I’m a little cautious opening a Peter Carey book. Like many people I found Oscar and Lucinda a rather difficult book to read, with such tortured characters and dense writing. The Chemistry of Tears is a more accessible read (I’m pleased to report) though about another tortured soul.
The narrator, Catherine, works in a British Museum as a clock and clockwork specialist. The story opens with her arrival at work only to discover that her workmate and secret lover of thirteen years has died suddenly of a heart attack. She is utterly devastated, trapped by the knowledge that she cannot share her grief with anyone.
It turns out that someone does know… her boss, Eric Croft. With somewhat mysterious motivations, he arranges for her to take on thee extraordinary task of assembling an old automaton (shades of Hugo Cabret). In her grief-stricken altered state, she steals the voluminous notebooks found in the packing box, and we start to read the bizarre story behind the automaton interspersed with Catherine’s increasingly complex reactions to her bereavement, its consequences, and the very strange assistant who Croft provides.
Not everyone enjoys the “two stories in one” structure, and I admit I hurried through some of the notebook narrative, but only because I was keen to find out more about Catherine. Some of her world and past is revealed, but this perhaps is a book more about grief, anxiety and obsession than about the narrative of a character’s whole life. The dramatic arc that is certainly there in both tales is more of growing complexity and mystery rather than of dramatic action.
This will suit a reader prepared to deal with complex ideas and strange characters, but if that is not a barrier, then this is certainly worth a read. I note for parents that there is some explicit drug use and sexual references. Recommended for young adults and up, though due to the layers of complexity it is no casual light read.
Andrew Lack
Head of the Odell Learning Resources Centre
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