Cover art differs from my edition.

I enjoyed this book tremendously when it came out, although I remain concerned that people read it as history and not as fiction.

I've always been in the Kelly as criminal camp and this book did not change my mind.

Going out on tantan's Booker Prize Ring of Books:

meganh (Victoria, Australia)
fushmush (New South Wales, Australia)
tantan (Queensland, Australia)
lady-anglophile (Kuwait)<---
dodau (England)
Jenatleisure (England)
Lillyanna (Spain)
dospescadso (NY, USA)
tania-in-nc (North Carolina, USA)
Back to peggysmum in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia!

Received last Thursday (10/2). First book received as part of the Booker prize ring. I've never read Peter Carey (hang your head in shame, Megan) so this will improve my diversity of reading I hope.

Sorry about the delay but I have now read this book and will be passing it on to fushmush at tomorrow's meetup.
Peter Carey is an excellent author (is he the only one to have won two Booker prizes - I must check that out). His writing style for this novel was so different to that of Oscar and Lucinda. He wrote as Ned Kelly, and showed his maturing by improving the language and grammar as his age increased.
However, I was not convinced of the story (at times I did wonder if it was true - eg did he really have a daughter?) and found the novel a little lightweight in comparison to his other Booker book.
Interesting to see if other readers have similar responses to the two examples of his work.
Thanks for sharing peggysmum.

Aragh, more Booker books! I'm trying very hard to keep on top of these rings.

Can't say I'm a fan of Peter Carey. I've tried to read Oscar and Lucinda (and couldn't get into it) and I've read one other. I will try and get to this one soon, but I have two other Booker Books ahead of it.

wow, a Peter Carey novel I actually enjoyed; I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. It falls about mid-way in the ranking of my Booker conquests.

It certainly does portray the Kellys as victims rather than criminals. Terrorised and tormented by the police and then discriminated against by the court system, Ned Kelly finally gives in and turns to a life of crime. He starts out stealing horses and finally at the very end, he and his reluctant gang, turn to robbing banks.

I thought I would have problems with the lack of puncuation and the bad grammar. However, this added to the realism of the novel. Carey has created an authentic voice for Ned Kelly and I often had to remind myself that this novel is fiction and not fact.

Poor Tantan! Another bookray for her already huge pile. I can hear her mutter now, "Not another adjectival Booker bookray!"

Update: handed to tantan at the Trivia Night, Australian BookCrossing Convention.

Received from fushmush at the Trivia Night. I hope I didn't mutter too loudly! :-) It's a bit of a worry when the organiser of these rings can't even see above her pile of books! Oh, and it's going on the pile - I should get to it before Christmas. :-)

Well it's been awhile coming, and my apologies to everyone before and after me on this list, but I've finally started this book! :-) I'm really enjoying it so far, and it will be heading off as soon as I'm done.

I fishined this last night, and I enjoyed it immensely. I thought I'd be struggling with the language style by the end of the first chapter, but I actually found it very easy to read. Apart from the movie that came out a few years back this is the most exposure I've ever had to the story of Ned Kelly. I realise that this book is fiction so I'll be keeping an eye out for other sources of information to compare.

Thanks for sharing peggysmum! blurbren has asked to be removed from the list so this will be heading off to lady-anglophile next.

lady-anglophile asked to be skipped on this one, and dodau has already read it, so I've posted to Jenatleisure on 03/01/06 via Surface Mail.

oops going through some books this morning and found this one hiding, thought it had gone on months ago, when a friend gave me her spare copy as I struggled to stay on top of my reading. Have just sent another journal to lillyanne to check address and get it moving again.

update just heard back and Lillyanne and the next person in the US want to skip so I have just mailed tania-in-nc