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True History of the Kelly Gang (Paperback)

by Peter Carey (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
RRP: Ł8.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber; New edition edition (5 Aug 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0571209874
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571209873
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.4 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 12,262 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > C > Carey, Peter

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

In True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey returns to the harsh, brutal world of Australian history, so brilliantly evoked in earlier novels such as Illywhacker and Oscar and Lucinda. Set in the desolate settler communities north of Melbourne in the late 19th century, the novel is told in the form of a journal, written by the famous outlaw and "bushranger" Ned Kelly, to a daughter he will never see. As Kelly explains, "I lost my own father at 12 yr. of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silences my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will contain no single lies may I burn in hell if I speak false".

The salty, colloquial, unpunctuated style of Kelly's journal is reproduced with great skill, as Carey recounts the outlaw's early life with a cross-dressing, Irish immigrant sheep worker, and a beautiful but headstrong mother, always on the wrong side of the law. Inadvertently causing the arrest and death of his father, Ned realises that "there were a drought and nothing flourishing there but misery I were the oldest son I thought it time to earn my place", a decision that ultimately leads him into conflict with the law, and to form the notorious Kelly Gang.

The novel contains some wonderfully lyrical and deeply moving moments, as Ned struggles to articulate the harsh injustice of the world around him, but some readers might find Carey's epistolary style rather restrictive and colourless after the first 100 pages, and lacking in the imaginative excitement of Carey's earlier novels. --Jerry Brotton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



Review

'Peter Carey has produced some very fine novels before now, but this, I would say, is his finest.' Daily Telegraph '[Peter Carey is] without question the pre-eminent literary voice of post-colonial Australia, he loves to take risks.' Guardian 'Contains pretty much everything you could ask of a novel.' New York Times Book Review
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True History of the Kelly Gang
92% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

36 Reviews
5 star:
 (18)
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 (9)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (36 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Historical tale of outlaws, poverty, hardship and prejudice., 19 Oct 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: True History of the Kelly Gang (Hardcover)
Peter Carey has written an unusual novel that is put together as a series of letters written by Ned Kelly the famous Australian outlaw and bushranger, who became a national hero. It is presented as a raw, personal journal, written to a daughter he would never see. This is not only a very interesting concept but also provides a good insight into life in 19th century Australia. This novel is set in the desolate settler communities north of Melbourne, Victoria in the late 19th century, during a time when the first Irish settlers in Australia faced many hardships and struggles.

Peter's novel is basically a corrective to the popular conception, among some Australians, of Ned Kelly being a thug, thief and murderer. Ned's portrayal in this work is nothing less than a folk hero and freedom fighter, a defiant exemplar of Irish-Australian cussedness in the face of colonial oppression. To the authorities, this son of dirt-poor Irish immigrants was a born thief and, ultimately, a cold-blooded murderer; to most other Australians, he was a scapegoat and patriot persecuted by "English" landlords and their agents. With his brothers and two friends, Kelly eluded a massive police manhunt for twenty months, living by his wits and strong heart, supplementing his bushwhacking skills with ingenious bank robberies while enjoying the support of most everyone not in uniform. He declined to flee overseas when he could, bound to win his jailed mother's freedom by any means possible, including his own surrender if necessary. Ned Kelly was executed by hanging for murder in 1880 in Melbourne, Victoria. In the end his mother served out her sentence in the same Melbourne prison where her son was hanged. We come to understand the poverty, hardship, and the prejudice of the colonial police force, during that period of time, particularly towards the Irish. These factors were all part of the plight of Ned Kelly and his gang. Was he a good boy gone wrong?

This is a tale of misunderstanding, foul justice, and the wringing of a family's heart. This novel is packed with history, incidents, alive with comedy and pathos, and contains everything that you could ask for in a truly great work.

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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Masterful portrayal of the social conditions of the time, 16 Sep 2007
By Gordon Eldridge (Southport, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
I don't know enough about the history of Ned Kelly to comment on the historical accuracy of the events, though I gather that the novel is quite well researched. What makes the book such an enjoyable read though is the remarkable portrayal of life in colonial Australia. You get a visceral sense of how it might have felt to be poor in the dog-eat-dog world of Ned Kelly's time, of the desperate struggle to conquer the Australian bush, of the constant oppression by authorities for whom laws rarely provide an effective check on power, of the solidarity of human beings brought together by their shared trials and tribulations. Carey has managed to convey a sense of this era in a way that few writers are able to. It is a portrait of social conditions that can be compared to the novels of Charles Dickens.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved it but that doesn't mean you will., 10 Aug 2003
By A Customer
Yes it won the Booker price, and yes I loved it but its' important that you realise that there is no guarentee that you will enjoy it.

The written style is main thing to worry about. The narrators voice, Ned Kelly, can be a hard read. I've heard of people who have said that the found the books style a real grind to read and have never even finished the book. For me Ned Kelly's voice is utterly unique, free of the over intellectual prose of many authors. I was swept away, inside his head, into his world. I had never read anything like it.

It is clear Peter Carey has done a vast amount of research as well as made a massive leap of imagination. The gritty story is filled with tender and powerfully sad moments. It is certainly one of the most accomplished books I have read.

My advice, read a few pages or passages before you buy. If it you like the sound of it then go for it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Rewarding and unusual
This book has been frequently reviewed so here are just a few quick thoughts.

I was alarmed at the sight of sentences with no grammar but adapted to it after a few... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Officer Dibble

5.0 out of 5 stars Peter Carey and his book True History Of The Kelly Gang
Peter Carey and his book True History Of The Kelly Gang became the winner of the Book Prize 2001. This is a good book but the style of the author might be hard to read sometimes... Read more
Published 10 months ago by M. Bilas

5.0 out of 5 stars work of genius
This is a truly wonderful book. The sense of place and the evocation of the era are fabulous. It's an adventure story and a love story. Read more
Published on 19 Sep 2005

4.0 out of 5 stars An engaging style that brings Kelly to life
This is an absorbing book, written as a sequence of letters supposedly penned by Kelly himself - his attempt to explain his life and death to a daughter he will not live to see... Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2005 by ramblerose

5.0 out of 5 stars The song of Australia
Mr Carey's novel relates the epic life of Ned Kelly in Australia in the second half of the 19th century. Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2004 by Philippe Horak

4.0 out of 5 stars Peter Carey's novel attempts to find Ned Kelly's voice
I suspect for many Americans their first introduction to the legend of Ned Kelly was when the Australian icon of his helmet was incorporated into the opening ceremonies of the... Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2004 by Lawrance M. Bernabo

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous
Who cares if this is fact or fiction - it is one of the most beautifully written stories I have ever read. Carey is a genius with words.
Published on 4 Mar 2004 by Kathie BERGER

5.0 out of 5 stars A passionate tale of hard-scrabble frontier life.
This is a "western" which gallops to life, and the reader feels the grit, smells the dust, and agonizes with desperate characters as they are tossed every which way, not by their... Read more
Published on 25 Sep 2003 by Mary Whipple

3.0 out of 5 stars replying to A reader from Effingham, Surrey United Kingdom
I enjoyed the reviews for this book - good to see a mixed view.
All I really wanted to say to the reader from Effingham who reviewed the book was - I agreed very much on your... Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars Starts brilliantly but trails off.....
IThe first few sections (of which there are 13 in total) si¨mply fly by. The story of the Kelly family is very well mtold and it is very interesting to learn what happens with his... Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2003

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