Fat Man in History [Paperback]

Peter Carey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 1993

One of Australia's most highly regarded novelists...accomplished, surehanded." -- Newsday

If, in some post-Marxist utopia, obesity were declared counterrevolutionary, how would a houseful of fat men strike back? If it were possible to win a new body by lottery, what kind of people would choose ugliness? If two gun-toting thugs decided to take over a business -- and run it through sheer terror -- how far would their methods take them?

These are the questions that Peter Carey, author of The Tax Inspector and Oscar and Lucinda, brilliantly explores in this collection of stories. Exquisitely written and thoroughly envisioned, the tales in The Fat Man in History reach beyond their arresting premises to utter deep and often frightening truths about our brightest and darkest selves.

"Destined to [be] one of the most widely read and admired writers working in English."

-- Edmund White, The Times Literary Supplement (London)

"Marvelous!" -- Boston Globe

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 4, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679743324
• ISBN-13: 978-0679743323
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #548,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short masterpieces, November 11, 1998

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[e-mail] (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fat Man in History (Paperback)

It must be something to do with Australia. Shortly after Patrick White would win the Nobel Prize for literature, a young author named Peter Carey would publish his first book of short stories, quickly followed by another. Both of these books would be compiled in 1980 and released as "The Fat Man in History," which is, quite simply, one of the greatest collections of short fiction I've ever read, ranking easily with the best of O'Hara, O'Connor, Borges and Calvino. Though the first two stories get the book of to a slow start, the third hits the ground running and the book never looks back. "Do You Love Me?" is a brilliant meditation on the nature of love and memory; in a world where reality is based on the census, what happens when the census is wrong? Buildings begin to disappear, quickly followed by people. All of these stories occur in a mirror world not quite our own, where, perhaps, Australia and the US share a border. Where, maybe, pleasure giving birds from another planet begin to pollinate trees from their homeworld, trees that threaten the very balance of life as we know it. Read this book. It will make you think. It will make you smile. It will make you cringe. It will make you want to read more Peter Carey.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wildly imaginative and creative stories., February 24, 1999

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[e-mail] (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fat Man in History (Paperback)

This collection of short stories by Peter Carey are the most imaginative stories I think I have ever read. Not only does he create such fantastic settings and characters, but the actual ideas and metaphors he creates for each one are stunning and contain so much meaning. There is the strange and absurd in his storytelling, but they don't distract you from the main idea, on the contrary, the strange and absurd give his ideas a real life of their own.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In a Parallel Universe, May 3, 2009

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David Thierry "[e-mail]" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fat Man in History (Paperback)

I will call these excellent works surreal and somewhat similar to efforts by Steven Millhauser, John Cheever and Paul Bowles. If you enjoy trips through The Twilight Zone then you'll savor these. Not for those who require strict realism.