Bugs' life
PETER CAREY'S tenth novel throbs with a queasy, visceral energy. It concerns a seven-year-old boy called Che, the son of radical activists who are wanted by the FBI, and his former babysitter, Dial (short for dialectic). Together Che and Dial travel from New York, where the boy lives with his rich grandmother, across America, in search of his parents. This leads them to a squalid hippie community in Queensland, Australia, where most of the story takes place.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Bugs' life”
From the February 16th 2008 edition
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