Oscar and Lucinda

phew, what a book. Such a weird one.  It took me an age to read and in the middle I got that 'walking through treacle' feeling but ultimately it's a book I absolutely loved!  A strange one that I can't really put into words because parts of it were pretty tough to get through whereas other parts were brilliant to read.  Carey is an amazing writer who just takes you on a roller coaster ride.  Both Oscar and Lucinda were born a century too early.  If they had been born 100 years later they would have got together in Las Vegas, made a fortune in the dot coms of silicon valley and then settled down to a life of farming,  all night card games for pennies, household chores and true love.  This was what was so sad and frustrating about their love for each other, the fact that the restrictions of their uptight Victorian lifestyle kept them apart and kept them from understanding each others true feelings. it was so infuriating (as bad as Remains of the Day, another book I loved.)
I also enjoyed the harsh portrayal of life in Sydney.  This was a life full of people with no redeeming features.The landscape is harsh, the people are harsh and even the rivers are full of menace. I loved it. But the way Carey writes is so brutally funny.  He doesn't do sentimentality but some of his sentences are truly beautiful. He just seems to cut through all the crap and get to the heart of things.
I also liked how he described his characters.  His descriptions were so good it's like they were all in 3D, right in front of you and Victorian life was going on right in front of you too.  Scenes from this book will stay with me for ever. Especially the boat crossing from London to Sydney and Oscar's life with his strict father in Devon.
My favourite part of the book was the beginning and how Oscar and Lucinda 's lifestyles built up to their independent expressions of their gambling addictions.  Both had such different upbringings but the joy they got from the 'logic' or 'peace'  of a good card game or a great run at the races was really well described. I especially enjoyed how both of them enjoyed losing just as much as winning. This last feature of their gambling addiction came into true focus by the end of the book and it was just so sad I had to stop reading it 50 pages before the end and have only just finished it off today. the ending was weird.  Almost like Peter carey was suffering from an author ending frenzy.   It was very different from the rest of the book...but hey, that's why I like this author. He's full of surprises. I'm sure when I read it again it will be a completely different book!