Rating: 
Summary: A New Slant On An Old Legend .
Review: Peter Carey uses the voice of Ned Kelly to retell this great Australian outlaw story from the perspective of the downtrodden folk . It's a detailed and sympathetic account of the hard life the Kelly family had to endure in Australia . The author traces the life of Ned Kelly , from his birth to the hangman's noose , allowing the outlaw to tell us how unjust colonial rules pushed him into an ever tightening corner that would ultimately end up with the robbing of banks and the killing of policemen . The lack of punctuation marks in the narrative that the author uses to emphasize Ned's semi-literate state doesn't work , in fact it really cheesed me off , although I'm sure the book's Editor was pleased . I think Peter Carey also deliberately made it hard to separate fact from fiction in this story so as to give us a better understanding of the nature of myth making , i.e. there's always three sides to a story - his side , their side , and the truth ! All in all a great story that's well worth the read , I think it deserves three and a half stars .
Rating:
Summary: Son of the soil
Review: Ned Kelly may not be everyone's hero, but he certainly comes across as a very compelling character in Peter Carey's novel. I guess Kelly has haunted the Australian mind, as Jesse James has the American mind. This is really a contemporary tale, as it is being told from a retrospective point of view, through his letters. Ned Kelly is seen in modern terms. I didn't know very much about the Kelly gang before reading Carey's account, but have since picked up bits and pieces off the web. Carey stuck pretty closely to the actual events. Where he embellished was in his attempt to ferret out the character of this misunderstood lad, who was a rogue to some and a hero to others. Basically, we get the hard life of Australia. The second and third generations of the convict labourers, scratching out their lives in the sun-baked soil of the outback, doing what they can to survive. Ned's mother is at the heart of this story. An Oedipal relationship, which Carey artfully played with. It is her series of bad choices, which ultimately leads Ned into his life of crime. But, like a good boy, Ned chooses to blame all the men her life, not dear old mom for selling him to the devil. Carey is a wonderful writer. The images are very compelling. He seems to get into the skin of his characters, which is such a great pleasure to read. I imagine this was a difficult book for him to do, as Ned Kelly is one of those characters you would normally have to tread softly on because of the mythical status he now has in Australia. But, Carey put his boots on and waded into the story, deconstructing many of the myths that surround Ned, and succeeding, I thought, in finding the "true story" of this unfortunate son of the soil.
Rating:
Summary: Less Grammar Equals More Story
Review: This is more than a story about a famous outlaw and his adventures. It's a story about the history of Police brutality in Australia. It's a story about the mistreatment of minorities and the underprivileged. This story proves how important narrative history is (even if Carey's book is fiction): the stories of the disposessed must be heard! Please read Ruby Langford's "Don't Take Your Love to Town"!
Rating:
Summary: Mmmm, Ned Kelly
Review: Adventure, guns, horses, outlaws, justice, loyalty, good guys, bad guys... these elements usually make for a great book. For example, Peter Carey's 2001 Booker Prize winner True History of the Kelly Gang, a novel based on the life of Australian gang leader Ned Kelly. The story is written from Ned's point of view telling his daughter about his life, from his childhood to his career as Australia's most notorious outlaw; how he became hated by the police and a hero to low class Australians. It is because the story is told in Ned's voice that the novel is so enjoyable and effective.
True History of the Kelly Gang is not Carey's first prize winning novel. He has written a collection of short stories and six other novels. However he is best known for Oscar and Lucinda which also won the Booker Prize, and Jack Maggs which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Many of his works like, True History of the Kelly Gang are about outlaws and criminals.
Even though some readers may not immediately be thrilled that the protagonist of the novel is an infamous con man, most will come to understand Ned Kelly. Due to the fact that he describes events, readers can comprehend why he did what he did. It seems like he always has the best intentions and does what he thinks is just and right. Although the police consider him a heartless murderer, Ned claims he will only kill a man if it is absolutely necessary. At the confrontation with the police at Stringybark Creek Ned cries out, "Surrender I will not harm you," after some officers are already killed (253). Readers begin to sympathize with Ned's character, when they realize he is not completely cold-blooded after all. His family's oppression, because they are poor Irish immigrants, also induces empathy as does the injustice towards Ned from the local police.
Another issue some readers might have with the novel is how it is actually written. Since the novel is in Ned's voice there is a significant lack of punctuation (there are no commas, quotation marks, etc), and use of poor grammar and an older vocabulary. Although these things take some getting used to, ultimately they make the story more real and bring the reader deeper into Ned's character.
The story is also more believable because it is from Ned's point of view. At the beginning of the book he says, "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 lie may I burn in Hell if I speak false," (7). Readers can instantly understand that Ned finds it absolutely necessary to have his account be completely honest and accurate.
It is not only Ned's believability that make the story appealing but also the way he describes events. His vivid descriptions are fascinating and entertaining. When he first sees his uncle he states, "Then we come closer and I begun to see some dreadful damage had been done to him he had been melted in the fires of Hell his shoulders sloped his legs was bowed his nose were drooping at its end," (41). His descriptions of people and events always paint a clear mental picture.
The way Ned portrays events that take place draw the reader in. His descriptions of saving a boy from drowning, adventures with Harry Power, bank robbing excursions, and creating his own armor are always fascinating. From the beginning of the book until the last pages the reader is brought into his world.
Several Irish folktales are incorporated into the book. Whether they are about banshees or rat charmers, the stories make Ned's background clearer. Issues of religion are also integrated into the novel. When Ned is told to wear green boxing trunks for a match he says, "It were only then I realized they had hung green & orange ribbons round the ring. To tell the truth I had forgot Wright were a proddy," (185). By adding folktales and religious controversies to the novel the characters become more real to readers.
True History of the Kelly Gang is enjoyable and effective because it is told in the voice of Ned Kelly himself. Although there are a few potential pitfalls, the novel redeems itself through Ned Kelly's honesty and believability. He becomes a likable character to the reader and his vivid descriptions of people and events are fascinating. This novel is an enjoyable read for anyone who likes a great adventure story.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing
Review: Like an actor who "becomes" a character, author Peter Carey "becomes " Ned Kelley in this brilliant fictional autobiography. Carey makes the risky choice of telling the story of notorious Australian outlaw Ned Kelly as if Kelly were writing it for his young daughter. From childhood to the eve of his death we get an unvarnished view of Kelly and the times and events that shaped him. Kelly was a late 19th century Robin Hood who achieved mythic status. Carey tells his story, not apololgeticaly, but as a part of a view on how a person's best intentions can go awry when faced with repeated injustices. The Australia of the time is laid bare with corrupt, cruel police, desperate rascals and innocents caught up in events. The limitations of Carey's narrative technique are compensated for by the authencity of his voice and the stories he has to tell. Action, adventuire, comedy, tragedy, history, romance all in one book. Inspired!
Rating: 
Summary: A Voice For The Reader...
Review: I didn't like this book at all!!! There is rarely a sentence where the author did not quote the main players as saying such nonsense as "We got the adjectival horse out of the barn..." For heavens sakes!!! Also, he uses this commonly, "Let's just shoot the b____g". So what? If your senses are offended by swearing, leave it out. I think this book was written while the author was asleep. It is jerky and hard to read and relatively uninteresting (which is a feat considering the setting of old Australia). Don't waste your time. This is an adjectival book.
Rating:
Summary: Captures the soul of a legend
Review: Australian author and two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey was inspired to write "True History of the Kelly Gang" when he saw an exhibit containing a series of paintings of the outlaw and folk legend Ned Kelly. Kelly was born in 1855 in a remote section of the Australian colony of Victoria and raised in a life of hardship. His bootlegger mother apprenticed him at an early age to the bushranger Harry Power, where Kelly learned the skills that served him well when hiding from the law later on. He wound up in and out of prison and soon became the most wanted man in the area. At the age of 26, he was captured and executed. Through the fictionalized account of Kelly and his family, Carey has done a masterful job of showing the oppression of the poor by the English and their persecution by the police. Like an Australian Robin Hood, Kelly decried the ill treatment of the poor and came to their defense; he desperately wanted his voice to be heard. Now Carey has let us hear it. He portrays Kelly as a sympathetic character who has the best of intentions even though he becomes embroiled in a life of crime and violence. Because of Kelly's portrayal in a heroic light, this novel is somewhat controversial in Australia, where some people are embarrassed to have Kelly represent their nation. Talking about Australia's origins, Carey said in an interview "Your ship was the Mayflower. Ours were the convict ships, and each ship determined the nation's character." Controversy or not, Kelly's legend lives on and is skillfully brought to life in this book. The novel is constructed as a series of personal accounts by Kelly addressed to his daughter. The contents and condition of each manuscript is provided as a preface to each chapter, and it makes this story seem very realistic; so much so that I had difficulty distinguishing what was fact and what was fiction. The rich narrative is full of folklore and local history. There are many humorous passages, such as where men ride around disguised in women's dresses. Using as an example an actual 56-page treatise written by Kelly, Carey has captured the authentic voice of the folk hero. As a result, the story is moderately difficult to read because of misspellings, lack of punctuation, and use of colloquialisms of that era. But the reader will soon become accustomed to the cadence of the language and will be rewarded with a colorful tale that captures the soul of a country and its national legend. Eileen Rieback
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical!
Review: This is a rare combination-a coming of age story, a crime novel, and a frontier narrative-all united in the unforgettable voice of Ned Kelly, which is poetic and funny, common yet elegant. At the same time, the story, which I experienced as perfect and seamless and hard to put down, advances a case of surprising and touching heroism for Ned Kelly and his doomed gang. Bravo to Ned Kelly! Bravo to Peter Carey!
Rating:
Summary: As Good as Any Booker
Review: I picked up this book with expectation so high. Recommended by a friend, a Booker Prize winner and a book by Peter Carey. Too much expectations a book would carry. In the end the book delivered.
I found this book very interesting to read the first 200 pages. A lot of action & adventure & cute stupidity.
The next pages show the man ignorance & his real stupidity & boring newspaper clippings.
Carey however is a very fine writer, he managed to make such a famous story about Ned Kelly worth reading even when we knew the ending and the storyline
Rating:
Summary: brilliant
Review: I will confess it took me a long time to get into this novel. The first couple of pages I thought: oh god. No. I tend to be prejudiced against novels written in dialect, or with a local accent, or any other similarly quaint style. I find such affectations irritating, and consider them to be a bit of a cheat, a literary parlour trick: doing a global search'n'replace to change "isn't" to "ain't" is a hell of a lot easier than, say, character development. So when I realised that the hero of the True History of the Kelly Gang was writing in the style of a semi-literate rural Australian of two hundred years ago, I cringed. I couldn't help it. There isn't a single comma in the damn book, for crying out loud! I picked the book up. I shortly set the book down. And then, after months had gone by, got around to picking it up again. Wow. Once one gets used to the style - having lived in Australia, the localisms were easy for me to pick up, but there were still plenty of words I'd never seen before - one gets sucked in. The story is inherently engaging - Ned Kelly didn't become a folkloric hero by being dull. Carey creates a cast of charismatic larrikins, a vivid landscape out of grey trees and brown rivers, an adventure to rival any cowboy movie, as Ned and his fugitive gang outwit the police and escape through the bush. But this is no simple yarn. Within is concealed a critique of the class structure which mired the Kellys in poverty, a dissertation on the histories of Australia and Ireland, a study in ethics vs. the law. Not to mention the power of words. Language is Kelly's redemption, and his weakness. He owns one book, but devours it repeatedly until it falls apart in the rain. He writes letters to parliament, seeks to publish pamphlets, knowing that the way to win over the people is to tell his story. Of course, the powers that be know this equally well. So I didn't just "get used to" the punctuation (or lack thereof). Ned Kelly is a born story teller. His voice, as imagined by carey, has a rhythm and lilt that feels not only authentic and true to the casual conversational manner of its owner, but also transcends its idiosyncracies to achieve beauty, to approach, at times, a stream-of-consciousness poetry: Snuffing the candle we both come out onto the front veranda and there we seen the undertakers smudged as charcoal in the rain an army of invaders riding round the flank of our familiar hills. As dan were hurrying towards the creek I turned to follow but Mary Hearn touched my hand what bliss what torture she loves me yet she loves me through the drizzling rain.
What initially I feared would be a chore to get through, grew quickly into a compelling read. Who needs commas, anyway?
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