I've read more than a few accounts of life in Australia in this time period, but Clarke's was definitely the most depressing of the lot. While it was an intriguing look at the life of an innocent man convicted of murder and sent to various convict camps & prisons in Tasmania for life, it was also difficult to read. I kept cheering for Rufus, hoping that he'd finally get his break, but each time I was let down. So yes, I found it to be a good book, but no, it is definitely not a book to read when you are feeling even the least bit down, because it will just drag you down further! ( )

So far THRILLING! Yes and continued on as such, evocative, horrifying, sentimental, an emotional roller coaster. Ends a little improbably and abrubptly but evidently the published novel is only half of the original serialised as "His Natural Life". Contrast with English Passengers is stark - this is a far better book! ( )

An eye-opening read, that gives a true insight into the convict system. ( )

For the Term of His Natural Life is Marcus Clarke's novel about Rufus Dawes. He is a man convicted of murder, and really didn't do it.

He is sentenced to transportation and must endure the harsh convict environment in Australia, and survive that, as well as the women and other characters around him.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3424 ( )

First review of this classic australian book on LT, and not by an Australian? Anyway, here goes:
I read this book in a German translation (from an East-German publisher, complete with socialist commentary on the issue of transportation and penal colonies in a capitalist system). The translation was very good (unlike the cr*p we are served by some publishers today), although the original version I now own is much more authentic in its true 1840s style.
A gripping story about one man that gets wrongly accused of murder and transported to the Antipodes. I remember watching the mini-series in the 1980s and really getting angry, and the same feeling came back while reading the story of Rufus Dawes, who always loses, despite being a good man with the best intentions. The system of penal colonies and the rules applied within the system did not allow for people to really redeem themselves. You might survive and get back home if you kept a low profile, but Dawes who unintentionally got involved in a mutiny on the way to Australia never gets a chance to prove that he is indeed innocent.
Despite its age, a gripping read. ( )