000			02019nam a2200289 a 4500
001			039331
005			20231009193418.0
008			120830s2012 nyu 000 1 eng
010			_a2012005880
020			_a9780307592712
042			_apcc
050	0	0	_aPR9619.3.C36 _bC44 2012
082	0	0	_aFIC CAR
100	1		_aCarey, Peter _d(, 1943-)
245	1	4	_aThe chemistry of tears _c/ by Peter Carey
250			_a1st American ed.
260			_aNew York _b: Alfred A. Knopf _c, 2012.
300			_a229pp. _c; 24 cm.
520			_aTwo-time Booker Prize winner Carey has crafted a novel about craft, the story of a woman who's lost her lover assigned the task of resurrecting an automaton-a simulation of life-from another century. Horologist Catherine Gehrig of London's Swinburne Museum has long conducted a tender affair with the married head curator of metals, and his sudden death has overturned her world. She cannot be seen to mourn, so her boss, who to her surprise has intuited the affair, gives her a job that will separate her from the staff: reassembling a mid-19th-century mechanism. It turns out to be a quite remarkable duck. At first resistant, Catherine is drawn into the task, reading through notebooks left by Henry Brandling of London, whose ailing son was delighted by the duck's design. Thus, in alternate chapters, we see proud, concerned Henry rushing to Germany to get the duck constructed-an act of love that separates him from the very person he wants to please. Catherine is an entertainingly tart creation, while Henry can be a puzzle, his stubborn ardor somewhat exasperating. Henry's chapters can feel as mechanistic as his duck-surprising from the generally luscious, acutely insightful Carey-but the dedicated prose will still draw in his fans.
650		0	_aWomen museum curators _v--Fiction
650		0	_aRobots _x--Fiction
651			_aLondon (England) _v--Fiction
655		7	_aHistorical fiction
655		7	_aScience fiction
655		7	_aLove stories
942			_cMO
999			_c269931 _d269931