"Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang purports to transcribe
documents, 'thirteen parcels of stained and dog-eared papers, ' in
which the celebrated outlaw, on the run, set down for the benefit
of his daughter (whom he was destined never to see) a heartfelt
account and justification of his short and violent life. The
ingenuity, empathy, and poetic ear that the novelist brings to his
feat of imposture cannot be rated too high; hardly a colloquialism
feels turned wrong, hardly a homely phrase feels rote, patronizing,
or quaint . . . The poetry that Carey can coax from this lightly
educated ruffian's lightly punctuated prose gratifies us on every
page [and] rises to the occasion like the Song of Songs." --John
Updike, The New Yorker
"This avalanche of a novel [raises] a national legend to the level
of an international myth."
--Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor
"A spectacular feat of literary ventriloquism [with] all the
makings of a swaggering adventure tale as well as a classic Western
tragedy. The effect is triumphantly eclectic, as if Huck Finn and
Shakespeare had joined forces to prettify the legend of Jesse James
. . . But this rip-snorting Western novel rises far above such
considerations and works on its own great merits as a seamlessly
imagined coming-of-age story set in wild country and wilder times.
Though Ned Kelly died in 1880 just before his 26th birthday, he
could not be more furiously alive." --Janet Maslin, The New York
Times
"The best measure of the novel's excellence [is] that you never
doubt it's Kelly's own words you're reading in the headlong,
action-packed story filled with stage-coach holdups, bank robberies
and backstabbing treachery."
--Malcolm Jones, Newsweek
"Ambitious and adventurous . . . from lyrical to rowdy and ribald .
. . Peter Carey's Ned Kelly is somebody worth knowing and
remembering, and his novel is also worth our best attention."
--George Garrett, The Washington Post Book World
"Highly original . . . To read it is to be carried away." --Sara
Dowse, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"True History of the Kelly Gang is a true wonder. It's lyrical and
hard-edged at the same time, constantly inventive, pell-mell in its
storytelling, and best of all, the voice Peter Carey invents for
Ned Kelly is nothing less than mint-fresh original. This is just
amazing writing." --Kent Haruf
"A big, meaty novel, blending equal parts Dickens and Cormac
McCarthy, and a complete success . . . Most immediately striking is
how much it resembles an American Western about such legendary
outlaws as Jesse James and Bonnie and Clyde." --Ken Foster, The San
Francisco Chronicle
"To succeed as literature a book must entertain. This novel is no
exception--a tough, sweet, rousing thing of ungrammatical sentences
and unquestionable wisdom." --Erik Torkells, Fortune
"There is certainly justice in putting True History on the
bookshelf next to Shane . . . It rocks and cajoles the reader into
a certainty that Ned Kelly is fit company not only for Jack Palance
and Clint Eastwood but for Thomas Jefferson." --Johnathan Levi, The
Los Angeles Times
"The power and charm of True History [brings] Australia's legendary
Ned Kelly vibrantly to life." --Paul Gray, Time
"I completely admire Peter Carey's work--the worlds he enters, the
stakes he goes for--and Ned Kelly's a leap even beyond the others,
brilliantlyconstructed, gorgeously written, a simply heartbreaking
story." --Beverly Lowry
"Dazzling . . . narrated with great flair in prose heavy on
expletives and light on punctuation--yet full of music and poetry."
--The Economist
"Bolder and more challenging than anything [one of fiction's great
treasure hunters] has attempted before . . . the book's power as a
narrative is nearly overwhelming. The twang of Ned's untutored but
vibrant prose would be hypnotic in itself, yet Carey adapts it to a
series of set pieces . . . that are as gripping as any you could
wish to read. He has transformed sepia legend into brilliant, even
violent, color, and turned a distant myth into warm flesh and
blood. Packed with incident, alive with comedy and pathos, True
History of the Kelly Gang contains pretty much everything you could
ask of a novel. It is an adjectival wonder." --Anthony Quinn, New
York Times Book Review
"Wholly convincing not only as an outback adventure but also as a
psychological and historical drama. It is, above all, a spectacular
feat of imagination grounded in an Australian landscape [that] is
an astonishing, apparently limitless place with mysteries of its
own to reveal . . . Carey has immersed us so completely in Kelly's
world and swept us along at such a cracking pace that the novel's
last scene is physically draining, bewildering. Like Ned we can
hardly believe it is all over." --Anna Mundow, The Boston Sunday
Globe
"True History of the Kelly Gang is a true wonder. It's lyrical and
hard-edged at the same time, constantly inventive, pell-mell in its
storytelling, and, best of all, the voice Peter Carey invents for
Ned Kelly is nothing less than mint-fresh original.This is just
amazing writing." --Kent Haruf
"As genuine as a diamond in the rough . . . In essence an adventure
saga, with numerous descriptions of the wild and forbidding
Australian landscape, shocking surprises, coldhearted villains who
hail from the top and the bottom of the social ladder, and a tender
love story. Carey (Booker Prize winner for Oscar and Lucinda)
deserves to be lionized in his native land for this triumphant
historical recreation, and he will undoubtedly win a worldwide
readership for a novel that teems with energy, suspense, and the
true story of a memorable protagonist . . . No reader will be left
unmoved." --"Publishers Weekly"
"I completely admire Peter Carey's work--the worlds he enters, the
stakes he goes for--and Ned Kelly's a leap even beyond the others:
brilliantly constructed, gorgeously written, a simply heartbreaking
story." --Beverly Lowry
"Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang purports to transcribe
documents, 'thirteen parcels of stained and dog-eared papers, ' in
which the celebrated outlaw, on the run, set down for the benefit
of his daughter (whom he was destined never to see) a heartfelt
account and justification of his short and violent life. The
ingenuity, empathy, and poetic ear that the novelist brings to his
feat of imposture cannot be rated too high; hardly a colloquialism
feels turned wrong, hardly a homely phrase feels rote, patronizing,
or quaint . . . The poetry that Carey can coax from this lightly
educated ruffian's lightly punctuated prose gratifies us on every
page [and] rises to the occasion like the Song of Songs." --John
Updike, The New Yorker
"This avalanche of a novel [raises] a national legend to the level
of an international myth."
--Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor
"A spectacular feat of literary ventriloquism [with] all the
makings of a swaggering adventure tale as well as a classic Western
tragedy. The effect is triumphantly eclectic, as if Huck Finn and
Shakespeare had joined forces to prettify the legend of Jesse James
. . . But this rip-snorting Western novel rises far above such
considerations and works on its own great merits as a seamlessly
imagined coming-of-age story set in wild country and wilder times.
Though Ned Kelly died in 1880 just before his 26th birthday, he
could not be more furiously alive." --Janet Maslin, The New York
Times
"The best measure of the novel's excellence [is] that you never
doubt it's Kelly's own words you're reading in the headlong,
action-packed story filled with stage-coach holdups, bank robberies
and backstabbing treachery."
--Malcolm Jones, Newsweek
"Ambitious and adventurous . . . from lyrical to rowdy and ribald .
. . Peter Carey's Ned Kelly is somebody worth knowing and
remembering, and his novel is also worth our best attention."
--George Garrett, The Washington Post Book World
"Highly original . . . To read it is to be carried away." --Sara
Dowse, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"True History of the Kelly Gang is a true wonder. It's lyrical and
hard-edged at the same time, constantly inventive, pell-mell in its
storytelling, and best of all, the voice Peter Carey invents for
Ned Kelly is nothing less than mint-fresh original. This is just
amazing writing." --Kent Haruf
"A big, meaty novel, blending equal parts Dickens and Cormac
McCarthy, and a complete success . . . Most immediately striking is
how much it resembles an American Western about such legendary
outlaws as Jesse James and Bonnie and Clyde." --Ken Foster, The San
Francisco Chronicle
"To succeed as literature a book must entertain. This novel is no
exception--a tough, sweet, rousing thing of ungrammatical sentences
and unquestionable wisdom." --Erik Torkells, Fortune
"There is certainly justice in putting True History on the
bookshelf next to Shane . . . It rocks and cajoles the reader into
a certainty that Ned Kelly is fit company not only for Jack Palance
and Clint Eastwood but for Thomas Jefferson." --Johnathan Levi, The
Los Angeles Times
"The power and charm of True History [brings] Australia's legendary
Ned Kelly vibrantly to life." --Paul Gray, Time
"I completely admire Peter Carey's work--the worlds he enters, the
stakes he goes for--and Ned Kelly's a leap even beyond the others,
brilliantlyconstructed, gorgeously written, a simply heartbreaking
story." --Beverly Lowry
"Dazzling . . . narrated with great flair in prose heavy on
expletives and light on punctuation--yet full of music and poetry."
--The Economist
"Bolder and more challenging than anything [one of fiction's great
treasure hunters] has attempted before . . . the book's power as a
narrative is nearly overwhelming. The twang of Ned's untutored but
vibrant prose would be hypnotic in itself, yet Carey adapts it to a
series of set pieces . . . that are as gripping as any you could
wish to read. He has transformed sepia legend into brilliant, even
violent, color, and turned a distant myth into warm flesh and
blood. Packed with incident, alive with comedy and pathos, True
History of the Kelly Gang contains pretty much everything you could
ask of a novel. It is an adjectival wonder." --Anthony Quinn, New
York Times Book Review
"Wholly convincing not only as an outback adventure but also as a
psychological and historical drama. It is, above all, a spectacular
feat of imagination grounded in an Australian landscape [that] is
an astonishing, apparently limitless place with mysteries of its
own to reveal . . . Carey has immersed us so completely in Kelly's
world and swept us along at such a cracking pace that the novel's
last scene is physically draining, bewildering. Like Ned we can
hardly believe it is all over." --Anna Mundow, The Boston Sunday
Globe
"True History of the Kelly Gang is a true wonder. It's lyrical and
hard-edged at the same time, constantly inventive, pell-mell in its
storytelling, and, best of all, the voice Peter Carey invents for
Ned Kelly is nothing less than mint-fresh original.This is just
amazing writing." --Kent Haruf
"As genuine as a diamond in the rough . . . In essence an adventure
saga, with numerous descriptions of the wild and forbidding
Australian landscape, shocking surprises, coldhearted villains who
hail from the top and the bottom of the social ladder, and a tender
love story. Carey (Booker Prize winner for Oscar and Lucinda)
deserves to be lionized in his native land for this triumphant
historical recreation, and he will undoubtedly win a worldwide
readership for a novel that teems with energy, suspense, and the
true story of a memorable protagonist . . . No reader will be left
unmoved." --"Publishers Weekly"
"I completely admire Peter Carey's work--the worlds he enters, the
stakes he goes for--and Ned Kelly's a leap even beyond the others:
brilliantly constructed, gorgeously written, a simply heartbreaking
story." --Beverly Lowry
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