Bliss

Peter Carey's first novel and first Miles Franklin winner, Bliss remains a work ahead of its time. It takes dying during a heart attack for Harry Joy to realise that the life he thought was happy is actually hellish. His wife is a cheat, his kids are a source of shame, his company spruiks carcinogens. While Harry is resuscitated he will never be the same, for having seen his own misery, he can no longer deny the injustice around him. But before he can be redeemed, a whole new perdition awaits him in this darkly funny and prescient fable about the idiocy of defiling nature. 'Bliss is outrageous perfection. Madcap, adventurous, engaging, compelling, shocking, moving, funny, sad and inventive.' San Francisco Bay Reporter 'Even better than we might have expected, a sustained and sardonic fable on the folly of being wise.' New Statesman 'Bliss fascinates and amuses, amazes and appals, is scintillating and black, savage and sarcastic.' Canberra Times 'A masterful amalgam of black humour, satire, perceptive observation and empathy . . .Carey is a writer of power and imagination.' Washington Post Book World'In a single bound it has brought contemporary Australian fiction out of its last stubborn crannies of provincialism into a new universality and sophistication.' Sydney Morning Herald'Wholly original and unusual, this novel is a far-out comedy that often approaches absurd brilliance.' Publishers Weekly'He is that answer to a reviewer's prayer: The Real Thing.' Evening Standard