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30 Days in Sydney: The Writer and the City
 
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30 Days in Sydney: The Writer and the City (Paperback)

by Peter Carey (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.49 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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  • This item: 30 Days in Sydney: The Writer and the City by Peter Carey

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Down Under by Bill Bryson

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (4 Feb 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747596883
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747596882
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 218,125 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #25 in  Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Australia & New Zealand > Australia > Sydney

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

With admirable enterprise, Bloomsbury books have asked a number of top writers to describe the city they love most; 30 Days in Sydney represents Peter Carey's turn with a unique take on the Aussie metropolis.

Subtitled "a wildly distorted account" it is pretty much that: an oblique, poignant, entertaining and rather candid look at the city. Using his prize-winning novelist's eye for telling detail, and the objectivity of the relative outsider (Carey has spent the last decade in New York, and he hails from Melbourne), the author shows that Sydney is not just about sun, sports, gay sex and Sydney Harbour Bridge. It's also about endangered wildlife, painful history, militant agnosticism and, above all, a wilful, dogged, brave, funny, cantankerous citizenry. As Carey trots around town we get to meet a few of these hard-bitten "diggers"; their individuality and orneriness are deftly sketched.

If there is a criticism of the book it's that it's all too brief. 240 smallish pages is a diminutive canvas on which to paint a portrait of such a diversely sprawling place. One might, for instance, have wished to know more about multicultural Sydney, and perhaps a bit more about the cockatoos and koalas which yet inhabit the city's remoter reaches. But this is still an agreeable pocket companion for anyone intending a trip to the Big City Down Under. --Sean Thomas --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.



Review

'This is a fabulously idiosyncratic small masterpiece it's so good it takes your breath away' Carmen Callil, The Times 'This is a hymn of praise to Sydney and to its people. A little book, but an incredibly rich one' Scotland on Sunday 'It is a vintage performance. He makes you want to get on the next Qantas flight out of Heathrow' Evening Standard 'The writer in him gets truly hooked, and so does the reader a book of fierce colour and shape' New York Times
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30 Days in Sydney: The Writer and the City
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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Carey's catharsis of concerns, 25 Jan 2006
By Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: 30 Days in Sydney: The Writer and the City (The writer & the city) (Hardcover)
Any attempt to girdle a city within literature is doomed by the complexity and expanse of the topic. Carey delays this admission until the end, although by then his feelings are clear. Living and writing in New York City, only a deep inland residence could give him greater setting for contrast. His comparison with his current home is limited to the cramped quarters he endures there. Yet this limited contrast imparts the theme and import of this personal summary. Little of this book is about Australia's key city. Instead, the majority of Carey's essays here describe the Harbour, the Blue Mountains, the Pacific Coast, the Bridge and rivers. The characters are a melange of his personal friends and historical figures. There is a mystical episode on the Harbour Bridge and a passing critique of the CBD [Central Business District] and the values of those working there. The theme remains that the City is but one location in a region of contrasts. No other city is placed so uniquely. Perhaps no-one is better suited to attempt this unique task.

Many cities rejoice in their history, but in this, too, Sydney is special. Founded as a convict colony, it grew into a major Pacific port. Survival was a struggle with poor soil, vagaries of rain and wind and the presence of the Aborigine population - issues that urbanisation hides but cannot eliminate. Sensing its importance early, Sydney girted the Harbour with forts, something Carey lightly applauds when old forts become new parks. Carey conveys the sense of struggle, but time has transformed equal starving of convicts and guards to ideals of social equality - so long as that society is white, he reminds us. His "distorted view" imparts his dissenting view on relations with displaced Aborigines, among other topics.

However booksellers classify this work, it's not a travel advisory. Tourists will be unlikely to join the Sydney to Hobart race. Even more unlikely when they read Carey's account of the disaster of 1998. Nor will the casual visitor find themselves in a capsized racing skiff in the teeth of ten metre waves and forty knot winds. If you do visit, be careful hiking in mountains. If your visit occurs in the Southern Hemispheric summer, be extra cautious with matches or campfires. What can happen if you aren't Carey imparts with stunning clarity. Having lost his own house to fire, a telephone dialogue with a friend fighting to save one is a gripping read.

Carey's many awards are well deserved. His descriptive writing skills and characterisation are well demonstrated in this book. It's no matter if these are real people, mixtures of many into one or wholly invented. Their own stories are from real life and deserve attention. Carey snags your attention from the first page and you give it willingly to the rest of the book. An essay string that may be enjoyed by anyone, this book provides entertainment, education and excitement. Try it and see. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A refreshingly different look at Sydney, 27 Oct 2001
By A. Cioccarelli (Baden, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: 30 Days in Sydney: The Writer and the City (The writer & the city) (Hardcover)
I bought this book because I was a bit homesick and there aren't that many good books that are about real life in Sydney. I wasn't disappointed but if you want a straight history or travelogue about Sydney then this isn't the book for you. If you want something a bit different, yes a "wildly distorted account", then this is the book for you. This might be a short and wild ride through Sydney but it also begins to show how Sydney is and how diverse it is under the surface. On top of that it's also an entertaining read!
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