger from the first moment of his energetic and ambitious life. Here, for the first time, is the truth about him, from his birth in the Republic of Efica in the year 371 to the present day. 

When he goes on trial for multiple offences in Voorstand, a nation of rampaging global dominance, Tristan must plead his case to the very culture that has done for his own.   

Peter Carey's piercing allegory of imperialism is unmatched for originality and inventiveness.
©1994 Peter Carey (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing
Contemporary Fiction Psychological
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Profile Image for aliskink

Real characters in an unreal world

The world Peter Carey creates for this story is so imaginative and so detailed it becomes totally believable. The Afrikaans style speech, the “Bruder Mouse” & associated Circus legends, the “POW-POWs”, they all hint at some kind of dystopian future but it’s up to you to wonder how we got there.
Tristan and the crazy, colourful troupe of characters that float in and out of his life are over-blown extremes and yet subtly drawn and ultimately truthful versions of themselves. I feel like I’ve met (or been!) most of them at some time. They must surely be real people?! No? Well, at the end of this amazing epic adventure they feel very real to me.
Let yourself be drawn into this world. It’s beautiful under the skin.

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