I listened to the audio book version of Theft by Peter Carey. This was an excellent decision. The book is read by an Australian (or at least someone with a very convincing Australian accent), and it’s absolutely the right thing for this novel. For me, this book was about escaping small-town Australia, the lengths one has to go to to do this, the difficult of escaping honestly. However, it’s almost certain I listened to this book with a very heavy “escaping small-town Australia” bias. I have trouble explaining to big-town Americans just what it means to come from small-town Australia: how overwhelmed I am by New York city, that there was no high school in my town, that the closest high school only went to 10th grade (why spend any more time in school than actually required?), the strength of small town racism, that I only made it out because my parents weren’t from small town Australia and knew that there was more out there. And even then, my parents really had no idea that where I am now even really existed (I mean, they knew it existed, but had really no sense of what it was).

I was a little wary of the portrayal of the slow brother. It bothers me (although it’s very small town Australian) that such a person can only be a burden, that the “burden” cannot be shared. I also felt the portrayal was somewhat stereotypical (very much Lennie in Of Mice and Men), and I felt, a little shallow.

However, Theft is more than definitely worth the read. If nothing else, it’s a great story of deception.