Such Is Life

Blurb

Such Is Life: Being Certain Extracts From The Diary of Tom Collins is a novel written by the Australian author Joseph Furphy in 1897, and published on 1 August 1903. It is a fictional account of the life of rural dwellers, including bullock drivers, squatters and itinerant travellers, in southern New South Wales and Victoria, during the 1880s.
The book gives the impression of being a series of loosely interwoven stories of the various people encountered by the narrator as he travels about the countryside. The people he meets round campfires pass on news and gossip and tell stories, so that sometimes the reader can infer information by putting these second hand stories together with the action of the narrative. At times the prose may be difficult for some modern readers to understand because of the use of Australian vernacular and the attempt to convey the accents of Scottish and Chinese personalities.
The title of Such Is Life is said to be derived from Ned Kelly's last words—said as he was about to be hanged.