i'm a very very complex person

I finished True History of the Kelly Gang last night. I wouldn't call it a great book, but it was worth reading. As I mentioned last time, the middle of the book suffered a little from repetitiveness, but it picked up again as I went and actually became quite stirring near the end (although I don't think Peter Carey can be entirely credited with that stirringness. The final pages include an extensive quote from the most stirring speech ever written--you know, the one from Henry V--and I imagine that I could make even this livejournal post stirring if I started reciting about we few, we merry few, and St. Crispian's Day, and the gentlemen in England now a-bed...) So perhaps that was bit cheap, but it worked. Still, I don't think it was just the Shakespeare that made the end of the story moving. There's something about watching a man move towards inevitable doom that always gets me; it got me in Sometimes a Great Notion, it got me in A Star Called Henry, and it got me in this book as well. Carey did such a good job of establishing Ned Kelly as a character that I couldn't help being affected as I watched Ned brought down by his own flaws.

Other thoughts about True History of the Kelly Gang:

The parts of the book that I liked best were the parts that departed from Carey's repetitive descriptions of outlaw life: when Ned fell in love with Mary Hearn, when his daughter was born, and when the gang began creating their armor.

While reading the book, it was almost possible to forget that it was set in Australia. It seemed so much like a story that could have come from the American west that I was jolted every time anyone mentioned the weather. A character would describe the merciless February heat or the frost and biting chill of June I would stop and say "What?" until I remembered that it was set in the southern hemisphere. That and Ned's fondness for similes involving wombats were really the only two things that seemed particularly Australian about the book.

As is usually the case after I read historical fiction, I am now quite curious about the real story of Ned Kelly. How much is actually known about him? How much of the book is true? Carey sites a few sources in his acknowledgments; perhaps I'll have to seek them out. Ms. E also informed me that a movie about the Kelly Gang was made a few years ago, but I know next to nothing about it...

In other news, my little sister recently asked me to generate a book list for her. I've been recommending books to her and giving her books as gifts for a long time, and I guess she's finally starting to appreciate my efforts! I put the list together at work yesterday, and thought I'd post it here in case anybody might be interested. It's basically just a list of books I love and think that everybody should read, along with some notes that are primarily intended for my sister.



Alphabetical by author, just to give it some sense of order:

Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart (I've never been able to decide how I feel about this book, but since you're so interested in Africa you should certainly read it.)
Julia Alvarez - In the Time of the Butterflies
Anthony Burgess - A Dead Man in Deptford
Anthony Burgess - Nothing Like the Sun
Anthony Burgess - Napoleon Symphony (I suggest reading Dad's copy of this--I wouldn't have made heads or tails of it without his marginal notes.)
A.S. Byatt - Possession
Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Michael Cunningham - The Hours (This can apparently be read and enjoyed without having read Mrs. Dalloway, but you may get more out of it if you have.)
Michael Cunningham - A Home At the End of the World
Junot Diaz - Drown (mainly just for the title story, but the others are good too)
Roddy Doyle - A Star Called Henry
Roddy Doyle - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (This takes getting into, but it's so worth it)
Jonathan Franzen - The Corrections
Jane Hamilton - A Map of the World (This is probably the least "literary" of the books on the list, but absolutely worth reading.)
John Irving - The Cider House Rules
John Irving - A Prayer for Owen Meany
James Joyce - Ulysses
Ken Kesey - Sometimes a Great Notion
John Knowles - A Separate Peace
Ursula K. LeGuin - Searoad
Ursula K. LeGuin - Always Coming Home
Ursula K. LeGuin - Unlocking the Air (none of these are sci-fi)
Cormac McCarthy - All the Pretty Horses
Larry McMurtry - The Last Picture Show
Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove (It took me nearly 300 pages to really get into this book, but once I did it was incredible)
David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas
Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita
Alan Paton - Cry, the Beloved Country
Tomas Rivera - ...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him
Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things
Salman Rushdie - The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children
Sapphire - Push
Graham Swift - Last Orders
John Updike - The Rabbit books
John Updike - The Centaur

Okay, so it's far from definitive, and I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff I've forgotten, but that should be enough to get you started!