of ducks and swans and death and grief (Steampunk ... Yes!)

Have just finished reading, The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey.

Very Peter Carey-ish!

Think about the title as you read it. The words 'chemistry' and 'tears' reflect the novel's intricacies and dissections on a myriad of levels.

Went to hear Carey talk as part of the Luminato festival in Toronto

He was fantastic. Unfortunately eBooks are hard to write on so I had to have other titles signed.

... further thoughts on Chemistry of Tears. I had been hesitantly wondering about its relationship (somewhat tenuously) to the steampunk genre.
Really would have liked to ask Peter Carey about that--but you know how it is...

In the article, Of silver swans and steampunk, in Express Night (05/30/2012) by Stephen M. Deusneri, ! Asking questions in an auditorim full of others! Too theatening!
So imagine my surprise and feelings of vindication re my inuitve leaps when I came across this article where Carey is quoted as saying that he,

“thinks his new novel, “The Chemistry of Tears,” might fall under the subgenre of “steampunk.”

“The notion, as I (Carey) understand it, is old technology in the modern world,” Carey says. His book has plenty of “old technology” — namely, 19th-century automata, incredibly intricate robots whose clockwork innards allowed them to (stiffly) simulate natural movement”

http://www.expressnightout.com/2012/05/of-silver-swans-and-steampunk/

So, I'm feeling vindicated about my thoughts re steampunk and the novel.

The book showcases Carey at his pithy, puzzling best; relationally and historically, and leaves us with the disquieting reflection of the destruction of mankind by invention of the combustion engine.