One of the most beloved novels of all time, Colleen McCullough's magnificent saga of dreams, struggles, dark passions, and forbidden love in the Australian outback has enthralled readers the world over.

The Thorn Birds is a chronicle of three generations of Clearys--an indomitable clan of ranchers carving lives from a beautiful, hard land while contending with the bitterness, frailty, and secrets that penetrate their family. It is a poignant love story, a powerful epic of struggle and sacrifice, a celebration of individuality and spirit. Most of all, it is the story of the Clearys' only daughter, Meggie, and the haunted priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart--and the intense joining of two hearts and souls over a lifetime, a relationship that dangerously oversteps sacred boundaries of ethics and dogma

I dont know if I would class this as "beloved" but I remember the mini series on the telly when I was growing up. It was one of the reasons I picked up the book. Both the book and the TV series present a wild, harsh and open landscape in Australia. The main memory of the book is the scandalous relationship between Father Ralph and Meggie - the priest already having been ordained and sent out to the parish at the same time as Meggie is born, and after years of resisting, they finally have a sexual relationship which produces a son. The relationship ceases as Father Ralph moves up the ranks in church and ultimately has to confront his past and his feelings as his son follows him into the church.

Rather than "beloved" I would use the word "Iconic", both as a piece of literature, but also as Australian novel, especially since the subsequent child abuse stories that have come out from within the church (I think Meggie was over age of consent before she entered in the sexual relationship with Ralph but it was borderline). ( )

The Thorn Birds, or Everybody is an Idiot or Dead ( )

Bodice ripper of my older adolescence! ( )

2023 - ‘70’s Immersion Reading Challenge

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (1977, 1st ed.) 533 pages.

SETTING: Australia

3-stars. That’s it. I wanted to love this book because it has been on my bucket list of books to read ever since I was a senior in high school, 1983. The story started out pretty good, at least a 4-star, then suddenly turned flat about halfway through, with each generation on Draghedo (a sheep ranch) getting progressively worse. I couldn’t connect with the characters; therefore, I couldn’t care less what happened to them. The dialogue between the characters seemed unnatural at times, and the thought processes of the characters were a bit strange and rambling at times.

The Cleary family inherited Drogheda, a 30,000 acre sheep ranch in Australia’s Outback. It was a struggle, but they did learn, and they did keep it profitable and running strong during some of Australia’s severest droughts.

As the children grew up, Meggie, the only daughter of six, fell in love with the young and handsome Father Ralph de Bricassart. The premise of the story is based on this forbidden love between Meggie and the Priest and the mental repercussions of their decision to move their relationship from friendship to one of a sexual nature. And, I’m sorry to say, it just wasn’t that exciting. In fact, it was kind of strange that the Priest was so attached to Meggie, who was only 4 when she first arrived at Drogheda. He was about 21 years old. Now, nothing became of their relationship until later, but still, it just felt perverted until she was finally of age.

This paragraph pretty much explains the meaning of the title of the book, “The Thorn Birds”, and how it relates to the decisions we make in life (p. 390): “Each of us has something within us which won’t be denied, even if it makes us scream aloud to die. We are what we are, that’s all. Like the old Celtic legend of the bird, with a thorn in its breast, singing, it’s heart out and dying. Because it has to, it’s driven to. We can know what we do wrong even before we do it, but self-knowledge can’t affect or change the outcome, can it? Everyone singing his own little song, convinced it’s the most beautiful song the world has ever heard. Don’t you see? We create our own thorns, and never stop to count the cost. All we can do is suffer the pain, and tell ourselves it was well worth it.”

BOOK-TO-MOVIE

The Thorn Birds (1983) – TV mini series, starring Rachel Ward as Meggie Cleary and Richard Chamberlain as Ralph de Bricassart. ( )

While the plot on re-reading is still intriguing, the main release goes on for way too long. ( )