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Jack Maggs
The year is 1837 and ex-convict Jack Maggs has returned illegally to London from Australia. Installing himself in the household of a genteel grocer, he attracts the attention of a cross-section of society. Saucy Mercy Larkin wants him for a mate. Writer Tobias Oates wants to possess his soul through hypnosis. Maggs, a figure both frightening and mysteriously compelling, is so in thrall to the notion of a gentlemanly class that he's risked his life to come back to his torturers. His task is to shed his false consciousness and understand that his true destiny lies in Australia.
344 pages
First published January 1, 1997
83 people are currently reading
3156 people want to read
About the author
Peter Carey
102 books1,033 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. Not all books on this profile are by the same author. See this thread for more information.
Peter Carey was born in Australia in 1943.
He was educated at the local state school until the age of eleven and then became a boarder at Geelong Grammar School. He was a student there between 1954 and 1960 — after Rupert Murdoch had graduated and before Prince Charles arrived.
In 1961 he studied science for a single unsuccessful year at Monash University. He was then employed by an advertising agency where he began to receive his literary education, meeting Faulkner, Joyce, Kerouac and other writers he had previously been unaware of. He was nineteen.
For the next thirteen years he wrote fiction at night and weekends, working in many advertising agencies in Melbourne, London and Sydney.
After four novels had been written and rejected The Fat Man in History — a short story collection — was published in 1974. This slim book made him an overnight success.
From 1976 Carey worked one week a month for Grey Advertising, then, in 1981 he established a small business where his generous partner required him to work only two afternoons a week. Thus between 1976 and 1990, he was able to pursue literature obsessively. It was during this period that he wrote War Crimes, Bliss, Illywhacker, Oscar and Lucinda. Illywhacker was short listed for the Booker Prize. Oscar and Lucinda won it. Uncomfortable with this success he began work on The Tax Inspector.
In 1990 he moved to New York where he completed The Tax Inspector. He taught at NYU one night a week. Later he would have similar jobs at Princeton, The New School and Barnard College. During these years he wrote The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, Jack Maggs, and True History of the Kelly Gang for which he won his second Booker Prize.
He collaborated on the screenplay of the film Until the End of the World with Wim Wenders.
In 2003 he joined Hunter College as the Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing. In the years since he has written My Life as a Fake, Theft, His Illegal Self and Parrot and Oliver in America (shortlisted for 2010 Man Booker Prize).
Peter Carey was born in Australia in 1943.
He was educated at the local state school until the age of eleven and then became a boarder at Geelong Grammar School. He was a student there between 1954 and 1960 — after Rupert Murdoch had graduated and before Prince Charles arrived.
In 1961 he studied science for a single unsuccessful year at Monash University. He was then employed by an advertising agency where he began to receive his literary education, meeting Faulkner, Joyce, Kerouac and other writers he had previously been unaware of. He was nineteen.
For the next thirteen years he wrote fiction at night and weekends, working in many advertising agencies in Melbourne, London and Sydney.
After four novels had been written and rejected The Fat Man in History — a short story collection — was published in 1974. This slim book made him an overnight success.
From 1976 Carey worked one week a month for Grey Advertising, then, in 1981 he established a small business where his generous partner required him to work only two afternoons a week. Thus between 1976 and 1990, he was able to pursue literature obsessively. It was during this period that he wrote War Crimes, Bliss, Illywhacker, Oscar and Lucinda. Illywhacker was short listed for the Booker Prize. Oscar and Lucinda won it. Uncomfortable with this success he began work on The Tax Inspector.
In 1990 he moved to New York where he completed The Tax Inspector. He taught at NYU one night a week. Later he would have similar jobs at Princeton, The New School and Barnard College. During these years he wrote The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, Jack Maggs, and True History of the Kelly Gang for which he won his second Booker Prize.
He collaborated on the screenplay of the film Until the End of the World with Wim Wenders.
In 2003 he joined Hunter College as the Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing. In the years since he has written My Life as a Fake, Theft, His Illegal Self and Parrot and Oliver in America (shortlisted for 2010 Man Booker Prize).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 349 reviews
September 1, 2020
Jack Maggs is a literary game… Peter Carey plays the Victorian era…
Time and place were chosen specially to make this magnificent stylization to Charles Dickens particularly credible.
Everything is not what it seems and do-gooders turn into villains and criminals become saints – well, almost. And in the end good wins as it always should but rarely does…
Time and place were chosen specially to make this magnificent stylization to Charles Dickens particularly credible.
Now, each day in the Morning Chronicle, each fortnight in the Observer, it was Tobias Oates who ‘made’ the City of London. With a passion he barely understood himself, he named it, mapped it, widened its great streets, narrowed its dingy lanes, framed its scenes with the melancholy windows of his childhood. In this way, he invented a respectable life for himself: a wife, a babe, a household. He had gained a name for comic tales. He had got himself, along the way, a little belly, a friend who was a titled lady, a second friend who was a celebrated actor, a third friend who was a Knight of the Realm, a fourth friend who was an author and tutor to the young Princess Victoria. He did not dare look down, so far had he come.
Until this morning, when his fun and games had killed a man.
Then the doctor had cast him out, and this criminal, this outcast, had felt himself free to pick him up and shake him as though he were nothing but a rabbit.
Everything is not what it seems and do-gooders turn into villains and criminals become saints – well, almost. And in the end good wins as it always should but rarely does…
September 7, 2020
Best proof that literature is a dialogue between readers, writers and stories!
Revisit Dickens from a different perspective, and enter the world of Jack Maggs, whose London is like a dark mirror of the shiny surface. Outstanding storytelling!
And when you grow older and sort of wiser, you see that it is not only London that features a shiny surface and a dark inner story - it's life itself. In this case, exciting life!
Revisit Dickens from a different perspective, and enter the world of Jack Maggs, whose London is like a dark mirror of the shiny surface. Outstanding storytelling!
And when you grow older and sort of wiser, you see that it is not only London that features a shiny surface and a dark inner story - it's life itself. In this case, exciting life!
December 28, 2012
a tidy, pleasant entry within the wildly popular Victorian Mystery subgenre. or in this case, the slightly pre-Victorian Mystery subgenre. what is it about this era that holds so much fascination for readers? the most obvious guess is that the fans of these fictions always know that they will be enjoying luxurious expanses of gothic description, built on a foundation of cosseted repression meets wondrous discovery. Jack Maggs does not fail to satisfy on that level - and it is about a tenth the size of most of its kin.
the central character is foreboding and completely loveable, and the supporting characters are suitably dickensian yet multi-leveled in a very modern way. the plot is an elaborate series of charades, false paths and red herrings. the writing is splendid: quaintly victorian in style, naturally, but also at times as yearning as some of the characters themselves. much like its title character, it is a grim bit of business on the surface but a gentle and sweet book at heart - the kind of book that makes me want to befriend the author.
it is probably irresponsible to review the novel without mentioning its antecedent, Dickens' Great Expectations. i'm a fan of secret heroes within novels (Snape! Mr. Norrell! Ariel Hawksquill! Bunter!) and Magwitch has always been the not-so-secret hero of dickens' classic. Jack Maggs does no disservice to Pip's fearsome benefactor; the novel is almost an ode to that character. and it is satisfying, in a spiteful kind of way, to see Pip transformed into an essentially worthless cad. you always were a fookin' jackass, Pip.
all that said, the author's Oscar and Lucinda is his benchmark for me, so far.
the central character is foreboding and completely loveable, and the supporting characters are suitably dickensian yet multi-leveled in a very modern way. the plot is an elaborate series of charades, false paths and red herrings. the writing is splendid: quaintly victorian in style, naturally, but also at times as yearning as some of the characters themselves. much like its title character, it is a grim bit of business on the surface but a gentle and sweet book at heart - the kind of book that makes me want to befriend the author.
it is probably irresponsible to review the novel without mentioning its antecedent, Dickens' Great Expectations. i'm a fan of secret heroes within novels (Snape! Mr. Norrell! Ariel Hawksquill! Bunter!) and Magwitch has always been the not-so-secret hero of dickens' classic. Jack Maggs does no disservice to Pip's fearsome benefactor; the novel is almost an ode to that character. and it is satisfying, in a spiteful kind of way, to see Pip transformed into an essentially worthless cad. you always were a fookin' jackass, Pip.
all that said, the author's Oscar and Lucinda is his benchmark for me, so far.
June 14, 2014
An almost 4 stars rounded up
This is an intelligent reworking of Great Expectations from the point of view of the convict; the eponymous Jack Maggs. Carey has a habit of doing this in his novels. The Unusual life of Tristan Smith relates to Sterne and Oscar and Lucinda is a reworking of Gosse’s Father and Son.
Carey populates the novel with fantastical characters and fully immerses himself in Dickensian London with some vivid descriptive passages. Jack Maggs returns from Australia in secret (he has been transported for life); just before he was transported an orphan boy Henry Phipps did him a good turn and Maggs has become his benefactor allowing him the life of a gentleman. In this novel, unlike the original the Pip (or Phipps) character is thoroughly unlikeable. Maggs takes a position as a footman to bide his time and is brought to the attention of a struggling writer Tobias Oates (in actuality Dickens). The plot takes many twists and turns and vividly drawn minor characters come and go with great frequency.
Carey is more open than Dickens could be and we have homosexuality, sexual passion, the brutality of the prison system, child prostitution and the abortion trade. There are powerful descriptions of Maggs as a child being taught how to steal and being sent down a chimney for the first time. The Victorian passion for mesmerism and magnetism and there is some wonderful tomfoolery around this. Oates (the Dickens character) doesn’t come out of this very well. He is a trickster journalist with an already complex private life who steals Maggs’s story for his own purposes. There is plenty of melodrama, violence, twists and turns, an unlikely and surprising heroine, lots of secrets (some confessed, some not), grief and loss. The poor and downtrodden and their lives feature heavily as they do in Dickens. Carey is an Australian author and although this is an homage, it is also, I think a counterblast and a spot of revenge done with a good deal of verve and panache.
This is an enjoyable reworking that trundles along at a great pace; an enjoyable and not too demanding read.
This is an intelligent reworking of Great Expectations from the point of view of the convict; the eponymous Jack Maggs. Carey has a habit of doing this in his novels. The Unusual life of Tristan Smith relates to Sterne and Oscar and Lucinda is a reworking of Gosse’s Father and Son.
Carey populates the novel with fantastical characters and fully immerses himself in Dickensian London with some vivid descriptive passages. Jack Maggs returns from Australia in secret (he has been transported for life); just before he was transported an orphan boy Henry Phipps did him a good turn and Maggs has become his benefactor allowing him the life of a gentleman. In this novel, unlike the original the Pip (or Phipps) character is thoroughly unlikeable. Maggs takes a position as a footman to bide his time and is brought to the attention of a struggling writer Tobias Oates (in actuality Dickens). The plot takes many twists and turns and vividly drawn minor characters come and go with great frequency.
Carey is more open than Dickens could be and we have homosexuality, sexual passion, the brutality of the prison system, child prostitution and the abortion trade. There are powerful descriptions of Maggs as a child being taught how to steal and being sent down a chimney for the first time. The Victorian passion for mesmerism and magnetism and there is some wonderful tomfoolery around this. Oates (the Dickens character) doesn’t come out of this very well. He is a trickster journalist with an already complex private life who steals Maggs’s story for his own purposes. There is plenty of melodrama, violence, twists and turns, an unlikely and surprising heroine, lots of secrets (some confessed, some not), grief and loss. The poor and downtrodden and their lives feature heavily as they do in Dickens. Carey is an Australian author and although this is an homage, it is also, I think a counterblast and a spot of revenge done with a good deal of verve and panache.
This is an enjoyable reworking that trundles along at a great pace; an enjoyable and not too demanding read.
April 10, 2022
Jack Maggs is a historical fiction novel set-in 19th century London. It is a pastiche of Dickens’ Great Expectations – here you get the seedier side of life not found in a Dickens story. You need not have read the Dicken’s novel before reading this one, but this book is a spoiler if you plan to read Great Expectations . I discovered this book because it is on Boxall’s 1001 Books to Read list.
The story opens with Jack Maggs (40) arriving illegally in London after being banished for life and serving his sentence in Australia. The ex-convict risked returning after twenty years upon a personal interest. Unfortunately, the person whom he seeks is not home and no one knows when they will return. While waiting, he hides safely undercover as a servant next door in the household of Mr. Percy Buckle.
In the Buckle house, Maggs encounters several servants, among them he meets Mercy Larkin, a young woman who has had as tragic of an upbringing as Maggs. At a dinner party, he becomes involved with Mr. Tobias Oats, an author and friend of Percy Buckle, who takes an academic interest in Maggs. When Maggs hears Mr. Oats could introduce him to a thief-taker (P.I.), he barters with Oats to get help finding the neighbor because he is worried about staying in London longer than his quest requires.
As the story evolves, several story threads connect in surprising ways.
I began by reading a print copy of the book but switched to the audio narrated by Steven Crossley when I started losing interest. Crossley delivered the exact emotion, accent, and voice variety the words needed. He perfectly captured Maggs’ outbursts and volatile temperament. The accents evoked the feel of 19th century London. In short, the audio made the text better.
Unlike a Dickens’ novel where the characters are typically either good or bad, Carey’s characters are deceptive or, at least, have a mixed bag of traits. Instead of judging solely on appearance, background, or wealth, judge this cast on their actions. Events or backstories touched on topics: child prostitution, child cruelty, same-sex attraction, abortion, suicide, and infidelity.
Collectively they were an enjoyable cast, individually, however, I cannot say I found anyone compelling. Nor did I find the prose quotable. It did capture the feel of the period with melodrama, and although it is an interesting, well-written book, I just did not get the satisfied feeling as I got from reading Great Expectations or watching the 1998 film adaptation of Great Expectations . Being familiar with both books, I cannot say there was more than the barest connection between the two. The plot of Great Expectations concluded thoroughly while Jack Maggs left a thread hanging.
What started as one story became abandoned and the side threads become the focus. Here, the thread of the neighbor, the person Maggs’ seeks, the sole reason for Maggs’ risky return, is left underdeveloped. We learn little about them in the text. Why did they remain unavailable to Maggs? What were their feelings toward the man that changed their life?
Overall, this ended up being a good book that was better while I was listening to it.
The story opens with Jack Maggs (40) arriving illegally in London after being banished for life and serving his sentence in Australia. The ex-convict risked returning after twenty years upon a personal interest. Unfortunately, the person whom he seeks is not home and no one knows when they will return. While waiting, he hides safely undercover as a servant next door in the household of Mr. Percy Buckle.
In the Buckle house, Maggs encounters several servants, among them he meets Mercy Larkin, a young woman who has had as tragic of an upbringing as Maggs. At a dinner party, he becomes involved with Mr. Tobias Oats, an author and friend of Percy Buckle, who takes an academic interest in Maggs. When Maggs hears Mr. Oats could introduce him to a thief-taker (P.I.), he barters with Oats to get help finding the neighbor because he is worried about staying in London longer than his quest requires.
As the story evolves, several story threads connect in surprising ways.
I began by reading a print copy of the book but switched to the audio narrated by Steven Crossley when I started losing interest. Crossley delivered the exact emotion, accent, and voice variety the words needed. He perfectly captured Maggs’ outbursts and volatile temperament. The accents evoked the feel of 19th century London. In short, the audio made the text better.
Unlike a Dickens’ novel where the characters are typically either good or bad, Carey’s characters are deceptive or, at least, have a mixed bag of traits. Instead of judging solely on appearance, background, or wealth, judge this cast on their actions. Events or backstories touched on topics: child prostitution, child cruelty, same-sex attraction, abortion, suicide, and infidelity.
Collectively they were an enjoyable cast, individually, however, I cannot say I found anyone compelling. Nor did I find the prose quotable. It did capture the feel of the period with melodrama, and although it is an interesting, well-written book, I just did not get the satisfied feeling as I got from reading Great Expectations or watching the 1998 film adaptation of Great Expectations . Being familiar with both books, I cannot say there was more than the barest connection between the two. The plot of Great Expectations concluded thoroughly while Jack Maggs left a thread hanging.
What started as one story became abandoned and the side threads become the focus. Here, the thread of the neighbor, the person Maggs’ seeks, the sole reason for Maggs’ risky return, is left underdeveloped. We learn little about them in the text. Why did they remain unavailable to Maggs? What were their feelings toward the man that changed their life?
Overall, this ended up being a good book that was better while I was listening to it.
July 4, 2018
I loved Carey's Oscar and Lucinda but found this a bit disappointing. It's a variation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and while Carey strips all sentimentality from the tale he doesn't succeed in plumbing the depths of human nature that Dickens did. It often comes across as a rather flippant novel, a bit of fun.
As in Great Expectations we have the convict (Maggs) and his devotion to a young boy who shows him kindness when he is on his way to Australia. He becomes rich in Australia and grants the boy a generous yearly stipend. The trouble starts when Maggs returns to London, wanting to make himself known to the young man he considers his son.
For me, the best parts of this book were the flashbacks to Jack's life of crime as an orphan child when he is cajoled by a Fagan-like character to break in to elegant houses by climbing down the chimneys.
The adult Maggs and his adventures interested me less. He gains employment as a footman in a house run by a former fishseller who operates a kind of literary salon. Here, Maggs meets a writer who shares many of Dickens' traits and who dabbles in hypnotism. His adopted son lives next door.
The exuberant implausibility of Oscar and Lucinda was one of its magnificent achievements; the implausibility of parts of this novel, on the other hand, was irritating, sometimes veering towards pantomime. The prose was disappointing too. It was like Carey was writing this as a pastime. Somehow I never felt his heart was in it.
As in Great Expectations we have the convict (Maggs) and his devotion to a young boy who shows him kindness when he is on his way to Australia. He becomes rich in Australia and grants the boy a generous yearly stipend. The trouble starts when Maggs returns to London, wanting to make himself known to the young man he considers his son.
For me, the best parts of this book were the flashbacks to Jack's life of crime as an orphan child when he is cajoled by a Fagan-like character to break in to elegant houses by climbing down the chimneys.
The adult Maggs and his adventures interested me less. He gains employment as a footman in a house run by a former fishseller who operates a kind of literary salon. Here, Maggs meets a writer who shares many of Dickens' traits and who dabbles in hypnotism. His adopted son lives next door.
The exuberant implausibility of Oscar and Lucinda was one of its magnificent achievements; the implausibility of parts of this novel, on the other hand, was irritating, sometimes veering towards pantomime. The prose was disappointing too. It was like Carey was writing this as a pastime. Somehow I never felt his heart was in it.
November 15, 2022
Carey riffs on the Abel Magwitch character from Dickens’s Great Expectations upon his transgressive return from Australia to England, but has created his own fully realized story and characters in Jack Maggs. Cross-purposes, strange motivations, unkindnesses, lots of human foibles get thrown into the mix of what I found to be a bit unwieldy of a story. I caught myself comparing it to March by Geraldine Brooks, and find it comes up short as to purpose. Her riff on Alcott’s character (the absent father from Little Women) was used to explore women’s roles in the Civil War and social issues of slavery, education and opportunity. Nothing like that in Carey’s work, except maybe a consideration of the maltreatment of those England transported to penal exile and the price they truly paid for their crimes.
Good writing, not a particularly good story. And what was all that letter writing in lemon juice backwards about??
(An essay of mine on WordPress comparing Alcott and Brooks's riff.)
Good writing, not a particularly good story. And what was all that letter writing in lemon juice backwards about??
(An essay of mine on WordPress comparing Alcott and Brooks's riff.)
February 5, 2024
This is a brilliant riff on young Charles Dickens's personal life and weaknesses told as a seed of a book within a story within a story within historical fact and a frightfully realistic vision of Victorian London that Dickens himself would have recognized (but been unable to write about in his day).
Abel Magwitch of "Great Expectation" stars as "Jack Mags" , secretly back in London in search of his son "Phipps" and Dickens is present himself as the character Tobias Oates (living, as did the real Dickens, with his frumpy wife, Mary, and his young sister-in-law whom he is more than in love with), but Author Carey is too clever to just hand the reader The Great Reveal, instead changing the "Greatly Expected" story up to keep the pages turning.
My only complaint with this novel, is the characters frequently make bad unrealistic choices that clearly serve no purpose other than to keep the plot moving along.
Abel Magwitch of "Great Expectation" stars as "Jack Mags" , secretly back in London in search of his son "Phipps" and Dickens is present himself as the character Tobias Oates (living, as did the real Dickens, with his frumpy wife, Mary, and his young sister-in-law whom he is more than in love with), but Author Carey is too clever to just hand the reader The Great Reveal, instead changing the "Greatly Expected" story up to keep the pages turning.
My only complaint with this novel, is the characters frequently make bad unrealistic choices that clearly serve no purpose other than to keep the plot moving along.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2025
⭐️⭐️.75
The setting is 1837, London. A convict banished to Australia for the rest of his natural life has returned surreptitiously to find someone from his former life. Said character doesn’t want to be found.
This was a Dickensesque plot with Dickensesque characters but somehow didn’t work for me. I often read reviews where the reviewer says they just couldn’t connect with the characters. Or engage with them. I think that’s what happened for me.
This book has been compared to a retelling of Great Expectations. I read Great Expectations this year for the first time. I did not realize when I started it that this was the scenario behind the novel. Maybe I shouldn’t have read them so close together. I chose this one solely on filling a prompt for one of my challenges and it had been sitting on my book shelf for years. Off to Goodwill with this one!
ATY Goodreads Challenge - 2023
Prompt #40 - A book with a full name in the title
The setting is 1837, London. A convict banished to Australia for the rest of his natural life has returned surreptitiously to find someone from his former life. Said character doesn’t want to be found.
This was a Dickensesque plot with Dickensesque characters but somehow didn’t work for me. I often read reviews where the reviewer says they just couldn’t connect with the characters. Or engage with them. I think that’s what happened for me.
This book has been compared to a retelling of Great Expectations. I read Great Expectations this year for the first time. I did not realize when I started it that this was the scenario behind the novel. Maybe I shouldn’t have read them so close together. I chose this one solely on filling a prompt for one of my challenges and it had been sitting on my book shelf for years. Off to Goodwill with this one!
ATY Goodreads Challenge - 2023
Prompt #40 - A book with a full name in the title
May 23, 2021
From the book jacket: [A] novel of Dickensian London .. the 1830s. Jack Maggs, a foundling trained in the fine arts of thievery, cruelly betrayed and deported to Australia, has now reversed his fortune – and seeks to fulfill his well-concealed, innermost desire. Returning “home” under threat of execution, he inveigles his way into a household in Great Queen Street, where he’s quickly embroiled in various emotional entanglements – and where he falls under the hypnotic scrutiny of Tobias Oates, a celebrated young writer fascinated by the process of mesmerism and obsessed with the criminal mind.
My reactions
I had heard that this was inspired by and perhaps even a retelling of Dickens’ Great Expectations . I can see similarities, though there is no Miss Havisham, and the focus is not on Pip but on Magwitch.
I did get quite caught up in Jack Maggs’s story and wondered a few times how Carey was going to wrap this up. The plot is definitely convoluted in places, with many twists and turns, though Maggs’s goal remains the same. I enjoyed the relationship between Maggs and Mercy, and the complication of Mercy’s relationship with her employer, Mr Buckle. But I felt Carey took a wrong turn by relying on Tobias Oates and his efforts at hypnotism / magnetism. And the subplot of Toby’s romantic entanglements did little to advance the story (other than providing some motivation for his final journey with Maggs).
Carey’s writing is very atmospheric, and the city of London is explored in some detail, especially the impoverished slums and criminal underbelly.
My reactions
I had heard that this was inspired by and perhaps even a retelling of Dickens’ Great Expectations . I can see similarities, though there is no Miss Havisham, and the focus is not on Pip but on Magwitch.
I did get quite caught up in Jack Maggs’s story and wondered a few times how Carey was going to wrap this up. The plot is definitely convoluted in places, with many twists and turns, though Maggs’s goal remains the same. I enjoyed the relationship between Maggs and Mercy, and the complication of Mercy’s relationship with her employer, Mr Buckle. But I felt Carey took a wrong turn by relying on Tobias Oates and his efforts at hypnotism / magnetism. And the subplot of Toby’s romantic entanglements did little to advance the story (other than providing some motivation for his final journey with Maggs).
Carey’s writing is very atmospheric, and the city of London is explored in some detail, especially the impoverished slums and criminal underbelly.
June 3, 2020
Jack Magg’s is intended to be a reimagining of Dickens classic novel Great Expectations. I recently read Great Expectations again and liked it more than ever. Therefore, the classic novel is still very present in my mind. It was easy for me to make comparisons and, although I understand Jack Magg’s is a reimagining of the classic Dickens story, I’m really not sure what the point of this novel was. The whole thing was a bit stale for me. No great moments. No great characters despite some decent writing on the authors part.
June 29, 2011
A post-colonial reworking of the story of Great Expectations, Jack Maggs is the tale of a transported convict who returns secretly to England to see Henry Phipps, the adopted son whose education he has financed. Unlike Great Expectations however, the convict's story is the central narrative of the book, rather than that of the young gentleman he has secretly fostered. Jack Maggs has known very little kindness in his life and this does not change when he finally meets up with Henry. He returns to Australia after the meeting having witnessed the destruction of the dream he had nourished for so many years.
Running parallel to the narrative of Jack Maggs is the story of the novelist, Tobias Oates, clearly based on Charles Dickens, who encounters Maggs by chance in the household of a friend. Entangled in a relationship with his wife's sister, struggling to survive financially, and always looking for new material, Oates becomes fascinated with the convict's violent history, almost to his own undoing.
I never find Peter Carey an easy read. Nonetheless, this is a richly textured book, full of resonance. The language is muscular, the voice compelling and the whole thing seems to be attended by a dark energy that brings the story and the characters to life with startling clarity
Running parallel to the narrative of Jack Maggs is the story of the novelist, Tobias Oates, clearly based on Charles Dickens, who encounters Maggs by chance in the household of a friend. Entangled in a relationship with his wife's sister, struggling to survive financially, and always looking for new material, Oates becomes fascinated with the convict's violent history, almost to his own undoing.
I never find Peter Carey an easy read. Nonetheless, this is a richly textured book, full of resonance. The language is muscular, the voice compelling and the whole thing seems to be attended by a dark energy that brings the story and the characters to life with startling clarity
December 2, 2022
In this Gothic tale set in Victorian times, protagonist Jack Maggs is a transported convict returning covertly to England from Australia. It is initially a mystery as to why he is has returned, except that he wants to find Henry Phipps. He arrives at the house of Phipps’ next-door neighbor, Percy Buckle, where he joins the serving staff. He is introduced to Tobias Oates, a novelist and mesmerist, who desires to uncover Jack’s history. We meet the other members of both the Buckle and Oates households. We learn of their financial situations and romantic entanglements.
I found this a fascinating story. The storylines are beautifully intertwined, the writing is sophisticated, and the plot is complex. It is a dark tale, filled with realistic and flawed characters. The dialogues are particularly well crafted. The characters have ulterior motives. It is filled with deceptions, manipulations, and schemes. The plot is moved forward by Jack’s search for Henry Phipps. The author skillfully reveals small bits and pieces of their backstories until it all comes together in a gripping conclusion.
Jack Maggs is a memorable character. At first, I thought Maggs would be the villain, but as I read further, I came to care what happened to him. He is multifaceted. He has committed crimes, but he also feels regret. He can be both cold and kind. He has held an idealistic version of events in his mind, and he has trouble letting go of the ideal in the face of a different reality.
I am impressed by the character development and the way Carey gives them such rich personalities. It is an atmospheric piece that transports the reader to the 19th century. I always looked forward to picking this book up and reading a bit more about the machinations of these fabulous characters. The ending is unexpected but satisfying. I truly enjoyed the reading experience.
4.5
I found this a fascinating story. The storylines are beautifully intertwined, the writing is sophisticated, and the plot is complex. It is a dark tale, filled with realistic and flawed characters. The dialogues are particularly well crafted. The characters have ulterior motives. It is filled with deceptions, manipulations, and schemes. The plot is moved forward by Jack’s search for Henry Phipps. The author skillfully reveals small bits and pieces of their backstories until it all comes together in a gripping conclusion.
Jack Maggs is a memorable character. At first, I thought Maggs would be the villain, but as I read further, I came to care what happened to him. He is multifaceted. He has committed crimes, but he also feels regret. He can be both cold and kind. He has held an idealistic version of events in his mind, and he has trouble letting go of the ideal in the face of a different reality.
I am impressed by the character development and the way Carey gives them such rich personalities. It is an atmospheric piece that transports the reader to the 19th century. I always looked forward to picking this book up and reading a bit more about the machinations of these fabulous characters. The ending is unexpected but satisfying. I truly enjoyed the reading experience.
4.5
October 17, 2024
Setting: London, England; 1837.
In the early 1800's, Jack Maggs was transported for life to New South Wales but was later pardoned and made a success of his life in the penal colony. But now he has returned to London (illegally) and has taken a particular interest in a plush townhouse in Great Queen Street. But no-one is at home and Jack ends up employed in the neighbouring house as a footman. Here he encounters author and amateur hypnotist Tobias Oates, who takes a great interest in Jack and his history - with violent and near tragic consequences.....
I have read several other books by this author, with mixed results, but I really enjoyed this one. I found the setting and storylines gripping and intriguing and thought the characters were well-drawn and interesting. Great read - 9/10.
In the early 1800's, Jack Maggs was transported for life to New South Wales but was later pardoned and made a success of his life in the penal colony. But now he has returned to London (illegally) and has taken a particular interest in a plush townhouse in Great Queen Street. But no-one is at home and Jack ends up employed in the neighbouring house as a footman. Here he encounters author and amateur hypnotist Tobias Oates, who takes a great interest in Jack and his history - with violent and near tragic consequences.....
I have read several other books by this author, with mixed results, but I really enjoyed this one. I found the setting and storylines gripping and intriguing and thought the characters were well-drawn and interesting. Great read - 9/10.
January 20, 2024
What a fantastic, and fun filled read! I actually was more entertained by this "Great Expectations" prequel rather than reading Dickens itself! Jack Maggs is at once a thrilling, suspenseful read of adventure, and lost love.
Jack Maggs or "Magwitch" whom he will become in the "GE" novel will linger in your mind forever. He's dark, sullen, and handsome. But he's got a strong will and an extremely sympathetic character who simply wants to do good for his lost son, Henry Phipps, who is a spoiled caricature of "Pip" from the Dickens novel.
Dickens is actually a character in this novel, as "Toby Oates", a novelist suffering from a case of the writer's block, and becomes unwittingly an accomplice in Magg's search for Henry Phipps.
Jack Maggs or "Magwitch" whom he will become in the "GE" novel will linger in your mind forever. He's dark, sullen, and handsome. But he's got a strong will and an extremely sympathetic character who simply wants to do good for his lost son, Henry Phipps, who is a spoiled caricature of "Pip" from the Dickens novel.
Dickens is actually a character in this novel, as "Toby Oates", a novelist suffering from a case of the writer's block, and becomes unwittingly an accomplice in Magg's search for Henry Phipps.
February 24, 2016
'Great Expectations' is one of my favourite of the classics, and ever since reading 'The true History of the Kelly Gang' I believe Peter Carey is unsurpassable at his best. So, this post-colonial re-telling of Pip's benefactor, the glorious Magwitch, should have been right up my street.
Well, it was and it wasn't.
Carey manages to get into the heart (and bowels) of Victorian London and his descriptive skill is as sharp as ever. The cast of supporting characters are appropriately Dickensian but have more layers, courtesy of the modern writer's scalpel pen. But the story doesn't do enough for me. It plodded along. it was a struggle to get through the pages. No doubt Carey wanted to redress the balance regarding one of the first stories of an early (fictional) Australian in the same way he empathised with the realities of Ned Kelly's life. But Jack Maggs is not a man of enough action. He is held under another's sway and the back-story suggests this is nothing new. Pip's re-birthing as the cold-hearted, homosexual cad Mr Phipps is grist to the post-colonial mill. It further victimises Maggs, a touch too much.
Interesting but flawed.
Well, it was and it wasn't.
Carey manages to get into the heart (and bowels) of Victorian London and his descriptive skill is as sharp as ever. The cast of supporting characters are appropriately Dickensian but have more layers, courtesy of the modern writer's scalpel pen. But the story doesn't do enough for me. It plodded along. it was a struggle to get through the pages. No doubt Carey wanted to redress the balance regarding one of the first stories of an early (fictional) Australian in the same way he empathised with the realities of Ned Kelly's life. But Jack Maggs is not a man of enough action. He is held under another's sway and the back-story suggests this is nothing new. Pip's re-birthing as the cold-hearted, homosexual cad Mr Phipps is grist to the post-colonial mill. It further victimises Maggs, a touch too much.
Interesting but flawed.
December 28, 2015
3,5 απολαυστικό
November 6, 2012
The story goes that Peter Carey read Charles Dickens‘s Great Expectations and felt that the convict character Magwitch, as an example of an early Australian, was treated badly. Carey also thought that perhaps Dickens‘s had known a person like Magwitch and had unfairly exploited his misfortune. An inspired Carey set out to write Jack Maggs. Maggs is a Magwitch type character and there is also Tobias Oates, writer and practitioner of magnetism (hypnotism), who is an analogue of Dickens.
At first I found Jack Maggs to be compelling reading. Carey uses short episodic chapters that keep the narrative ticking along. However the novel did drag slightly through the middle sections. Maggs is a complex character with a traumatic past and an idealistic notion of his relationship with his ‗adopted son‘ - Phipps, whom he has returned to London to visit. Maggs‘s story intertwines with Tobias Oates, with the latter manipulating Maggs to better his storytelling abilities.
Initially enthralling, this premise failed to sustain my interest eventually. Carey‘s descriptive powers are all class however. The London of the 1800‘s comes alive beautifully throughout the novel. You can easily visualise the dirty streets and smell the gas from faulty streetlights in the air. Carey has also done his research, with all kinds of strange little facts from the era cropping up in the narrative.
Carey is an accomplished writer and Jack Maggs does offer the reader colourful characters, a vivid setting and a reasonably compelling narrative. However the novel has something intangible missing, that something that makes you think about the novel and what it had to say for days or weeks afterwards. For me, Jack Maggs simply faded away almost as soon as I finished reading it. It had done its job competently, but didn‘t quite have that spark of a really special novel.
At first I found Jack Maggs to be compelling reading. Carey uses short episodic chapters that keep the narrative ticking along. However the novel did drag slightly through the middle sections. Maggs is a complex character with a traumatic past and an idealistic notion of his relationship with his ‗adopted son‘ - Phipps, whom he has returned to London to visit. Maggs‘s story intertwines with Tobias Oates, with the latter manipulating Maggs to better his storytelling abilities.
Initially enthralling, this premise failed to sustain my interest eventually. Carey‘s descriptive powers are all class however. The London of the 1800‘s comes alive beautifully throughout the novel. You can easily visualise the dirty streets and smell the gas from faulty streetlights in the air. Carey has also done his research, with all kinds of strange little facts from the era cropping up in the narrative.
Carey is an accomplished writer and Jack Maggs does offer the reader colourful characters, a vivid setting and a reasonably compelling narrative. However the novel has something intangible missing, that something that makes you think about the novel and what it had to say for days or weeks afterwards. For me, Jack Maggs simply faded away almost as soon as I finished reading it. It had done its job competently, but didn‘t quite have that spark of a really special novel.
December 29, 2014
Dedication: For Alison
Author's Note: The author willingly admits to having once or twice stretched history to suit his own historical ends.
Front quote ia a lengthy extract from Du magnétisme animal (1820) by Armand Marie Jacques de Chastenet, Marquis de Puységur.
Opening: It was a Saturday night when the man with the red waistcoat arrived in London. It was, to be precise, six of the clock on the fifteenth of April in the year of 1837 that those hooded eyes looked out the window of the Dover coach and beheld, in the bright aura of the gas light, a golden bull and an overgrown mouth opening to devour him - the sign of his inn, the Golden Ox.
tbr busting 2013
winter 2012/2013
victoriana
mystery
hardback
one penny wonder
paper read
fiction
dickensphernalia
abandoned
Given my strong likes, this should have been right up there with dongs hanging down to the knees. Instead I found it belaboured and stilted. There are enough Carey fans out there to make up for my disinterest.
Next!!
As my first TBR Busting 2013, one would hope this is not a trend for the year *weak gromit smile*
Author's Note: The author willingly admits to having once or twice stretched history to suit his own historical ends.
Front quote ia a lengthy extract from Du magnétisme animal (1820) by Armand Marie Jacques de Chastenet, Marquis de Puységur.
Opening: It was a Saturday night when the man with the red waistcoat arrived in London. It was, to be precise, six of the clock on the fifteenth of April in the year of 1837 that those hooded eyes looked out the window of the Dover coach and beheld, in the bright aura of the gas light, a golden bull and an overgrown mouth opening to devour him - the sign of his inn, the Golden Ox.
tbr busting 2013
winter 2012/2013
victoriana
mystery
hardback
one penny wonder
paper read
fiction
dickensphernalia
abandoned
Given my strong likes, this should have been right up there with dongs hanging down to the knees. Instead I found it belaboured and stilted. There are enough Carey fans out there to make up for my disinterest.
Next!!
As my first TBR Busting 2013, one would hope this is not a trend for the year *weak gromit smile*
April 5, 2021
JACK MAGGS is a creative response to Dicken's GREAT EXPECTIONS. This raises a red flag at once, and begs the question - why would anyone want to write a creative response to a book that is not worth reading in the first place? Carey's justification was that he thought Dickens was taking the piss out of the proto-Australian convict character, and he decided to make amends for this by writing a piece of fan fiction in which the convict is the hero. What is the net result of this jingoistic metatextual pretention? Carey provides a book that is much better than GREAT EXPECATIONS - but only because it is much shorter. Otherwise the whole exercise seems pointless. The characters are unlikeable. Carey's style feels smug, as well as having an annoyingly flippant and whimsical quality, which, irony of ironies, feels distinctively English, not Aussie.
September 28, 2008
Because of a love for Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang I picked up this book at a library used book sale, and it sat in a box for over a year.
Late one night I found myself without any late night reading material. A recently unpacked copy of Jack Maggs stared back at me from our book shelves.
What a fabulous find. The period, setting, and characters are often compared with Dickens, but they so exceed Dickens' 2-dimensional approach.
I stayed up much later than late to find out the mysterious background of Maggs. Carey likes to peel the polite veneer off some memorably odious characters which usually makes for pleasurable reading (does this enjoyment make me a bad person?).
Definitely my new favorite book by the consistently remarkable Peter Carey.
Late one night I found myself without any late night reading material. A recently unpacked copy of Jack Maggs stared back at me from our book shelves.
What a fabulous find. The period, setting, and characters are often compared with Dickens, but they so exceed Dickens' 2-dimensional approach.
I stayed up much later than late to find out the mysterious background of Maggs. Carey likes to peel the polite veneer off some memorably odious characters which usually makes for pleasurable reading (does this enjoyment make me a bad person?).
Definitely my new favorite book by the consistently remarkable Peter Carey.
April 14, 2008
Interesting to read a book about Victorians that is completely driven by dialogue, as opposed to the thick soup of expository language that is sometimes beautiful -- such as in Bleak House -- and sometimes awful -- such as in Bleak House. And on that note, Carey doesn't write like Dickens at all; with Carey, you don't the intense highs and lugubrious lows, but you do get to start a book you may actually finish.
April 26, 2021
A re-imagined backstory for the character Magwitch from Great Expectations. Also a bit of a re-imagined backstory for Charles Dickens, but that author goes by a different name here.
January 24, 2022
Superbly Clever and witty!
Dickens' iconic classic is given a twist in this semi-adaptation as the attention is centered around the convict Magwitch or Jack Maggs. Peter Carey assigns the right balance between strength and vulnerability. Readers themselves can also feel a mixture of both respect as well as animosity towards the protagonist, thus keeping audiences on their toes wondering what the titular character's next move will be. Nevertheless all his actions have strong motivations behind them.
The thwarted view on Dickens' Victorian London is certainly more expansive. It is both lighter and darker than the original renowned text. On the one hand it features more utopian ideals about the unbreakable bond a citizen has to their home yet on the other hand, London's darkest corners are brought to light through the discussion of child prostitution and abortion. An appropriate mix of light and shade. Peter Carey assigns this balance in an exemplary way.
Above all, Carey's main message gives truth to L. Frank Baum's iconic phrase "There is no place like home"
Dickens' iconic classic is given a twist in this semi-adaptation as the attention is centered around the convict Magwitch or Jack Maggs. Peter Carey assigns the right balance between strength and vulnerability. Readers themselves can also feel a mixture of both respect as well as animosity towards the protagonist, thus keeping audiences on their toes wondering what the titular character's next move will be. Nevertheless all his actions have strong motivations behind them.
The thwarted view on Dickens' Victorian London is certainly more expansive. It is both lighter and darker than the original renowned text. On the one hand it features more utopian ideals about the unbreakable bond a citizen has to their home yet on the other hand, London's darkest corners are brought to light through the discussion of child prostitution and abortion. An appropriate mix of light and shade. Peter Carey assigns this balance in an exemplary way.
Above all, Carey's main message gives truth to L. Frank Baum's iconic phrase "There is no place like home"
April 17, 2021
Author Peter Carey takes the character of Magwitch Dicken’s Great Expectations and spins a tale of what might have been. I used to get really excited about these kinds of re-workings of classic novels. But now after having read a couple (Longbourne by Jo Baker, Tom-All-Alone’s by Lynne Shepard), I think I should probably just avoid them if I have strong feelings about the original novels they are appropriating. Maybe the only exception to these is Bridget Jones’ Diary, which I loved, and which is loosely modeled on Pride and Prejudice.
I know that Charles Dickens was not a very good person in many ways and in particular, he treated his wife abominably. But on behalf of him, his wife and sister-in-law and his beloved characters, I am a little offended by their presentation in this novel. I don’t know how it would read to someone not acquainted with Great Expectations; if it even stands on its own. One of my larger problems with the book, re-working of a classic aside, was how Jack Maggs is such a gull at times and then, when it suits the narrative, a formidable bad-ass. I also found the plot itself to be unlikely, which is where Carey and Dickens definitely part company for me. The convoluted narratives of Dickens' novels are part of their charm. Here it just seemed unnecessarily convoluted. I did like the flashback sections to Jack Maggs' childhood.
I know that Charles Dickens was not a very good person in many ways and in particular, he treated his wife abominably. But on behalf of him, his wife and sister-in-law and his beloved characters, I am a little offended by their presentation in this novel. I don’t know how it would read to someone not acquainted with Great Expectations; if it even stands on its own. One of my larger problems with the book, re-working of a classic aside, was how Jack Maggs is such a gull at times and then, when it suits the narrative, a formidable bad-ass. I also found the plot itself to be unlikely, which is where Carey and Dickens definitely part company for me. The convoluted narratives of Dickens' novels are part of their charm. Here it just seemed unnecessarily convoluted. I did like the flashback sections to Jack Maggs' childhood.
January 28, 2015
What a fun book to read! I was thoroughly caught up in the story and in the weirdness of Carey's Dickensian characters. I was especially delighted to dislike Percy Buckle at first, then to like him and think him nobel for saving poor Mercy Larkin--I thought he would be a kind of traditional Dickensian minor hero--then to despise him even more for learning what he does to her, and finally to laugh at him as he encounters his injured front door. And yet, somehow, I feel pity for him as Mercy sees his weakness...his loss of control of his great house as Maggs takes charge.
There are a few levels to this book. One level investigates the effects of colonialism on the mind of Jack Maggs: how he recreates this fantastic London in his mind for Henry Phipps to inhabit, but which he cannot ever experience himself.
There are a few levels to this book. One level investigates the effects of colonialism on the mind of Jack Maggs: how he recreates this fantastic London in his mind for Henry Phipps to inhabit, but which he cannot ever experience himself.
November 17, 2014
An engrossing old-fashioned story about a stranger with a mysterious past arriving in London in the 1800s. Jack Maggs lives an adventure, with twisting, turning motives and secrets. Seeking a man at an abandoned house, he is taken on as a footman at the house next door, merely because of his height. Learning the skills of the job prove to be hilarious, though there is the looming threat of the hangman's noose. Mesmerism is the manner that reveals some of his criminal past, as does a letter he writes in invisible ink. Memorable characters and fantastic situations make this a gripping page-turner that is full of delicious surprises. Think Dickens under the influence of Dan Brown.
January 13, 2020
I'm of two minds about this novel. On the one hand, I found this story, a bit of a riff on Dickens' Great Expectations, as well-written as the other work I've read by Carey. On the other hand, though, I never got a sufficient answer to my main question, "What was the point of this book?" Was it envisioned as an attack on the passive-aggressive obliviousness of upper-class Englishmen? Was there hidden depths to Magwich and Pip of the Dickens story that I missed (I was only 14 when I read it in school)? I'm not sure and I never quite cared enough about Jack's problems to make up for this confusion. The book will be involving for those who like playful deconstructions of literature but a bit of a slog for those of us who want to care about the characters who populate our fiction reading choices. Three and a half stars.
February 27, 2020
Peter Carey's lateral-thinking spin on Great Expectations is no mere Dickens pastiche.
It delivers all the plot, character and incident of a great 19th Century novel, but also adds some playful twists and some cunning inversion to make Jack Maggs much more than a tribute act.
Jack Maggs (like Magwitch) is a convict who has been sentenced to transportation to Australia. But as we meet him he has returned to Britain after gaining freedom and some wealth. But his banishment is legally permanent, and he is risking his life by coming back.
His intentions are initially unclear, but to serve his purposes Maggs chooses to become a footman in a London home. There he attracts the interest of Tobias Oates, a promising author who sees Maggs as a perfect subject for his scientific experiments, and perhaps of his next novel.
Gradually, the reader learns of Maggs' back story and why he has returned to London.
Maggs is a real page-turner, but there's also plenty of fun to be had. Oates is a thinly-disguised Dickens avatar, and has some secrets of his own, while Carey plays with your expectations as the "Pip" of this novel is a very different character.
There are also aspects of London that Dickens certainly left out, ranging from homosexuality to child rape.
The novel eventually becomes a kind of battle of wills between Oates and Maggs, almost as if Dickens had had to tame Magwitch into the character he wanted to appear on the page.
You sense Carey is on Maggs' side. Maggs is dangerous, with a violent temper, but he is also sympathetic, particularly when his past is revealed.
This is a richly enjoyable novel - with great characters, and fantastic dialogue. It is also very funny. But beneath the surface it also has something to say about Dickens, the nature of fiction and colonialism.
It delivers all the plot, character and incident of a great 19th Century novel, but also adds some playful twists and some cunning inversion to make Jack Maggs much more than a tribute act.
Jack Maggs (like Magwitch) is a convict who has been sentenced to transportation to Australia. But as we meet him he has returned to Britain after gaining freedom and some wealth. But his banishment is legally permanent, and he is risking his life by coming back.
His intentions are initially unclear, but to serve his purposes Maggs chooses to become a footman in a London home. There he attracts the interest of Tobias Oates, a promising author who sees Maggs as a perfect subject for his scientific experiments, and perhaps of his next novel.
Gradually, the reader learns of Maggs' back story and why he has returned to London.
Maggs is a real page-turner, but there's also plenty of fun to be had. Oates is a thinly-disguised Dickens avatar, and has some secrets of his own, while Carey plays with your expectations as the "Pip" of this novel is a very different character.
There are also aspects of London that Dickens certainly left out, ranging from homosexuality to child rape.
The novel eventually becomes a kind of battle of wills between Oates and Maggs, almost as if Dickens had had to tame Magwitch into the character he wanted to appear on the page.
You sense Carey is on Maggs' side. Maggs is dangerous, with a violent temper, but he is also sympathetic, particularly when his past is revealed.
This is a richly enjoyable novel - with great characters, and fantastic dialogue. It is also very funny. But beneath the surface it also has something to say about Dickens, the nature of fiction and colonialism.
February 15, 2025
I recently saw the theatre production of this book and it was a fantastic production so I was keen to read the book. It is a great romp of a story and true to its Dickensian influence. While the book includes a lot more content the play was surprisingly true to the intent and I enjoyed both equally.
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