Such Is Life (novel)

[1] It is a fictional account of rural dwellers, including bullock drivers, squatters and swagmen, in southern New South Wales and northern Victoria, during the 1880s.

In his self-introduction to J. F. Archibald, founder and editor of The Bulletin, Furphy famously described the novel as follows: "Temper, democratic; bias, offensively Australian.

At times the prose may be difficult for some modern readers to understand because of the use of Australian vernacular[3] and the attempt to convey the accents of Scottish and Chinese personalities.

Subjects which occur in the book but are not spoken of directly include: foul language; nakedness and undergarments; passing as the opposite sex; homosexuality among bullock drivers; effeminacy; mutilation; and murder.

At the same time the great joy of the novel is its realism: Furphy is able to capture the flavour of interaction between the bush characters he meets, their way of talking, the physical landscape, the feel of a nomad's life.