The Thorn Birds
by Colleen McCullough
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Book Reviews of The Thorn Birds
Book Review: The Thorn Birds--Enough said
Summary: 5 Stars
When my mother held out her favorite book with pride, all I could think was "That thing must weigh about as much as I do!" However, the 560 pages of this phenomenal novel fly by as the reader becomes engrossed in the lives of the realistic characters. McCullough demonstrates incredible talent by focusing on so many main characters and developing them as in depth as she does. The reader literally becomes absorbed in the lives of Meggie, Ralph, Paddy, Fee, Luke, Bob, Frank, Jack, Stu, Jims, Patsy, Dane, Justine, and Rain. Although this may sound intimidating to someone who has never read the book, it is easy to follow. I think people become absorbed in this book because they can relate to it. We all have to struggle for the price of happiness. McCullough says it best..." The bird with the thorn in its breast, it follows an immutable law; it is driven by it knows not what to impale itself, and die singing. At the very instant the thorn enters there is no awareness in it of the dying to come; it simply sings and sings until there is not the life left to utter another note. But we, when we put the thorns in our breasts, we know. We understand. And still we do it. Still we do it." This novel will definitely give the reader a fresh perspective on what drives humans in their lives.Book Review: A Fairytale Novel
Summary: 4 Stars
Many other reviewers have described this book as romantic, and indeed it is. Its pituresque rural settings, clear-cut characters, and impossible situtations make the book ripe for drama. And indeed drama does occur and often, making this rather lengthy book a surprisingly quick read. Its characters, as mentioned before, have very defining virtures and flaws, chracteristics to which they cling to adamently, as they bring the readers no surprises by their actions. This does not make their actions boring, however, as McCullough exhausts possibilities (mostly sexual) with each character before killing them off and concentrating on the next generation.
This book's tragic ending (I'm not giving anything away her- the introductory poem alludes to this much) has disappointed many expecting their fairytale romance to end happily. I did not think the ending failed for its depressing nature, however, but moreover because it was an attempt to tack a theme on a story at the last possible moment. The theme did interest me, but I would have appreciated it if it had been more religiously applied throughout the work, instead of only in the title, the introductory poem, and the conclusion. This flaw wasn't a major distraction, however, and on the whole, "The Thorn Birds" is definitely worth a read.
Book Review: Excellent depiction of rural Australia, but so-so melodrama
Summary: 3 Stars
It looks like I am the first reader to not find this book a 5-star page-turner. Since I like reading about rural and frontier life, I very much enjoyed the early part of the book which richly describes the Cleary's lives (both their emotional lives and their day-to-day trials) in New Zealand and their first years in Australia. But the plot got less and less credible after the demise of Mary Carson and the departure of Ralph from the scene, and at least for me, the story just deteriorated into a mediocre soap opera. Perhaps as a result of being Jewish and having grown up within a warm, ebullient and highly emotional family, it was hard for me to relate to Fee's stoic living dead manner, or see any higher, spiritual element in Meggies' love affair with Ralph. Basically this struck me as a story of 3 generations of somewhat dysfunctional women. Fee was very much a victim of her times, but once the family inherited some money Meggie at least had choices, which she never exercised. Far from inspiring, the hopeless infatuation between Ralph and Meggie had essentially hardened into a bad habit that, thanks to the emotional sterility of their everyday lives, neither one of them was motivated to break.Book Review: Deepest of love stories
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the deepest love story I've ever read about. More so than Romeo and Juliet, Lancelot and Guinevere, etc. The intensity is unmatched. I think it's because the beginning of their love starts so early, when Meggie is a 10 year old girl, somewhat neglected by her family. Ralph is a father figure to her for years, the only one there to care about her and help her grow up. So the foundation of the relationship is that of a vulnerable little girl and a protective man who's moved by her vulnerability. Then she becomes a beautiful young woman and their relationship is transported into another dimension.
The intensity is also related to the fact that the passion has to be suppressed for so many years. Ralph has never been with a woman before, and when they finally come together because he cannot suppress his feelings any longer, it must be the most powerful experience imaginable. All that together- deep love and attraction plus denied passion festering over years and years- then finally being able to let go and express it all. It would be uncontrollable and ecstatic.
I saw the miniseries before I read the book and was very moved by it. It was breathtaking. Especially the melody, which is incredibly haunting.
Book Review: Decent effort, but extremely disappointing.
Summary: 2 Stars
I'll admit it, I buy into hype a lot, which is why I read this book. The way people talked about it as well as its TV movie version, I expected a masterpiece along the lines of Gone With The Wind, which I read and loved. I can't say the same for The Thorn Birds.First off, I can not see how a thorn bird (a bird that endures pain on a thorn to sing a few minutes of a beautiful song) fit into the story. It is supposed to explain the forbidden love between a young girl, Meggie, and a priest named Ralph. However, it is touched on so lightly that it seems more like the two have crushes on each other than anything. The only part that I thought came even close to interesting was when Meggie married a man because of his stature (Luke) and ended up in an extremely unhappy marriage. The rest of the text is more or less a complete bore.
Overall, though, the concept was interesting and some of the writing was just beautiful. However, I still cannot say that those two make this a worthy read. In fact, the whole time I managed to read this I kept thinking that this book tried way too hard to be the next Gone With The Wind. Read that one, but not this one. Meggie is no Scarlett O'Hara.