The wrong book won !! (True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey)

Member Name: MartynColebrook

Product:	True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey
Date:	11/12/02 (359 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ambitious form

Disadvantages: The rest of the novel

The Booker Prize 2001 was a proverbial two-horse race between 'The True History of the Kelly Gang' and Ian McEwan's 'Atonement' and in all honesty any sense of justice would have seen a stewards enquiry after Peter Carey's novel was victorious. Compared to the elegant realism of the runner-up, Carey has both the subtlety and finesse of a policeman's clumsy boot into the much deserving Ned Kelly's posterior. Since this is from someone who has been a long-serving Carey and McEwan fan so there can be no accusation of bias but it has to be said that 'The Kelly Gang' is neither compelling, compulsive or particularly interesting. A previous reviewer suggested that the audience would find a single voice somewhat monotonous but this is, in all honesty, something of an understatement when you contemplate the 346 pages that lie ahead. In all honesty this is the first book for a number of years that I have been unable to finish and as a particularly tenacious reader it?s something I hate having to admit to. Admittedly the previous 'writer' (perhaps parasite would be more appropriate) to receive this polemic, vitriol and disparagement was Martin Amis and the day he produces a worthwhile novel is the time I stop reviewing lest I should have to award praise.

Anyway, in the midst of such slander I digress. After discovering the joys of 'Bliss' and 'Jack Maggs' it was with great anticipation that I began trying to devour his latest offering but found a somewhat undercooked, indigestible meal in place of the gourmet cuisine the Booker Prize winners would have us believe. Far from being effective, his use of the single voice is intriguing for a few pages and the eloquent metaphors maintain a sense of the pure Irish lexicon that Joyce, Synge and Banville will wax lyrical with later but after that his repetitive introspection and absence of any truly redeeming features become simply irritating, if not bordering on
those of a somewhat Oedipal teenager (and this is just after midway). One of the nagging feelings I had throughout my odyssey into the final hundred pages was that far from being able to identify or empathise with the errant Ned, he became simply another character who was oppressed during this time but compounded his misery by repeatedly violating the law. The development of a character through monologue will often work to stunning effect but in this case what began as a reasonably daring experiment descended into tedium and disappointment.

Probably the most convincing aspect of 'The Kelly Gang' rests in the omnipresent figure of Harry Power who, despite his early departure, continues to haunt Ned's tortured soul. Carey's depiction of such a vicious, exploitative character who is still able to fulfil his role as the paterfamilias does go some way to compensating for the weakness of his main characters and this absence of character depth is probably the main criticism I can lodge. However, 'Jack Maggs' and 'Bliss' are indebted to him for the surreal qualities of the latter and sheer brilliance of perspective for such a marvellously Dickensian adaptation which is why I am beginning to think that The Kelly Gang had loftier ambitions but whilst the intent was there, the execution remained firmly on a level of mediocrity I've not encountered in a novel for some time ... apart from Martin Amis that is !!

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