The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Thorn Birds
Book Review: A love story - so unforgettable
Summary: 5 Stars
Thorns Birds is a masterpiece. One of my favorite all time books. You will not be disappointed. It's a beautiful story about love, loss, revenge, ambition. I don't know if I can put it into words how magnificent this story is. Meggie and Ralph are two very different people who are obsessed with each other. Their love is so amazingly yet they cannot be together for so many different reason partly it is because for Ralph, a Catholic priest, is married to his first love which is the church. His ambition drives a wedge in this relationship and forces Meggie to hide secrets that will ultimately shatter her lover, Ralph. What can I say, this book has it all, death, tragedy, love, lust, obsession, melodrama, fights, struggles, etc.
Book Review: A reading adventure
Summary: 4 Stars
This sweeping saga, told from so many different perspectives, continues to fascinated, intrigue, and captivate after 30+ years. The parallel problems of the successive generations, with their central theme of forbidden love, add layer upon layer of pain to the dysfunctional Cleary family.
Despite the endless trials of Meggie, the story's central character, it is Father Ralph that we truly feel for. Meggie is not a likable enough character to really sympathize with, which I feel is the book's main drawback. But overall, this epic novel is wonderfully engaging.
Sarah Bruce Kelly
Author of THE RED PRIEST'S ANNINA
Book Review: Beautiful story
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely love this story. I first saw the mini series, and then read this book.
The story is about a love that is not quite unrequieted but certainly forbidden. Meggie Cleary falls in love with a priest, and he with her. But as you will find in the book Meggies loves the priest more because his relationship to God always comes first. I would say he is a man of great honour though some might say he is a coward. He always makes sure she is taken care of, but he never quite gives of himself totally to her.
The one thing striking about the priest is that he seems to be the perfect man in all things, and the kind of man that no woman could resist. The only thing that keeps him from totally giving himself to a woman whole heartedly is his relationship with God. Like I said before he is a man of honour, but some might say a coward for what seems like leading Meggie on. I do truly believe he loves her, but his honour of the committment he made to God gets in the way every time.
Read the book and enjoy a beautiful but sad love story.
Book Review: Endearing Family Saga With Unforgettable Characters
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read this book in 1977 when it was released and it was the best book I had ever read. It started me on a lifetime of loving multi-generational family sagas with characters I could never forget, characters such as the indomitable Meggie Cleary whose story is the heart of THE THORN BIRDS.
We first meet Meggie on her fourth birthday. She is the daughter of Fee and Paddy and living in New Zealand with her brothers Frank, Bob, Hugh, Jack, and Stuart. Later, more brothers would be born---Hals, Jims, Patsy---but Meggie remained the only girl, a steadfast spirit born to love the land and one unattainable man.
Paddy's older and childless sister, Mary Carson, has the Clearys come live and work on Drogheda, her vast Australian sheep station. It is there they meet Father Ralph de Bricassart, Mary's friend and confidante. He and Meggie are immediately drawn to one another, and though she is merely a child, a lifelong bond between the two begins. A bond both all-encompassing and all-forbidden compromises both their lives and gives the reader a deeply poignant love story that transcends time and conventions. A woman who can love only one man and a priest who can never love a woman more than he does his God makes for a powerful tale that leads from the outback of Australia to the most hollowed halls of Rome, enchanting Greek Islands, and London's bustling streets.
Meggie suffers through a miserable marriage and bears two remarkable children. There is Justine, the headstrong girl who turns her back on Drogheda to pursue the life of an actress in London, and Dane, the perfect son who Meggie loves most, but must give back to God to atone for her sins.
Searing in its dramatic love story and rich with the local color of Australia, THE THORN BIRDS is a remarkable novel, one often compared to GONE WITH THE WIND. Having reread it now after thirty-one years, I am struck again by its beauty, its enduring themes of love, betrayal, and redemption, and can only give it the highest of recommendations.
Book Review: Epic in story and writing skill
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the best books I've ever read. The epic story that tracks the relationship between a very young girl and a priest old enough to know better is gritty in reality but sensitive in examining the issues of pride, ambition, and sacrifices for love.
The writing is magnificent, the story compelling, and the ending is perfect - unexpectedly exactly what this story required regardless of how surprising that might be to the reader.