Game

by Trevor Shearston

A moving and brilliant literary novel about the last days of legendary bushranger Ben Hall.


The thought was coming more often. That wherever he was, he was at the centre of a cage. He couldn't have said when the notion first entered his head. Some time in the last months. It was more now than a notion, he could see the damn bars. They were grey steel, the height of a man on horseback. In a dream he'd ridden out of a clump of boulders and caught them just before they retreated, how he knew what they looked like.

It is 1865. For three years Ben Hall and the men riding with him have been lords of every road in mid-western New South Wales from Bathurst to Goulburn, Lambing Flat to Forbes. But with the Harbourers' Act made law, coach escorts armed now with the new Colt revolving rifle, and mailbags more often containing cheques than banknotes, being game is no longer enough. The road of negotiated surrender is closed. Jack Gilbert has shot dead a police sergeant at Jugiong. Constable Nelson, father of eight, lies buried at Collector, killed by John Dunn. Neither time did Ben pull the fatal trigger, but he too will hang if ever the three are taken. Harry Hall is seven. Ben has not seen the boy since his wife Biddy left to live with another man, taking Harry with her. The need to see his son, to be in some way a father again, has grown urgent. But how much time is left before the need to give the game away and disappear becomes the greater urgency?

A spare, epic work of haunting beauty that breathes life back into legend and confirms Shearston as one of Australia's finest writers.

Genres: Australia, Historical, Historical Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

Trevor Shearston has published a story collection and seven novels. The last, Game, was longlisted for the Miles Franklin, and shortlisted for the Christina Stead and Colin Roderick awards. He lives in Katoomba.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a crush on Ben Hall when I was 5, thanks to the 1975 ABC TV series which must have hugely romanticised him. So I was pretty excited to find there was a well-regarded novel about the bloke. I like Ben Hall a lot less now (though I'm still glad I once visited his grave in Forbes), but I like Trevor Shearston much more. Shearston does a great job with Hall's selfishness and self-regard, his willingness to risk the lives and happiness of his friends and family, all while thinking of himself as a decent fellow who had no other choice but to go on the road. Shearston does a lot of alluding and not a lot of explaining: I liked that his sparse writing and enigmatic references made me slow down (for once) and take my time. I thought this was an impressive effort, the kind of carefully crafted, finely paced novel I couldn't ever imagine having the patience to write.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trevor Shearston, author of the Miles Franklin long-listed Game, is a well-established novelist with a backlist of six novels including Something in the Blood (UQP, 1979); Sticks That Kill (UQP, 1983); White Lies (UQP, 1986); Concertinas (Bantam Books, 1988); A Straight Young Back (Flamingo, 2000) and Dead Birds (HarperCollins, 2007). But I have to confess that I had never heard of his work, so I am pleased that the long-listing has brought him to my attention.

Though it obviously has merit, I wasn’t very excited about Game but I can see that Shearston is a writer to explore further. He has an interesting style, and in Game he has a cunning way of linking topical themes with the historical record.

Game is a fictionalisation of the life and preoccupations of the bushranger Ben Hall (1837-1865). Let me say at the outset that I have no time or patience for bushranger mythology: one of my neighbours was held up at gunpoint when she was working in a bank and it wrecked her mental health. While Ben Hall may not actually have pulled a trigger, he was part of a gang that was responsible for murder, and he was a thief who terrorised his neighbourhood. So as a character, he did not have my empathy at all. When in this book he reaches the stage in his ‘career’ where there is no prospect of negotiated surrender because the police – with better weapons, new laws and improved strategy – were beginning to have the upper hand, I felt not a twinge of sympathy for his entrapment.

But in the wake of recent local examples of domestic violence against women being played out with unconscionable male violence against their children, I found myself considering this book in a different light.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/04/23/ga...

[Tien · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving tale of Ben Hall where we are given a glimpse of the man, or who the man could’ve been, behind the bushranger mask. Whilst a number of his adventures as bushranger is included in this story, there are endless possibilities of the thoughts and feelings that would’ve driven Ben Hall to do the things he did and I think Trevor Shearston has done marvellously in balancing that sympathy with a man who is ‘driven’ to bushranging and yet, not condoning them in any way. The book felt very realistic – life was hard, in fact, it was harsh for these Aussie pioneers and one would have to adjust as one chose to.

The book opens with a scene of Ben Hall, Jack Gilbert, and John Dunn bailing a coach. It was actually quite exciting beginning except that I was struggling quite badly with a cold (found it hard to concentrate), the historical terms / lingo (it took me some time to understood that ‘trap’ referred to policeman), and confusion over who’s saying what. This last bit happened quite a few times as a three-way conversation (or more) was told mostly in what was said and not necessarily who said them which can get quite confusing a lot of the time.

My background contributed to my struggle with Aussie terms and sayings. I immigrated to Australia when I was 15 so whilst I got to know most modern Aussie lingos, the gap in my knowledge over Australian history (including linguistics) is quite wide. For example, I had to actually search over the internet as to whether any of these characters were real. To my shame, they were (thanks, Google & Wikipedia!) and it sounded like the story of Ben Hall was quite faithful to historical events. I found it very interesting that Ben Hall was described as, “Unlike many bushrangers of the era, he was not responsible for any deaths” [Wikipedia]. There were also things they did, which were well described but since I had no idea what it was, I still got confused. For example, pit-sawing. Again, thanks to the internet, I found pictures to my great delight for now I understood what Ben was experiencing and reason behind his restrain.



Ben likes to thinks that circumstances forced him into bushranging and truly, conditions were so harsh and injustice so rife, that many bushrangers were on this path as they truly believe there is no other alternative. Many people (the poor, in any case) understood bushrangers to have had a rotten past and would be helpful in sheltering them and sharing provisions. The bushrangers themselves would try to repay as best they could. Nevertheless, were whatever it is that made them chose this life reasonable?

[Ann] “…He chose to give up Sandy Creek. No one force him, not even Biddy, though I’m sure he likes to tell himself it was her fault – which goes to what I was saying about blaming everyone but himself. He’s not the first man to be left by his wife. If they all used that as a reason to take to bushranging there wouldn’t be a road safe to travel.”

There really no other way to end this but one way. You could probably tell which way that is. As I said, this book appears to be pretty faithful to historical events. A truly poignant tale of a wretched man struggling to find his way. This is more than just a tale of a legendary bushranger. This is a story of the man who has strayed off the straight path and was looking for a way back.

If you’d enjoyed True History of Kelly Gang, you would definitely love this book. In a way, though I struggle with the language here, it was actually worse with Kelly. If you are not Australian, you would find it a bit hard to read but if you are interested in the history of Australian pioneers and bushrangers, you’ll find this hard to put down.

Thank you, Allen & Unwin via The Reading Room for copy of uncorrected proof of this book in exchange of honest review

[Lee Battersby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on the real-life last days of bushranger Ben Hall, 'Game' has an opportunity to give us an insight into the mindset of a man who turns his back on a seemingly average life to live his final years as a hunted outlaw. However, the novel is hamstrung by its obvious need to adhere to recorded history and so fails to deliver any consistent underlying thematic thread. Some of the writing is surprisingly awkward and clumsy at the line length, the dialogue is littered with affectations and comes across as stagey and unnatural, and without a strong narrative direction, all the reader is left with is the story of three unlikeable idiots riding around in circles.

[Kangelani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not understand a word. And I am familiar with the Aussie accent. Good luck if you are a foreigner!

[Kirsti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Growing up, I realized my father was bushranger mad. No, he didn't have Ned Kelly tattooed to his back, he knew all about the 'minor' bushrangers. He would spend hours bush walking local areas, even more time devoted to books. I remember I even had a year six project on Bushrangers, and I knew instantly who I would ask to help out!

So, unsurprisingly, when I visited relatives in Binalong a few weeks ago I had to check out Johnny Gilbert's grave just outside the town. Then my partner came up with the brilliant idea; why not find out where many of the famous bushrangers where buried, and go and visit there graves too? Of course that led us to Forbes, to visit Ben Hall's gravesite. We drove out to his shooting site too (BTW, if you ever go, the sign points down the wrong road. Use a navman)


So yeah, while I wouldn't consider myself an expert, I kind of have had a long association and awe for the characters in this book. So why would I give it two stars? I'll try to explain.

While I'm sure this author has done their research, this book is drier than a textbook on the subject. Remember when all the Harry Potter fans got bored in Deathly Hallows and called it a book about camping? Well, it has nothing on this book. There is so much damn camping that I often forgot where they were camping and why. Basically this book was long periods of nothing followed by a small action scene and then we're back at camp. The plot should have been exciting; it wasn't.

Plus, then there were the characters; I seriously expected a bit more personality from the gentlemanly Ben Hall! There were a few nice moments between father and son but other than that I felt absolutely nothing for him. He could have easily been mistaken for one of his companions, instead of the antihero he could have become. I wanted MORE. More darkness and yet a reason to justify him. I never got that.

I bought this book a few days after returning from Forbes because I wondered if anyone had ever fictionalized Ben Hall's life. I honestly thought about how good it would be, and then found this book. I'm so disappointed that I didn't like it! :(

The writing is also slow and monotonous; beware! Sentences become chunky and blocked down by character's thoughts and actions in a constant stream. Sometimes we're treated to a beautiful sentence about the bush land surrounding them, only for the next page to be filled with description. In this case, less would have been more but instead I had to forced myself though constant tree descriptions. There must be a reason I read so much YA; a good YA never gets bogged down by waxing poetical!



So yeah, not my favorite book of the year. Definitely not worth the $30 I paid for it. I wonder if there is other Ben Hall fiction? Hmmm. (PS, Seriously hope these images work with the review. I NEVER use images, so I hope I did it right!)

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mac the K A riveting read that takes you along with Ben Hall and his gang in to the stones, pastures and bush of new South Wales, the sluicing rain, the sunshine, the bullets lodging under their skin or shredding their flesh, to sit by them by the fireside, know what they eat what they are thinking, the pauses of fear and the bubbles of bluffing I-need-to-survive arrogance. Shearston though never takes their side completely - for the trials placed on those who take him in and their fears are clearly shown.

The novel made me want to work out what was real and what was not. Was Ben Hall really that tender to his son - I am still searching to see if he really did give Harry that gold watch, paid for and engraved. I suspect the author's research was meticulous because at times it seemed almost as if he was twisted the story just to make sure a fact got in - the muslin cloth, the various people involved in the hold ups, the backgrounds of Gilbert and Dunn, the town site at that time in Collector. It would have been nice to have known more about that. Is the work one of fiction or was it 'speculative non-fiction', that is, giving colour to as much historical fact as known?

The relationships between the characters were deftly shown in many ways , the position of their bodies, their glances, what they did and did not stay and how they said it. Ben is trying to convince Harry , his son looked after by his estranged wife,, to come travelling with him overseas (so he could leave the bush ranging life behind);

" 'Wouldn't ask 'em, mate, I'd pay 'em. Give 'em a letter.'
The boy looked down again at the ground. Ben watched as the toe of the boot went out and crushed a bull ant just turning away from the log with a cheese crumb in its jaws. The boy waited for another to discover the crushed one and crushed it too. He understood that he'd been given the answer.'

The only challenge I had with this book was the confusion of characters at the beginning. It was hard to follow who was who and related to who and that almost made me put the book down. The vernacular of the day was confusing and I still don't know what some words meant (a scapulae?)

Despite that I am really glad I kept reading. (less)

[Calzean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shearston shows Ben Hall as a man who has found himself as a bushranger in the Southern Highlands and mid-west of NSW. Shearston's book covers the period from November 1864 where the gang robbed a mail coach at Black Springs Creek near Jugiong till May 1865 when Hall was killed.

In reality, the Felons Apprehension Act was passed by the Parliament of New South Wales for the specific purpose of declaring Hall and his comrades outlaws, meaning that they would be "outside the law" and could be killed by anyone at any time without warning.

Hall has made mistakes, is estranged from him son. His wife has left him. Hall and his compatriots are seeing the life on the run getting harder and harder. People who help them get arrested for harbouring. Hall wants to start a new life and bring his life of crime to the end.

The writing is sparse, using a lot of dialogue. The picture painted is of a man who has few regrets except for losing his son, but who recognises he needs to escape or be killed. Life is tough, Hall is considered to be a gentleman, but society needs to remove the stain of the criminal past.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shearston tells the story of Ben Hall, one of Australia's famous bushrangers, at a point where he is thinking of giving the 'game' away but is still 'game' to waylay coaches for their gold as he builds the nest egg he plans to use for his escape to New Zealand or beyond. I have never had much sympathy for bushrangers, although I understand the social conditions that led to men becoming outlaws. But this writer doesn't try to make Ben Hall a hero but does give him and his gang a lively reality. The writing is straightforward and the story interesting, even though we know the end if we know our bushranging history.

[Naomi Parry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of bushranger stories will love this, and it's a refreshing take on an often-told tale. I can think of several people who need this in their Christmas stocking. It's a very male book, talking about male culture at an interesting time in our history, and at the book's heart is the father-son relationship, and the safety and peril of cleaving to family.

This book contains some very beautiful visual images and has a great sense of place (the glorious Central West) and a strong story. The opening sequence is superb - it's just waiting to be filmed.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ben Hall is nearing the end of his career as a bushranger. As the police tighten their net around him and the men who ride with him, he plans to leave Australia and make a living elsewhere. But can he can outrun the police, or will they take his life?

Trevor Shearston's Game is the retelling of the last months of Ben Hall's life before he was shot down by police in May, 1865.

I found Game to be an engaging, brooding read. Heart-pounding scenes of police ambushes and the Hall gang's regular stick ups keep things lively, while Shearston interrupts these moments with Hall's ominous contemplations on his future, his failing attempts to reconnect with his son, Harry, and the scrutiny of his and his gang's actions.

That said, for me, there was no spark to the story, no life. While this does suit the themes of the book, the story needed something more to lift us out of the encroaching doom that's there from the start. The characters, especially Hall, came across as flat and lifeless, some interchangeable, and I didn't care who lived and who died.

At the start, I found the language confusing, that it obscured what was actually happening, but at other times, I found myself impressed by the images that Shearston conjured up with his writing, vivid, dreamlike and ultimately fascinating.

I can't help but feel this novel is a mess of contradictions – sometimes sublime, sometimes dull. I'm glad I read but I don't know if I'd pick up another novel of Shearston's in a hurry.