Wow, I'm not sure how to rate this book really. I'm waffling between 3 and 4 stars. There is so much I loved about this book and then so much I didn't.

I remember when the mini-series was re-aired in the 80s and I was at a family reunion and the adults how this running during the summer and I saw bits and pieces of it. I never read the book and in the last few years the book has crept into my consciousness and I found myself yearning to read this story. I'm very glad that I did and got a piece of life so different from mine.

This book was set in Australia and a little bit at the start in New Zealand. I haven't read a story set in that part of the world yet and his book made that life in that country come to life back in that time period. We don't see much of New Zealand and they were only very poor people there, but we see what life is like on a ranch in Australia in all the daily details of what life is like. I'm adverse to the desert and the heat, so I don't want to set foot in such a place, but I love that I can learn about it through reading in my coolish apartment. I honestly don't get how people can stand to live in that kind of heat.

There is lots of slang in this book and names of things I never knew existed. Some of the slang is explained and some is not. There is a 10 year drought in this story, 10 years. I can't imagine not having rain for that long. I would go mad in those conditions. I could stand the constant rain to drought.

How to describ Colleen's writing. I love her characters, fully realized. Her tone is about as harsh as the setting in some ways and yet there is a smattering of softness here and there. Life is hard in this story and Colleen never lets us forget it. Everything is bright and so well told. Lines leap off the page and stick in your head. She is gifted, but I can't say it feels to me like she writes with my heart. Maybe the heart in her writing is all for the characters and how she loves them, even as she bashed the shit out of all of them, over and over.

Meggie is the central character in this story and her family around her. We start off the story when she is a girl and we finish while she is heading into old age. We see 3 generations of Cleary women love and how they deal with it. The Cleary's are a strange lot. For some reason, the boys don't marry. Meggie has like 6 or 7 brothers and none of them want a wife. For some reason they are all to shy to meet girls. That feels alien to me. I don't get it. It adds to the sadness of the story. The other main character is Ralph de Bricassart, a priest that minister to the ranch.

We see them go from the 1920s to the 1960s, so it's a sprawling story. WWII is really the only major world event that has a real impact on the story, but it takes place all over Europe. The heart of the story beats in Australia. Colleen must love that part of the world dearly for it shows in her descriptions.

What I'm learning is I'm not much of a fan of a story about lovers who never really let themselves be together. There is always something keeping them apart for most of their lives, but they can only love that one person. It's only pain and more pain. I love this sort of thing as a teen, but after going through love and seeing it differently, I feel this whole thing is silly and it's not a trope that interests me anymore. While I'm not a fan of this troupe, I still enjoyed reading about this life and what went on. I'm just not a fan of characters inflicting such wounds on themselves. I'm sure many people back then, especially not having as much choice as we do, went through this in some way in their life, but I still don't appreciate it. Somehow, authors don't enjoy writing about couples who are healthy and happy and still have tough times to get through. I guess I'm simply weird.

Also, I know there are amazing people in church, as I have had several family members who were in it, but we also now know all the problems the Catholic church hide and kept behind closed doors until it exploded out recently. There is a lot of politics at the higher lever. I feel like Ralph could have exposed a little of that, maybe not the focus, but he could have been in contrast to things going on. As brutal as the book was, Colleen's picture of the church simply seemed to rosy to me.


Spoilery - possibly!




I do like the story arc of the women in this book. We meet Fee, a woman who loved a man and couldn't be with him and then took a husband to have kids with and only after he died realized how much she grew to love him. Then there is Meggie, who has only loved Ralph her whole life, but she tries marriage with Luke, that detestable lug who wants no part of marriage. Meggie ends up single with 2 kids. Meggie has Dane and Justine. Justine is the combination of Fee and Meggie. She never want to marry and content to be alone, or so she convinces herself. But finally, after 3 generations, it looks as though Justine is the one who has finally been lucky enough to find love and he seems like an amazing man. Justine is the one that seems to heal the family 'curse' or finding a way to love a man who can love her back.

I thought the whole death with Dane was overwrought and put there simply to tug on our heartstrings and make her characters suffer more. It felt a little cheap to me. He was healthy and had a heart attack in his 20s, really???

We see Meggie's first year in school and what a horror show it was to see nun's teaching school. Man, no wonder I have friends who can't stand the church after they had similar things in their school. It was brutal and it broke my heart. Fee neglected Meggie emotionally in many ways. Meggie having to go through her period on her own, knowing nothing and having no one to talk to was a sad thing. Meggie is a wonder, truly.

Ralph, I can't say I understand the appeal of Ralph. colleen works hard to make the reader fall in love with Ralph and even one of the blurbs on the book compared him to Rhett Butler. He is a beautiful man, I can see that, but I can't understand why he has such a pull on people. I liked him, but I didn't think he was the bees knees either. He sounded beautiful, but if he's not available, move on. But, people in the service of a higher purpose do have an appeal and so I can see it from that angle, but not to the point of breaking myself over. I guess un-requited love can be harmful if you never experience the real deal. Anyway.

I did enjoy the book. It was an amazing read, so I will be generous and give it 4 stars. I did enjoy my time reading it and I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Colleen has a series with Ceaser and I want to read that some day. I hope it doesnt take another 40 years to do so.

I threw this out of a moving car. I still think I should give it another chance since so many people love it. I just couldn't take it.

How to describe ’The Thorn Birds’? It’s hugely long (around 700 pages) has an uncomfortable premise (the relationship between a Catholic priest and a woman - they first meet when she is 10 and he is 26) and it was massively successful. The book is the most successful Australian book ever and the TV mini series was the second most successful of all time when it first aired. Oh, and it’s fine. The premise is less horrific than it might have been, the length is just about justified by the multi-decade, generational family saga style of the story and it’s readable enough. The book came out at the time that the rest of the world was remembering Australia existed, and the setting helps - there’s an authenticity to it all that makes even the minutiae quite interesting. There are some decent set pieces too, including a storm sequence which is wonderfully dramatic.
The characters are okay, not exactly fascinating, but interesting enough that I did enjoy following their lives. The lack of a real plot is probably the book’s biggest weakness. It’s one of those blockbusters that’s more a series of things happening than an actual story. Sometimes that works but I’m not sure it did here.
In summary, it was 700 pages and I finished it, so I guess it was okay?

اول ببینیم پرنده خازار چیه :
پرنده ای افسانه ای که در تمام عمرش تنها یک بار آواز می خواند؛ آوازی که دلنشین و بی همتاست. ولی برای این کار اول باید بوته ی گلی  پراز تیغ پیدا کند و با کوبیدن خود به تیغ ها آواز خود را سر دهد؛ آوازی که به بهای زندگی اش تمام می شود.

✔️ پرنده خارزار به نظر رالف میاد . با رسیدن به مگی (گلی با تیغ های فراوان) هم به سعادت و هم به نابودی کشانده میشه !!

✔️ دو تصویر متفاوت از زن رو در داستان داریم : اولی ستون اصلی خانواده و باعث ادامه ی نسل ( فی و مگی و بعد جاستین .. ) و دومی که مورد پسند نیست عامل گناه و اغوا کننده !! خانم کارسن (سن و سال زیادی داره اما همچنان هوس باز و در پی دام انداختن پدر روحانی ) فی (بچه ی اولش نامشروعه) - مگی (خیانت به همسر و دارای رابطه نامشروع با رالف) - جاستین (دختری که به اخلاقیات پایندی نداره!)
✔️ از حجم کتاب اصلا نترسید

This book keeps showing up in my newsfeed. I watched the miniseries with my mom when I was in junior high. Soon after I poured through the pages and devoured every word. It was one of my favorite books then. Maybe my GR Feed is telling me to read it again!

"The heart wants what it wants, or else it does not care”
Emily Dickinson (letter)

Why has it taken me so long to finally try this novel? I’ve been enthralled these last fours days, putting aside all other books in favour of this one, snatching any moment to get back to the Clearys and Drogheda.

I don’t often read epic sagas but McCullough gives us such beautiful and flawed characters, so well portrayed, that you cannot but believe in them, in the reality of them, feeling all their experiences, dreams, pains, mistakes, victories. I loved some, hated others, wanted to knock some sense in many. Usually, ‘generation’ tales lose my attention when shifting from one group of protagonists to the next. Yet this didn’t happen here, the narrative leading you on and on without a break. Meggie, as indeed Fee and Justine, is the connecting thread - the three women in this world of men. Only one aspect made me a little uncomfortable not that Ralph is 18 years older than Meggie but that he met her when she was a child and had this position of authority, but thankfully the author dealt with this in a manner I could accept.

As you can imagine, there are plenty of themes, but the two main ones for me were that of Pride and Love in all its guises, impeding people from doing things, or indeed pushing them into action, for the wrong reasons. And in that aspect, it reminded me of Dickinson’s words - “the heart wants what it wants” - be damned the consequences.

This novel is also more than just its people. McCullough gives us snapshots of life in different settings, all fascinating, from New Zealand to Rome. My favourite still has to be Australia and Drogheda, the harshness of the sheep farming life, and its unending beauty (minus spiders, of course).

I was a child when I first heard of The Thorn Birds, an 80s tv series with a certain Richard Chamberlain, but I am so happy that I’ve finally read it. Off now to re-watch said series... :O)

This was a reread for me and just as enjoyable the second time around!

Rating: 5.0/5.0

A Masterpiece in short.
I absolutely enjoyed reading this book. It is my favorite book of August 2017 reading list and indeed became one of my all time favorites as well. I have no idea why it took me so many years to pick it up and read it!. This is a family saga. The story follows three generations of Cleary's family. We see characters go and new characters come. There are so many things in this book. Although the synopsis mainly mentions about the romance but it is much much more than this. It has lots of happiness, sadness, love story, struggle, faith, spirituality, sacrifice and passion.

The writing is so good and enjoyable. The characters are so well defined, every one of them. The author was successfully able to make all the main characters be easily imagined by the reader in a clear vivid way. There are so many scenes in this book that will never be forgotten. Every character has its own misery and vulnerabilities. Fee Cleary stuck in her own sadness, Meggie's love to a priest Ralph that can never be fulfilled, Paddy's troublesome relationship with Frank. The fate of Dane's life and Justine's constant irritation of Drogheda.
It is difficult to say more without spoiling the story. Yes it is not a short book but I would say worth every minute spent reading it.

If you love family sagas you should read it for sure. It is one of the best.

فی بافتن را از سر گرفت و به نرمی گفت: "پس وقتی ما برویم، دیگر کسی نخواهد بود. دیگر درویدا نخواهد بود.آه، چرا، یک خط را در کتاب‌های تاریخ به آن اختصاص خواهند داد، و روزی مرد جوان و کوشایی به گیلی خواهد آمد تا هر کسی را که چیزی به یاد داشته باشد پیدا کند و با او گفت‌وگو بکند، برای کتابی که قرار است درباره درویدا این آخرین دامداری قدرتمند نیوساوث ولز، رج بزند. ولی هیچ‌یک از خوانندگانش هیچ‌گاه نخواهند فهمید که آنجا واقعا چگونه بوده است. چرا که نمی‌توانند بفهمند. باید پاره‌ای از آن می‌بودند تا به آن پی ببرند."


بعضی از کتابا هستن که خیلی نمیشه درموردشون صحبت کرد، چون از خودشون ردی روی قلبت میذارن که باید حس کنید و تو قالب کلمات نمی‌گنجه.

کتاب داستان پرفراز و نشیب سه نسل از خانواده پرجمعیت کلیری‌هاست، یا بهتر بگم هسته اصلی کتاب تنها دختر این خانواده "مگی"ست. ابتدای کتاب نامه‌ای از خواهر بزرگ پدی (پدر خانواده) به دست کلیری‌ها می‌رسه و در پی یک زندگی بهتر از نیوزلند به استرالیا مهاجرت می‌کنند.
با مهاجرت کلیری‌ها به استرالیا داستان کم‌کم از فضای نوستالژیک و خانوادگی خارج می‌شه و کلیسا و عشق و سیاست به ترتیب وارد کتاب می‌شه.
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پرنده خارزار یک کتاب دوجلدی در یک جلده!
جلد اول ۴ بخش و ۱۳ فصل داره، هر بخش به یک شخصیت تعلق داره و محور اصلی داستان تقریبا همون شخصه. جلد دوم هم ۳ بخش داره و باز به همین‌صورته.
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جلد اول با عشق تموم میشه و جلد دوم با جنگ جهانی دوم و قحطی شروع میشه و بی رحمانه یادآوری می‌کنه که زندگی قرار نیست همیشه آروم و قشنگ باشه و اتفاقا خیلی بی‌رحم‌تر از چیزیه که ما فکر می‌کنیم.

حدودا دو فصل ابتدای این بخش پر از اطلاعات تاریخی و سیاسیه، و به طور کلی از ابتدا تا انتهای کتاب در پس‌زمینه داستان می‌تونید یه اطلاعات کلی از تاریخ و تحولات استرالیا در قرن بیستم کسب کنید.
و خب حرف از تاریخ شد، و تاریخ دوباره تکرار میشه.
انگار اتفاقات زندگی مادر برای دختر به ارث می‌رسه و... (خودتون بخونید من که نباید همه‌شو بگم!)

حضور مگی در جلد دوم کم‌رنگ میشه و بیشتر درمورد فرزندانش می‌خونیم، هم‌چنین از استرالیا دور می‌شیم و به واتیکان، رم و لندن سفر می‌کنیم. بهتره بگم این بخش دختر جا پای مادرش میذاره و حضور جاستین دختر مگی پررنگ‌تره و در اغلب اتفاقات حضور داره.

نکته قابل توجه در جلد دوم کتاب، مقایسه زندگی مگی و جاستین بود.تحولاتی که برای جامعه زنان در این مدت رخ داده و طرز تفکرات و... به‌خوبی مشهود و قابل لمس بود.

در نهایت نمی‌تونم بگم این کتاب حکایت خیلی جدید و متفاوتی داره یا شما رو با هیجانش میخکوب می‌کنه اما این کتاب دقیقا همون کتابیه که بعد از یه روز پرمشغله، باید توی سکوت شب خوند، ذهن رو رها کرد و از طبیعت وحشی استرالیا لذت بُرد.
شما بزرگ‌شدن و قد‌کشیدن شخصیت‌ها رو می‌بینید، از تصمیم‌هاشون باخبرید و منتظر عواقبش هستید. با این کتاب خواهید خندید و خواهید گریست و احتمالا از دست رالف و لوک انقدر حرص بخورید.
و فضاسازی و جزئیات کتاب اونقدر قشنگ و کامل و به‌جاست که حس می‌کردم همین الان با کلیری‌ها در درویدا هستم.
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من آدمی نیستم که به ادبیات کلاسیک علاقه‌مند باشه و احتمالا بدونید چقدر سخته واسم خوندن کتابای کلاسیک اما پرنده خارزار کتابی بود که من رو تا صبح بیدار نگه داشت.
پس اگه مثل من کلاسیک‌خون نیستید، احتمالا این کتاب رو بپسندید و اگه طرفدار این سبک هستید لذت خوندنش رو از خودتون دریغ نکنید.
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پ.ن۱: گویا کتاب یک مینی سریال داره، اما بعید میدونم نگاه کنم چون دیدم رالف توی سریال به جذابیت رالف توی کتاب نیست و نمی‌خوام تصوراتم خراب شه.

پ.ن۲: می‌گن این کتاب و برباد رفته شباهت‌های زیادی دارند، ایشالله بعدش بریم سراغ اون. (البته الان نه، شاید سال دیگه)

پ.ن۳: فکر می‌کنم کتاب به یک ویرایش نیاز داره، ترجمه خوب و روانی داره اما یک دستی به سر و روش کشیده بشه شاید بد نباشه!

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 child at the time) didn't sit well with me either. The characterization of the son also was done poorly. I didn't connect enough with him to have felt the devastation Meggie et al. felt at his death. He was supposed to be so great and pure, yet McCullough only managed to tell -- as opposed to showing -- us why.

The Thorn Birds is a beautifully written Australian novel. This story spans over three generations of the Cleary family. It mainly centres around young, Meggie who is the only girl in the family. Meggie's mother only has eyes for her sons which leaves. Meggie feeling very unloved by her mother. Growing up there are many things, Meggie needs to know about life in general, but Meggie knows she can't ask her mother. So Meggie turns to the the local priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart for answers. Ralph is very fond of, Meggie and the more he see her the stronger his feelings become. He can also see that Meggie is also starting to have feelings for him and knows he must put a stop to this before it goes any further.
As the story unfolds we see the Cleary family deal with love and loss and with loss comes heartache.

I absolutely LOVED this amazing story. This is the first book I've read by, Colleen McCullough and it definitely won't be my last. The descriptions of the places in this book are incredible and you can picture it all so clearly as you are reading. This was a compelling, enjoyable and emotional read. This book took me quite awhile to get through, but it's one of those books that should not be hurried. If you love reading Classic or Historical novels then make sure this one is at the top of your list. I read this book with, Kathy a friend of mine who also loves reading. Although, Kathy read this book quite a long time ago she enjoyed just as much if not more the second time round. A truly memorable book that will stay with me for a long time to come. So if you haven't read this book PLEASE do yourself a favour and read it as you won't be disappointed. HIGHLY recommended.

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 God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain . . . Or so says the legend.

And there sets the setting for The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough; a quest in search of true love but faced with a powerful, forbidden passion that only grows stronger and more painful as time goes by .

The Thorn Birds, a true literary classic in its own right, was absolutely absorbing and compelling as you journey through three generations (1915 - 1969) of the Cleary family from the hills of New Zealand and the dusty lands of the Australian Outback to the grand cathedrals of the Vatican in Rome.

The emotionally gripping and compelling writing is one of the purest examples of purple prose executed to perfection in my honorable opinion. It had me spellbound for a good 5 days as I read through it only to face a heart-rending climactic finale. I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to get lost in a novel filled with captivating characters who face five decades of family tragedies, harsh realities, forbidden love, and ultimate self-discovery.

One thing I must note is that I am glad I waited to read this book when I did because I feel it takes an open mind and relaxed moral compass to appreciate the sincere, tasteful, and beautiful love story infused in this novel. Had I read this in my teens or even twenties, I think I would have gasped an outrage of blasphemy and sacrilege, but at this point in my life I can set the actions apart from the roles of the characters and see them as mere humans with understandable needs for love and affection despite their position in life. Ralph and Meggie's account is a timeless story because it deals with forbidden love and wanting what we cannot have, which can easily resonate to many readers, plain and simple.

It was heartbreaking to see history repeat itself where the Cleary women put their lives on hold, yearning for a man they cannot have and neglecting their children along the way, while at the same time you witness the men of the family allowing their lives to drift by without a true quest to find something more meaningful for their lives besides just working the land.

Overall, I was immediately drawn into the Outback and the lives of the Clearys and towards the end of my journey, I found myself resisting the closure of this book. The Thorn Birds has definitely found a spot on my favorites list, as I loved the story, the turbulent cast of characters and beautifully descriptive scenes in this book. Great read!