Bliss [Paperback]

Peter Carey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 1981

This novel, by the author of "Oscar and Lucinda", tells the story of a man who, recovering from death, is convinced that he is in hell. For the first time in his life, Harry Joy sees the world as it really is, and takes up a notebook to explore and notate the true nature of the Underworld.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Faber Faber Inc (December 31, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 057116272X
• ISBN-13: 978-0571162727
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,340,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, October 15, 1999

By 

Steve Gold ([e-mail]) (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bliss (Paperback)

It's hard to surprise anyone who has read extensively -- the plot is usually predictable, the outcome clear, and the path hackneyed.

This Carey guy has renewed my faith in the English language. I thought before starting that Harry Joy would have a heartattack, decide he was in Hell, then wander around for 300 pages before finally saying, "Oops, I was wrong."

I had no idea where this book was going until it got there, and on the way it was funny, insightful, vivid, with likeable and hateable characters populating an insane but real world.

It's too bad he's so unknown, this guy can write.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I would have loved this book when published in 1981!, August 9, 2000

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bliss (Paperback)

Bliss is a lively, entertaining, and thought-provoking seriocomic novel, and Peter Carey is a terrifically amusing writer with a great ear for dialogue, a wry humor, and a broad vision. He delights in poking fun of us and our foibles, while saving his barbs for corporations and institutions. Although I thoroughly enjoyed Bliss, I know I would have enjoyed it even more, and maybe even loved it, when it was published in 1981. I feel Bliss to be just a bit dated now--still well worth reading and lots of fun, with many extremely funny scenes--but less relevant with its environmental messages and its anti-Big Business needling than it must have been when these messages were fresh, new, and more importantly, uncommon. As it was, Carey's approach now feels a bit patronizing at times and the environmental message, just a bit didactic--and old.

The book opens with Harry Joy, an advertising executive, having an out-of-body experience as he "dies" from a heart attack. When he comes back to life, he is convinced that he is in Hell. Since his wife is having an affair with his business partner, his son is selling drugs, and his daughter is a sexually precocious junkie, it is easy to see why Harry is convinced that his life is Hell and why he feels a captive to it. As he seeks enlightenment, Harry recognizes that Krappe Chemicals, a client, is polluting the environment with cancer-causing fumes, sees a cancer map showing the rates of cancer near industrial polluters, and meets Honey Barbara, an environmentally conscious prostitute with a heart of green.

Carey's satire here also includes the vagaries of religious doctrine, the absurdities of police procedure, the abuses of the mental health "industry" and its institutions, the fear of Communist conspiracies, and even of the trustee selection process for the State Gallery, which draws from "the very inner circle of society." It is lots of fun to read, with some laugh-out-loud funny scenes, but its thematic punch seems to have dulled a bit over time.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Black comedy at its best!, November 9, 1998

By 

Margaret Fiore - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bliss (Paperback)

At the beginning of this quirky and original tale, Harry Joy thinks he has it all. He is proud of his children, has a successful career, is still in love with his beautiful and intelligent wife, is best friends with his boss. Then, he has a heart attack, and has one of those near-death out of body experiences where he approaches a zone of complete bliss, and a zone of complete horror. During his recovery, he becomes convinced that he truly is dead, and that he is in that zone of complete horror, indeed in hell. Suspecting this, he begins to find evidence that he is right! After one of the worst of the revelations, he has an interlude with a young woman who lives an alternate lifestyle in a much more remote area. He falls in love with Honey Barbara, and his life begins to change. And then Harry Joy begins a struggle to truly change his entire life and self, and finally attain complete bliss. This is a silly/sad/sweet story filled with surprises, human frailty, and poetic beauty. It is a story to become a lasting favorite. And, surprise of surprises, the movie matches the book