![]() ![]() Like all of Carey’s work, True History of the Kelly Gang is well written, so easy to read that the characters and prose drives the story forward (one of those books which “reads itself”), and you have to keep slowing yourself to take note of the rich language and evocative metaphor which Carey’s work is noted for. Carey talks of how history is usually written by winners, so this True History is the unwritten one – the losers’ tale, the life unimagined until now. Much of it is, by Carey’s own admission, “imagined” or made-up, including the pseudo-historical quotes at start. ![]() For those looking for the definitive Kelly story (and many have already been written), this is not it. ![]() Carey’s novel depicts a Kelly much closer to the latter, but despite the title of this book, Carey’s novel is fiction, with a made-up Kelly writing autobiography for a child who doesn’t exist. The Robin Hood of Australian myth incites a range of opinions, from those who claim he was no more than a murderer (and indeed he did kill a number of policemen) to those who laud him as a misunderstood but well spoken larrikin who eloquently represented the downtrodden against those who would oppress the poor – the criminal with a heart of gold. Like his other famous characters, Illywacker Badgery, Jack Maggs, Tristan Smith, Oscar, and Harry Joy, their need get the story out is the point of their heroism. ![]() Hero of the Word: Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly GangĬarey’s Kelly is hero of the word. ![]()
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