Rating: 
Summary: Part Twain, part McCarthy
Review: If one were to combine the narrative vernacular genius of Twain and combine it with the offbeat storytelling qualities of Cormac McCarthy, one might well come up with a synthesis approximating Peter Carey. In this prize winning installment from one of Australia's premier writers, Carey presents a tale that is every bit as authentic and poignant as director Arthur Penn's American cinema classic, "Bonnie and Clyde." Indeed there are many parallels between the duo that Penn portrays and the Kelly gang. Both are anti-authoritarian, populist heroes who take on a corrupt, unfair establishment and react in a series of acts that escalate in degree of violence. Both the Kelly and the Barrow gang are portrayed as basically good, who are driven to acts of increasing hostility not so much by their inner nature as by societal injustice. The Barrows are harbingers of the depression, the Kelly gang are the malignant outcrop of a British caste system that has transplanted itself to a new country.
What saves Carey's novel from being some kind of diatribe against the intolerant injustices of the British settlers is the balanced portrait he provides of the core of the Kelly gang itself. These are not significantly admirable characters. Kelly's mother, in particular, though by every degree a strong, earthy woman, is also given to compromise and is prone to shift allegiances as contingencies dictate. Kelly himself, though exhibiting numerous noble qualities, is as apt to take on a degenerate, ruthless partner as he is prone to show a benign love of a younger sister. In other words, there are ambiguities at play here. Some readers are prone to react negatively to moral ambiguity. They want their characters black and white, their plots cut and dry. Neither Twain, McCarthy or Carey will satisfy such expectations, so readers looking for those qualities should avoid said authors.
Rating: 
Summary: The most charming outlaw you'll ever meet
Review: Peter Carey has created one of the most original, charismatic narrative voices in the character of Ned Kelly. Ned is both rough and charming, both quaintly colloquial and in many ways larger than his humble roots. In an epic letter to his unborn daughter, he recounts his life story, wanting to pass along the truth to a child whom he will never meet. The story that he tells begins in early childhood, when his mother, widowed and in financial dispair, apprentices Ned to an infamous outlaw. His narrative details his numerous encounters with the law and the formation of his notorious gang of criminals. And of course, since it is a first-person narrative, Ned comes across as a remarkably sympathetic character and ultimately a hero who stood firm in the face of ruthless persecution from the Australian authorities. Apart from being an engaging portrait of a fascinating character, Carey's novel is a vivid account of life in rugged 19th century Australia, infused with plenty of local flavor to give the novel a sense of authenticity. Though the narrative voice, in its uneducated, free-flowing style, is difficult at first, the reader will quickly become accustomed to it and soon will appreciate how much it adds to the novel. This is a fine literary performance and a deserving selection for the Booker Prize.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant but a little too calculated for my taste
Review: Peter Carey joined the exclusive company of J M Coetzer when he snazzed the prestigious Booker Prize Award a second time for "True History of the Kelly Gang" (THOKG"). Never before were the British book critics so unanimous in their praise and selection of THOKG as "the best read of 2001"... Anyway, read it I did and the verdict is positive. Though grappling with the novel's ungrammatical vernacular can prove challenging for the non-native reader, Ned Kelly's voice is such a rich and potent instrument you find yourself responding to its heady prose at an emotional level even if some of its literal meaning escapes you. I can see why THOKG is such an obvious choice for the awards. The premise of documenting one's own personal history to set the records straight and redeem your character and moral standing with your unborn child is a promising one and Carey milks this vantage perspective to its full advantage. Kelly has us eating out of his hands when we cotton on to the conspiracy among the nation's law enforcers to nail him and his family for every act of mischief ever committed against society. His growing associations with bushrangers, thieves and robbers, as the story enfolds, only reinforce the impression that Ned and his gang were driven to it by the need to safeguard their own livelihood and protect their own kin against the unfairness of their loathesome prosecutors. Kelly's devotion to his mother, hapless and worn out by the antics of the many scoundrels who compete to take her husband's place in their marriage bed after his demise, is both touching and heroic. Kelly and his gang's last fight to secure his mother's release from gaol has all the excitement and flourish of an great adventure story. Carey is courageous, swanky and stylish in his delivery and executes his ventriloquist act with great aplomp. However, in my judgement, an exhilirating read though THOKG undoubtedly is, there is something calculated about it that I distrust. It may be the obvious title to beat in last season's book awards but me, I prefer the more controlled style and humour of Matthew Kneale's "English Passengers", which in my opinion is one of the most outstanding fictional titles published in the last 3 years.
Rating:
Summary: Pride and prejudice down-under
Review: I knew nothing of this famous gang since I am from the US and I've never stduied Aussie outlaw history. Could the Kelley Gang have been in the US? England? South Africa? Yes, I think so- many of the conditions that led to this gang seem to be universal. Ned kelley's Irish family were put-down, locked-up and thrown-around by tyranical law enforcement gangs because, well, because they were Irish. Ned Kelley lashes back at the law with fists, guns and armour. His Irish family is treated by the "adjectival" authority with disdain bordering on obsessive hatred. Taught by the notorious bushranger Harry Power, Ned learns young to run, think and fire fast and first and ask questions later. The body count is high, morality low and yet the human spirit remains intact as Ned's love for his Mother and girlfriend (later to be wife) provide motivation that rises above loathing and eye for an eye rationale. I do enjoy Peter Carey's books. If you do too, I highly recommend "Jack Maggs".
Rating: 
Summary: Can anyone help?
Review: I have been reading this book for months but still could not finish it. The reason is very simple. I find it hard to understand and comprehen the writing style in particular the "grammatic errors". Could anyone tell me why there are so many deliberate "grammatical errors" in this book?
Rating:
Summary: Almost a true story
Review: A well-told story that loses points for some historical inaccuracies, and some outright untruths. The Mary Hearn character is fictitious, but just how many of the others are? One untruth would be the part where Harry Power decapitates a crow that "happened to be" near a stagecoach hold up. If Harry had just recently fired his rifle, any crow I've had experience with would have been at least a kilometer away a minute later. Ned Kelly, with a Catholic background, would surely have been referring to the *fifth* commandment, not the sixth when murder was being mentioned. The reader has been tolerating the lack of punctuation because it sounds more "authentic", but such inaccuracies tend to squander the authenticity of the language that has built up. I particularly liked the description of the reflection of the fire in the eyes of the terrified cattle, but Peter Carey confuses American terms for Australian ones on occasions, though he does remember chooks. With a bit more proof reading, it would have been that much better still.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: This was simply terrible, a slow drawn out book, literary style was suppose to intrigue you but instead bored the tears out of me. Was not at all like some other Booker Prize winners.
Rating: 
Summary: O.K - but not prize material
Review: I really didn't care if he lived or died, I just wanted the book to finally end.
Rating:
Summary: Made Noble in the Fire
Review: I've heard people describe Peter Carey as "the Cormac McCarthy of Australia" when they are referring to this novel. Although that's unfair to both Carey and McCarthy, it did get me to read this book. And, I did find that Carey was something like McCarthy in that he is able to tell what is essentially an "outlaw" story and make is sound more like a myth. I don't know anything of Ned Kelly other than what I read in this book, but in "The True History of the Kelly Gang," at least, Ned Kelly seems not so much outlaw as rogue, more like Robin Hood than Billy the Kid. This is a book with all the cruelty, murder and barbarism of McCarthy's books, yet "The True History of the Kelly Gang" seems to have a strain of likable sentimentality as well. I liked Ned Kelly and I liked this book. I've read, of course, that despite this book having been written in the first person, Ned Kelly did not write it. This is historical fiction, not an autobiographical work, but it's so good, who cares? And, it is based on actual events. Carey based this book on a letter the real Ned Kelly wrote after robbing a bank. The book (history) is ostensibly written by Kelly to his daughter so she would always know the truth about her father, both the good and the bad, rather than having to rely on folk tales and rumor. "The True History of the Kelly Gang" has an episodic feel to it, since, rather than being conventionally plotted, adventure is piled upon adventure upon adventure. There's not a lot of humor in this book and not much self-reflection; self-reflection from one such as Ned Kelly might have seemed absurd. If you think about it long enough, the very idea of Ned Kelly writing his memoirs seems absurd, but just don't think about it too much. Enjoy the book instead. Ned Kelly was a very poor Irish immigrant, as most of the poor in Australia were at the time the Kelly Gang roamed the land. They lived in hovels and struggled to even put bread on their plates, let alone make a decent living. This fact alone causes us to have sympathy with Ned Kelly right off the bat. Their heroes were people just like Ned Kelly, so at the age of fifteen, Kelly was sent to the famous "bushranger,"
Harry Power, by his own mother, no less, to learn the art and craft of "outlawing." Eastern Europeans aren't known for their knowledge of Australian history, so for me, at least, this was a book filled with surprises and rich historical background. And, although I did say the book didn't have much humor, it does have absurdity (I am thinking of a scene in which the Kelly Gang blackened their faces, donned women's dresses and rode on their horses acting out Irish myths. If this seems hysterically funny to you, you need to read the book.) Ned Kelly seems to be a rare hybrid of Irishman and Australian, but perhaps that's not so rare at all. I just don't know. I do know that if you're looking for Crocodile Dundee, you won't find him in these pages and that's good, since Ned Kelly is so much more interesting and, surprisingly, just as easy to like. For someone who grew up in Europe, the dialogue in this book, as well as the lack of conventional punctuation can be a little difficult, but only initially. After a few pages, it begins to flow more easily. Carey writes with a beautiful cadence that is really quite lovely to read. I think "The True History of the Kelly Gang" really can't be compared to any other book at all. I don't know that any other books regarding the outlaw culture of Australia exist. Whatever Ned Kelly really was, I am glad Carey gave him, and his gang, a voice in this book. As Kelly writes to his daughter, "...in the end we poor uneducated people will all be made noble in the fire." Perhaps it's true.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book, but not worthy of the Booker Prize
Review: This book chronicles Ned Kelly, an Austrailian folk hero similar to Billy the Kid or other American Western criminal heroes. It is told in letters to his young daughter, and the details of his life are revealed episodically through packets of letters written at different times in the last couple of years of his life. The characters are very well drawn, and the reader gets to know Kelly's friends (hardly a gang as it's told here), his family, and the racist, money-grubbing, establishment bad guys that ruin his life. Of course, there are many detours along the way, but what it finally becomes is a well-written, human portrait of a misunderstood killer. This will probably make a good shoot-em-up action movie. As entertaining as this book becomes, I found it a bit slow at the start, and also at some points in the middle stages of the narrative. Overall, though, it is worth reading. Having read most of the other books on the Booker Prize short list, however, I'd say this is the weakest of the group ... if you're looking for deep literature, you'd be better off going to Atonement by Ian McEwan. If you're looking for a reasonable adventure story with interesting characters, then The True History of the Kelly Gang will suit you just fine.
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