True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey

[Thursday Mens reading group]

"True History of the Kelly Gang" by Peter Carey is, as its title suggests, a novel about Ned Kelly. It is written in the voice Of Kelly and is a sympathetic portrait.  The language is in the style of the vernacular used by Kelly in his "Geralderie letters"- wriitten to his daughter as he ruminates over his life..honest, heartfelt and philosophical and with a distinct lack of punctuation but with plenty of colourful turns of phrase.

If you can go with the flow of the the consciousness of Kellys thoughts, then this fairly well known story is brought to new light through Carey's authorship. Carey uses some imagination when creating Neds relationships.. the take on his Father is unique. One cannot help leaving this novel with a belief in the Myth of Ned Kelly as an Icon in the Australian Psyche- a rough, genuine, thoughtful, maligned, unfortunate man whose fate was decided in the harsh circumstances of the Australian bush. A man who championed the common man and woman and stood up to the wowsers and corrupt authorities. A flawed, tragic hero that came close to pulling off his vision but ended in cementing his legend in smoldering ruins of a the Geralderie Hotel, weighed down by an iron clad suit, amongst the bodies of his brothers.

 

 

"Such is Life"