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True History of the Kelly Gang
True History of the Kelly Gang | Peter Stafford Carey
19 posts | 34 read | 35 to read
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. In True History of the Kelly Gang," " the legendary Ned Kelly speaks for himself, scribbling his narrative on errant scraps of paper in semiliterate but magically descriptive prose as he flees from the police. To his pursuers, Kelly is nothing but a monstrous criminal, a thief and a murderer. To his own people, the lowly class of ordinary Australians, the bushranger is a hero, defying the authority of the English to direct their lives. Indentured by his bootlegger mother to a famous horse thief (who was also her lover), Ned saw his first prison cell at 15 and by the age of 26 had become the most wanted man in the wild colony of Victoria, taking over whole towns and defying the law until he was finally captured and hanged. Here is a classic outlaw tale, made alive by the skill of a great novelist."""
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Creadnorthey
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Pickpick

Read this years ago- still love it with this most recent reading. Peter Carey at his true best.

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Texreader
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The tagged book was the best book of June but it didn‘t make the cut to the next level when comparing it to Venice. But trying to pick between Venice and A Symphony of Echoes is too hard for me right now. I‘m too far removed from Symphony and Venice was too recent. I need a pause before I decide the best book for the first six months of 2023. #readingbracket2023

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Texreader
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Pickpick

Most of the events of the 1800s involving Ned Kelly & his gang described are true, but the author says he tried to add the texture, the possible why‘s for what Ned Kelly did. It‘s a tremendous success. The Irish were treated so poorly by the English in #Australia, with no legal rights & often abused by the wealthy elite, continuing to punish this convict class—descendants of those delivered here for their punishment—for the sins of their ⬇️

Texreader ancestors. The author portrays Kelly as a Robin Hood, beloved and protected by the abused masses against an intolerable ruling class. Told from Kelly‘s “diaries” written to his unknown daughter, Kelly uses the word “adjectival” for the f-word, and I‘ll probably think of that word often in the narrator‘s Australian accent for a long time. I can see why it won the Booker. An excellent book. #foodandlit (edited) 10mo
Books_et_al Ned Kelly is such an iconic character here with a really morally grey history - and has made the town of Glenrowan a lot of money through tourism. 😊 10mo
Crazeedi I love when I hear the accents of the characters when I read or listen to a book. 10mo
Texreader @Books_et_al I‘d never heard of him, but now I feel like I know so much about him. Such an interesting fellow and story. 10mo
Texreader @Crazeedi Same! 😁 10mo
53 likes1 stack add5 comments
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Texreader
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I just finished this audio book (review to come). It was excellent but one of the best things about it is the author‘s interview at the end about the writing of the book, and his last advice to folks who want to be writers

#Australia #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Catsandbooks 👏🏼🇦🇺❤️ 10mo
55 likes1 comment
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Texreader
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I‘m getting a head start on my book for June for #foodandlit set in #Australia. @Catsandbooks

Catsandbooks Yay! 🇦🇺 10mo
56 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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AllDebooks
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#alphabetgame #letterT

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

So many good books to choose from. Ned Kelly wins for me among firece competition from Things fall apart, The tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Their eyes were watching God

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thank you for playing 📚 2y
25 likes1 comment
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Rissreads
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Pickpick

I just finished watching a 3 part series about iconic Australian books called ‘Books that made us‘. It was fantastic! I had read about a third. So my reading resolution for 2022 is to read all the books on this show. I started with this one. I loved it but I was disappointed to learn that some of it was made up. So the true history is not a true history 🤷‍♀️🤣
#ozfiction

thegirlwiththelibrarybag Sneaky when they do that! Sounds like a great 2022 reading goal! 2y
30 likes1 comment
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TheKidUpstairs
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#CuriousCovers #Horse
True History of the Kelly Gang and The Golden Mean are both fantastic reads, highly recommended for fans of historical fiction. Machine Without Horses is still TBR, but Humphreys is one of my favourites so I'm sure it'll be great!

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Eggs 💙🐎💙 3y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Pretty 💙🐴 (edited) 3y
58 likes2 comments
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wanderer15
True History of the Kelly Gang | Peter Stafford Carey
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Pickpick

Impressive. A review on the back cover said it quite well - a perfect blend of Dickens and McCarthy. It‘s a little uncomfortable how effectively the book humanizes a notorious outlaw and murderer, in fact, but Carey deftly and often painfully shows how firmly Ned Kelly is trapped by his life‘s horrific circumstances. With no way out, we all might have a little outlaw in us.

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LeahBergen
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My current read for my IRL book club.

It‘s been sitting on my shelves for a shameful number of years. 😆

Darklunarose That looks quite interesting, 3y
KVanRead Me too! Look forward to your thoughts. 3y
MsMelissa It‘s pretty good 😌 3y
See All 13 Comments
ValerieAndBooks I was thinking this seemed familiar— turns out I have a Peter Carey nestled in my TBR but it‘s 3y
readordierachel @ValerieAndBooks Oscar and Lucinda is a wonderful book! 3y
LeahBergen @Darklunarose I‘m really enjoying it so far! 3y
LeahBergen @KVanRead @Book_Fiend_Melissa It took me 20 to 30 pages to really get into the (comma-less 😳) flow of the narrative voice but I‘m swept away by it now. 3y
LeahBergen @ValerieAndBooks @readordierachel I‘ve wanted to read Oscar and Lucinda for YEARS. I‘ve read Jack Maggs and heartily enjoyed it. 3y
CarolynM I tried to read his first book way back when - couldn't do it. I've never tried anything else. 3y
LeahBergen @CarolynM The only other one of his that I‘ve read is Jack Maggs. It was AGES ago but I remember enjoying it. 3y
AceOnRoam @LeahBergen loved this one but I am not sure I would have been able to read it. The audiobook narrator was absolutely brilliant. I think he had all the commas and speech marks added to his script because he didn't skip a beat. 3y
LeahBergen @AceOnRoam Yes! My husband is in my book club, too, and he is listening to it on audio right now. I listened to a bit of it yesterday and couldn‘t believe that it flowed like it was punctuated. 😂😂 I was like, “Hey... no fair!” 😂 3y
AceOnRoam 😅 Lucky hubby! 3y
68 likes2 stack adds13 comments
review
keepingupwiththepenguins
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Pickpick

If you come to True History Of The Kelly Gang looking for, well, a true history of the Kelly gang, you‘re in the wrong place. While Carey did use many historical events and facts from Kelly‘s real life, much of the story is invented, including Kelly‘s love interest and his daughter and his inclination to write his own memoirs. Still, I loved it! Full review here: http://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/true-history-of-the-kelly-gang-peter-carey/

charl08 Great book! I love what they've done with the cover art here too. 4y
keepingupwiththepenguins @charl08 I love it too! Such gorgeous design work 😍 4y
38 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Carissa-Green-Reads
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When you decide what you‘ll be reading over the weekend on Wednesday, it takes a lot of pressure off of Thursday and Friday.

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vivastory
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Carey's energetic prose, lacking a single comma, is perfectly suited to the purported outlaw autobiography of the most famous bushranger. #IFoughtTheLaw indeed. The first feature length film in the world was The Story of the Kelly Gang, which used one of the original armour suits, & was released while Ned's mother & younger brother were still alive. #AnglophileApril
@Mdargusch @emilyhaldi @Reviewsbylola @Cinfhen

BarbaraBB I tried this one a few times, but couldn‘t get into it. 5y
Cinfhen Hmmm, I was gonna stack but if @BarbaraBB couldn‘t get into it, I‘m pretty sure I‘d have trouble too!! 5y
Mdargusch I was going to stack until I read a Litsy review @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB - but I definitely now need to google the Kelly gang and go down another super massive black hole. 😁 5y
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Cinfhen Yup....the Google time warp!!! Sucks me in EVERY TIME @Mdargusch 5y
Reviewsbylola This sounds so interesting! 5y
vivastory @Cinfhen @Mdargusch I think it's worth giving 20 pages & seeing if you like it. It's one of my favorite books of the year so far. But, yes the Kelly Gang is a definite rabbit hole. There have been several movies made about them, including a forthcoming one starring Russell Crowe, among others, based on Carey's book. 5y
vivastory @Reviewsbylola I highly recommend. It's one of my favorites of the year. 5y
Mdargusch Good to know. Stacking! 5y
Cinfhen I‘ll leave it to the Dargusch Girls and see what they say 😉 5y
readordierachel This is so high on my tbr. I loved Oscar and Lucinda. 5y
vivastory @readordierachel Honestly I loved it as much as Oscar & Lucinda 5y
emilyhaldi I will definitely give this one a try!! 5y
vivastory @emilyhaldi Oh, good! I hope you love it. I thought it was amazing! 5y
71 likes3 stack adds13 comments
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KellyHunsakerReads
True History of the Kelly Gang | Peter Stafford Carey
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15 likes1 stack add
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thewanderingbookmark
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“If you have felled a tree you know that sound it is the hinge of life before the door is slammed.” #aussielit

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Billypar
True History of the Kelly Gang | Peter Stafford Carey
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After opening with a climactic shootout between Australian gang icon Ned Kelly and police, there's a #ManDown (Under! 😆). But what follows was recovered from the scene- reams of pages scrawled in Kelly's own hand describing what's really behind his notoriety that the papers left out. Picked this for #JuneTunz @Cinfhen before I even saw the #junebookbugs one for today- #setinsouthernhemisphere @RealLifeReading ✌👆

LeahBergen Haha!! Great minds, indeed. 😏 7y
saresmoore Well played! 7y
Cinfhen Well done 👍🏻 #multiplayer 😂😜 7y
18 likes3 comments
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LeahBergen
True History of the Kelly Gang | Peter Stafford Carey
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#SetInSouthernHemisphere ... and still on my TBR. 😬 Have you read it?
#JuneBookBugs

Billypar @LeahBergen oh no wayyy... Right as I was preparing mine! Great minds... 🙌 7y
Melissa_J I've read it. It wasn't bad, although not a favourite. 7y
Billypar @LeahBergen @Melissa_J I agree- not bad but the whole time I felt like I should be enjoying it more. Maybe because it's such a cool premise- I was either expecting a faster pace or more narrative inventiveness. 7y
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Bloomingjen I read it a few years ago. I think I liked it. 7y
writerlibrarian Read it. Okay but not a writer I would read again. 7y
LeahBergen @Billypar @Melissa_J @writerlibrarian @Bloomingjen Well, you all aren't making me rush to pick it up. 😂 A friend of mine loved it which is why I bought it. I also really liked his novel, Jack Maggs. Have any of you read it? 7y
writerlibrarian I have Oscar and Lucinda which I know is more in my wheel house as far as literature goes. Also I read the Kelly book because of the movie 🎥. It was during my intense but brief Orlando Bloom phase. 😚 (edited) 7y
Billypar I haven't read anything else by him, but Jack Maggs sounds like a better pick for me than THKG. And @writerlibrarian I am curious about O&L based on all the attention it gets. 7y
writerlibrarian @Billypar Booker prize winners get more attention not that they are always good but they often are. 7y
LeahBergen @writerlibrarian @Billypar I've been wanting to read Oscar and Lucinda, too. 7y
Reviewsbylola This sounds great. Never read it. 7y
94 likes5 stack adds11 comments
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TheKidUpstairs
True History of the Kelly Gang | Peter Stafford Carey
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Turns out my shelves are full of animals, so I narrowed the selection down to horses 😄 My mom would be proud.

#animaloncover #riotgrams

CrowCAH I ❤️ 🐴!!! 7y
49 likes1 comment