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Oct 05, 2009

Shannon rated it:

I've wanted to read this book for years, but I'm glad I waited till I was at a stage in my life when I might appreciate it the most (though it wasn't deliberate). I didn't know anything about the story before I started except that it's a classic Australian novel, epic in scope, and was made into a mini-series or something starring Rachel Ward years ago. I like not knowing much about books before I read them, though: it leaves you wide-open for the story to be told, and absorbed.

This More...

8 comments like (26 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2011

Fiona rated it:

This is a book my mother has wanted me to read for a long long time. It is one of her favourite books and naturally she fancies Richard Chamberlain, from the 1980's mini-series.

The story itself is not something that wholly interested me at all, but McCullough has a talent for getting under your skin with these characters. In some parts, it feels almost impersonal in the way she tells this story. It is not as if you are there amongst the Cleary's, it is as if she is there guiding you t More...

9 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2010

Becky rated it:

I really enjoy epic stories and sagas, big sweeping stories that enmesh the reader in the characters and their lives, and make the reader more than just a bystander watching the action, but a sort of participant. We want things to go a certain way, we want things to go well, because we care about the characters, and we have invested our hopes in them.

Colleen McCullough has an almost magical skill in making her characters real and believable and true. That is what I love most about r More...

5 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2009

Suzanne rated it:

Colleen McCullough is a great storyteller in the Celtic tradition continued by Maeve Binchy. This is a book for women who want to dissolve into a story and be transported into that world. It was such fun! Who can forget the TV miniseries and Richard Chamberlain as the priest in love with the incomparable Meggie played by Rachel Ward. Mothers and daughters and grandmothers all watched, with their box of Kleenex by their side. It seemed to begin the US love affair with Australia...the next we More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2011

Xenia0201 rated it:

I think I read this for the first time in 4th grade. (I hid it in my room for a month b/c this is sooo not a book for a 10 year old!!) My father is an ex-Catholic priest who left the church for my mother so when the mini series came out, the world stopped in my house for an entire week. It's an epic saga about an Irish farming family who relocated to Australia to help work at an ailing aunt's ranch. The book spans some 40+ years of hardships they encounter. The only daughter, Meggie, falls i More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2010

Jon rated it:

I do seem to be developing a penchant for a good epic saga, I used to be a bit brick-phobic, thinking id never get through a long book without boredom setting in. But ive seen the error of my ways, its so good to get stuck into good characters and have the time to see them develop and change. Mccullough's writing and characterisation for the main characters is great. Touchy subject matter at times, does make you question how right it is for Catholic priests to be 'married' to God and the whole c More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 29, 2008

Fiona rated it:

This is one of the books I scorned for years. Romantic fiction - I used to think - is fluff for bimbos. Since I consider myself literate and intelligent (yeah, really!) I wouldn't touch this sort of book. Bizarrely, I was not ashamed to read even the most extreme - and extremely inane - crime fiction. ("After all, we all need to relax now and then." Hmmmph!)

Well, now I'm older and wiser and more inclined to read books for enjoyment than for the pleasure of imagining how peo More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Good Lord -- when did this book come out? 1978 -- I must have read it in the early 80s. This is one of the books that defined my reading tastes afterwards. I remember my mother reading this when it first came out. She sat in a hardback kitchen chair in our harvest gold kitchen and just read and read. Years later I did the same thing. It is funny now -- the Catholic priest angle that was so shocking back then seems rather quaint now. Still -- this is a book that shaped the multi-generation More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2008

Kathi rated it:

I didn't read this book when it was popular (when I was in high school) because my mother wouldn't let me - because of the affair the Priest has. I was also banned from watching the made-for-t.v.-movie. Well, a few months ago she was getting rid of a bunch of books & asked me if I wanted any of them & The Thorn Birds was in there. I asked if I was allowed to read it now that I was 46 yrs. old????
I gave this book 5 stars because it immediately pulled me in & the characters were so real More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 08, 2008

Sarah rated it:

One of the faintest memories I have of my childhood, is watching my Mom and Grandmother watch the miniseries, The Thorn Birds. At the time (around 3 years of age I would think), I didn't *understand* why they seemed so broken hearted, yet enchanted by what they were watching unfold on screen. I remember vaguely, the image of a priest in love with a young girl, a vast landscape, and an actor who went by the name of Chamberlain. That's all.

Fast forward 10 around 12 years. After I fini More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2011

Amin rated it:

داستانی بی پروا , با شکوه که مرکزیت آن عشقی ممنوع ,خیانت و بلند پروازی است . داستان در استرالیا در سال 1915 شروع می شود و تا جنگ جهانی دوم ادامه می یابد . خانواده کلیری از نیوزلند به استرالیا مهاجرت می کنند . قسمتی از داستان به دوران کودکی مگی دختر کلیری ها اشاره دارد . مگی بالغ می شود و تبدیل به دختری زیبا و جذاب می گردد.مگی عاشق کشیش کاتولیک رالف که مردی خوش تیپ و بلند پرواز است می شود. اما رالف در کشاکش بین این عشق و کاردینال شدن به این عشق ترغیب نمی شود. مگی سعی می کند عشق به رالف را با More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 26, 2007

Beth rated it:

The Thorn Birds (TTB) is about Meggie Cleary and Ralph di Brisscart. Meggie Cleary is the only girl in a Cleary family dominated by men. When Meggie is 10 the Cleary's move to Austrailia from New Zealand for a great job opportunity. At this time Meggie meets Ralph di Brisscart - a priest. Their love for one another at first seems quiet harmless as she is 10 and he is 28 but as she turns into a women and doesn't understand why she can't have Ralph to herself as her husband their love for one anot More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Erin rated it:

First time I realized that the Earth puts nature first. If humans came first there would be more climates suitable for us. I was thinking about this because of the VAST difference in climate just in Australia alone. There's really no climate in the world where it's comfortable for humans all year round. I use to think of it as purely our test. To learn to deal with pesty bugs and snakes and weather but I think it's simply God putting them first for once - His beautiful creation. We're toug More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2008

Lisa rated it:

I confess: this is a romance novel. I never would have read it except my mother in law gave some old version that's an unedited proof or something- nothing suspicious about the generic cover and the sheer bulk of it was sort of impressive. I also noticed from other reviews on this site that people had written dissertations on it , so I assumed it was legitimate literature or something. But having been duped into starting it I was quickly sucked into it. There's lots of cool biology and hist More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Heather rated it:

I read this book because a friend of mine had said that it was one of her favorites from childhood, and quickly realized the part it must have played in developing some of her completely nihilistic outlooks on the world. It is a great tear-jerker saga, well-written and interesting, though it could easily drop a stroy-line or two and tell the more interesting parts of the story in less space. The characters are well-balanced, allowing the reader to sympathize with most of them pretty easily. It's More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Chick_Flick rated it:

I seldom read romance novels and only picked this up because the title sounded familiar. I learned later that's because there had been a television adaptation of the novel. This foray into the genre only reaffirmed why I avoid the genre in the first place: the book is overly melodramatic; the characters are unlikable and one dimensional. The love between Father Ralph and Meggie bothered me; it didn't seem real enough and the age difference and the circumstances in which they met (she being a chi More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 12, 2008

Heather rated it:

I LOVED this book, and until I read the last paragraph I couldn't figure out WHY! What was so utterly unexpected for me is that the reason I love this book is precisely the exact reason I would have hated just yesterday it seems?!!? If that makes ANY sense. I almost feel like I have a different outlook on life than I did one day ago...much less one year ago...but I didn't realize it until THIS book.
This book is an impressive tale with all of life's elements present...in fact, it is a t More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2009

Tanya rated it:

What I learned? Hmmm... that I can read a novel that has 14,000 pages. LOL Just kidding. No it was a good book and I enjoyed it.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2007

x rated it:

Every character says repeatedly (as in the real world) the forbidden love will be defeated by Gods but ultimately Magi won because the most beautiful song is singing by Torn Birds.

من حتی گاهی فکر می کنم گر چه در این کتاب مداوم تاکید می شد
که همیشه جنگ عشق ممنوعه با خواست خدایان جنگی مغلوبه است اما سر آخر حسِ می شد که مگی برنده است.چرا که زیباترین آوازها ،آواز پرنده خار است More...

4 comments like

Feb 19, 2009

Amy rated it:

*(mary carson and ralph de briscesau- favorite characters)*

a story of tragic and defeated love, loves that aren't returned, and loves unable to be. a family in rural Australian outback struggle to live and love admist tragedy and obstacles. complex characters and senstive stories . many characters pay sad and burdensome penalties for other's love and loss. love is obstinate, regardless of its pain or manifestation and the characters choose to still love and to reach for that love, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 26, 2009

Kambin rated it:

This book was doing the rounds amongst my older cousins in about 1983 when I was about 11 years old. I read it at that point and then later watched the tv series starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward when it hit South African screens about a year or so later. I reread the book when I was in my 20's. I decided to put down a few words about it on a whim as I came across the book while browsing the site. Please bear in mind that I last read this book over a decade ago.

While t More...

0 comments like

Nov 30, 2011

Lori rated it:

Having only last night pulled out my DVD copy of the miniseries based on this book had thought I should add it to my Goodreads novel. After all, why not? :-)

A high school friend of mine (Catholic) was reading this novel when she was pregnant at age 19. I was 19 as well but our lives took us separate ways. We corresponded by phone even though living in the same town. When pregnant, she was unmarried and the church was making her and the father of her child get married regardless of More...

0 comments like

Sep 04, 2011

Nipuna rated it:

A well written book about emasculating men. I think it was supposed to be about self-inflicted pain that is unavoidable, which I suppose ties into religion and original sin and the suffering of Jesus. Kind of depressing to think that it's human nature to seek out pain and suffering though. But my overwhelming feeling from this book when I finished it last night was that all the men were emasculated. Is that what the church does to them? What Australia does to them? What women do to them as re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Two stars for decent writing, zero stars for plot and characters. Everything about the story itself just felt flat and clumsy to me. The only character I found remotely interesting was Justine, and the only romance I cared about was between Justine and Rainer. And that was only in the last seventy-five or so pages. Reading the rest of the book just felt like a chore.

I hated Ralph. He seemed manipulative and sketchy and at the same time didn't really feel like a real human being. I w More...

0 comments like

Jul 07, 2011

Becca rated it:

My grandparents taped the mini series off the television and kept it over 20 years; I had to read it!

I mistook the book: I had thought it would be about a torrid love affair between a man of the cloth and a wild, young redhead. I was a little bit right. But, turns out, it is a story of mothers and daughters.

I enjoyed the book and if you have the inclination to read it - do so! The author does a few things that I find important in stories spanning generations. Namely, she More...

0 comments like

Jul 05, 2011

Lenaharvey rated it:

First time I realized that the Earth puts nature first. If humans came first there would be more climates suitable for us. I was thinking about this because of the VAST difference in climate just in Australia alone. There's really no climate in the world where it's comfortable for humans all year round. I use to think of it as purely our test. To learn to deal with pesty bugs and snakes and weather but I think it's simply God putting them first for once - His beautiful creation. We'r More...

1 comment like

Jun 20, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I grew up with this story, it being my mother's absolute favorite. I can honestly say that I have probably seen the movie hundreds of times as mom would always watch it. I never read it until now.

The story opens with Meggie's fourth birthday and ends when she is in her sixties. I always had a hard time with the way Meggie's family treated her in the movie (which is an accurate portrayal from the book), and I didn't like Meggie much in the movie. However I must admit I liked Meggie More...

0 comments like

May 24, 2011

Savannah rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Apr 15, 2011

Carolann rated it:

‘There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and G More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 25, 2011

Susan rated it:

It took me two weeks to finish this novel, which is usually a sign that I don't care for a book, but that wasn't the case with this novel. I stayed interested in this classic saga from the first page to the last.

My favorite character was the heroine, Meggie. I couldn't personally identify with her struggles or her lifelong romantic tragedy, but I admired her strength and perseverance through all she had to endure.

I know that there is a mini-series based on this book, and More...

4 comments like