Review by Booklist Review
The story of the Catchprice family takes place at a failing car dealership in a dead little corner of New South Wales, Australia. That this remarkable novel is both harrowing and funny, and that we come to care deeply about what happens to the Catchprices, is all the more striking for its being set in this cramped, oily space. Although Granny Catchprice lives over the showroom, her married daughter over the lube bay, and her son and grandson elsewhere on the soiled grounds of Catchprice Motors, they all dream of a better life--even 16-year-old Benny, the product of generations of child sexual abuse. When the beautiful, self-righteous tax inspector opens the door to Catchprice Motors, she lets in a bracing whiff of the real world. Although, ironically, she does not even want to audit the family's fishy enterprise, her presence causes a mighty stir in their stagnant world. We are both moved and horrified by the Catchprices, with their "almost-rancid butter" smell and their sensual, "kissy lips." Somewhere in between, we come to understand that queasy place where abuse is a fact of life, and our own world changes not a little. ~--Frances Woods
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Carey tale about a family of bizarre misfits who run a scruffy auto dealership in a suburb of Sydney. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The Catchprices of suburban Sydney, Australia are a family in disarray. Their lives are centered around an auto dealership on the verge of collapse despite their fiddling with the books. No one but 16-year-old Benny really cares, and Benny is a psychotic living in a dingy cellar to avoid his father, a one-time child molester. Benny is determined to transform himself, via an expensive set of motivational tapes, a fancy new suit, and use of a depilatory, into the world's greatest car salesman and thus to save the business. His vision, however, is threatened by the arrival of tax inspector Maria Takis, so he sets out in his own warped way to induce her to drop the investigation. This is more than just Benny's story, however. It concerns an entire family coming apart at the seams, plagued by its own history and the frustration of unfulfilled dreams. Carey's greatest strength lies in his characterizations, in his ability to expose the complexity of human experience and see the victim within the victimizer. Disturbing yet alluring, this is highly recommended for collections of serious fiction.-- David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
From acclaimed Australian novelist Carey (Oscar and Lucinda, 1988; Illywhacker, 1985, etc.), a brilliantly realized, dark comedic story of a dysfunctional but ingenuous family. Most of the Catchprice family, including charismatic matriarch Frieda, live on the premises of their failing GM dealership in the Sydney suburbs. Frieda, who since girlhood has carried sticks of gelignite in her handbag, regrets that she never established the flower farm of her dreams, yet she acknowledges her responsibility for founding what became a succession of family enterprises. Daughter Cathy and son-in-law Howie have their hearts set on careers in country music, but Frieda won't let them or son Mort, who has his own dreams, leave. Only son Jack, a prosperous developer, and grandson Johnny, a Hare Krishna follower, have escaped. The Catchprices, though, are also a family of contradictions: ``big ones for kissing and cuddling, but you could not predict them. You could not rely on them for anything important.'' And then there are the family skeletons, never fully acknowledged until the literally explosive climax. When young Benny, Mort's abused and troubled son, decides to transform his life and become an ``Angel of Plagues,'' catharsis is inevitable. But the actual catalyst is provided by pregnant and unmarried Maria, the tax collector who comes to audit the books. The past is revealed; irrevocable decisions are made; and Benny, in love with Maria, creates his own bizarre scenario. Only the birth of Maria's baby amidst the resultant mayhem offers some hope. Powerful writing, and the Catchprices are all memorable, but the subtext of a wider corruption as insidious as that which maims this family seems more a reflection of fashionable angst than the reality of a country like Australia. Still, very good.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
