Three Dollars [Paperback]

Elliot Perlman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1998

Winner of The Age Book of the Year in Australia, Three Dollars is about Eddie, an honest, compassionate man who finds himself, at the age of thirty-eight, with a wife, a child, and three dollars. At any other time the world would have smiled on him. But this is the nineties and the world values other things. A brilliantly deft and poignant portrait of a man attempting to retain his humanity, his family, and his sense of humor in a corporate world.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One of Australia's acclaimed young writers, first novelist Perlman explores the conundrums of conscience in one man's desire to understand his place as a husband, father and complicated human being amid late capitalism's ever-escalating pressure. Idealistic, intelligent Eddie Harnovey, a 38-year-old chemical engineer, tells his life story from boyhood through college years to the present. Eddie's narrative revolves largely around the women in his life: his childhood love, the beautiful, privileged Amanda, pops into his world every nine and a half years to bewilder him; his brilliant wife, Tanya, a passionate, quixotic academic, is plagued by bouts of depression; their precocious daughter, Abby, raises the stakes on every decision Eddie makes. After a soulful, progressive youth, Eddie has wound up working for a government agency in Melbourne, where he struggles to maintain his integrity and provide for his family in an increasingly hostile corporate world. When he loses his job, he finds himself with only three dollars to his name, about to lose his house and on the edge of terror. He gets survival lessons from an unexpected source, and then, after brute accident and violence signal the end for him, salvation occurs because of his own previous decency and kindness. Eddie's blend of self-deprecating wit, caustic social comment, spirited sensitivity and big heart carries the narrative in beautifully controlled passages that brim with insight, humor and feeling. His world is rich with the pleasures and pains of love, family, friendship and marriage, and the supporting characters in this prize-winning narrative are smart and likable; some are unabashedly erudite, facilitating entertaining philosophical debate. Perlman's sheer storytelling virtuosity gives this essentially domestic tale the narrative drive of a thriller and the unforgettable radiance of a novel that accurately reflects essential human values. (June) FYI: Melbourne's newspaper The Age awarded this novel its best fiction award for 1998, and named it as the Best Book of the Year. It also won the Best Book of the Year award from the Fellowship of Australian Writers.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The narrator of Perlman's first novel is a man at odds with himself and the world around him. Eddie Harnovey is an idealistic liberal thinker living a conservative, middle-class life. He's an honest man struggling to choose between telling the truth or keeping quiet. His wife suffers from severe depression, his daughter may be epileptic, and his closest friends are getting divorced, but Eddie's mantra is still "Everything is going to be okay." What takes Eddie from an inquisitive, impressionable young boy wanting to make a difference in the world to a beaten man standing on the street in a torn suit with only three dollars is a mix of fate, free will, and a laissez-faire attitude. Perlman, in a stream-of-consciousness style, uses Eddie as a mouthpiece to sound off on a number of topics, from the Australian bush to Elvis. Tempering criticism with humor, Perlman deftly and confidently explores a world that can be harsh and unforgiving but also full of hope. Carolyn Kubisz --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pan Books Ltd; First Edition edition (1998)
• ISBN-10: 0330360434
• ISBN-13: 978-0330360432
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,309,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice find, September 22, 2001

By 

Barbara (Nairobi, Kenya) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three Dollars (Hardcover)

I just picked this book up in a bookstore in London, on the shelf of "staff picks" (which more and more, I am finding, can be a great source of referral). It is a charming book- I don't think any of the reviews so far have liked it as much as I did. In particular, the main character Eddie brings much as much insight and depth as humour to his rambling thoughts on how things ended up the way they did. His great love for his depressed wife and singing daughter is one common theme throughout the book...and one feels like a genuine portrait is drawn, of a chemical engineer who adheres to high moral standards (therefore loses his job) and loves too much but cannot find ways to express it. Yes there are lots of cliches and devises, people popping up like bad dreams, but its a story, right?

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love and economic rationalism, July 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Three Dollars (Hardcover)

Perlman's firs novel has won him some prestigious prizes in Australia and deserves to win him fans internationally. While set in Melbourne, Three Dollars handles universal themes humourously and with compassion. While the subject matter is weighty, the book is never "heavy". One of the few novels around to tackle head-on the effects of the "MBA" culture upon relationships at the end of the 20th century.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Moving and Witty Book from a Talented New Writer, May 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Three Dollars (Hardcover)

I read this book in its Australian edition, and am glad it's finally out here in the States. Perlman is a marvelously smart and talented young writer, who is well-known in his native country. THREE DOLLARS, with its beautiful language and compelling plot, manages to be moving and witty at the same time. Though set in Melbourne, the characters and story are clearly universal in the post-Thatcherite/Reaganomic Western world. The implicit socio-economic commentary, however, is by no means heavy-handed or polemic; rather, it emerges only as you find yourself captivated by the life of Eddie, who's quite the appealing but troubled hero. Not only do you struggle with him through a tricky job-related moral dilemma, you also struggle with him in his challenging marriage to Tanya, a vibrant but depressed soul-mate. And isn't that what life is all about -- politics and love?! With a naturally humorous and undeniably clever voice, Perlman somehow keeps you laughing throughout the pain. It all builds to a wonderfully dramatic climax . . . If you like it as much as I did, you'll look forward to his next book, rumored to be an anthology of short stories.