There could be thirteen million things to write about this book - but since I'm 'retired'.....only writing abbreviated reviews- I'll try to make this short. This novel must have been one of the most scandalous- talked about novels - to hit the book shelves back in 1977.
And..... it was a *FINE* read these past few days!!!!! By *FINE*, I mean a VERY ADDICTIVE compelling engrossing WONDERFUL read.....an epic that stretches our hearts beyond the Outback regions of Australia.

Tidbits....
.....The relationship between Father Ralph de Bricassart and Meggie Cleary calls for a lengthy book club discussion- in itself!!
Father Ralph says: "I've known Meggie since she was ten years old, only days off the boat from New Zealand. You might in truth say I've known Meggie through flood and fire and emotional famine, and through death, and life. All that we have to bear. Meggie is the mirror in which I'm forced to view my mortality".

.....A theme that never got off the ground: Early in this novel, when Meggie was a small child - in school with the nuns- she became friends with a little black girl. Racial tensions between the families grew out of injustice when Meggie had lice in her hair.
We soon move into part II of the novel. All we learned was the black family had to 'move'. I thought we'd see more 'racial' injustice stories - but this novel never followed that path.

.....One of my favorite characters was Frank..... 'the way' we discover his where-a-bouts years later was so darn sad. The 'worsening psychosis' news comes with no background story. I was left hanging 'too' long. Frank was often in my thoughts... I wanted more of him. His love for his mother, Fee, and only sister Meggie reminded me of 'what's right' in life. But I wanted more of 'that' too- Yet so much tragedy-no Peace Frank's father - Paddy - while growing up.
Sad... just sad!

.....Mary Carson - sister of Paddy, ( Meggie's father) -was one hell of a nice lady -- ha!!!! A narcissistic snake! lol

"The good die young"... was the only sentence that brought me to tears - the scene with Dane.. was pretty emotional- and that damn sentence "the good die young" is once of those sentences that can piss me off - fast - if in 'the moment' of grief. My dad died young. I'm not sure I find that sentence comforting 'at all'!

Justine- As unfair as I felt she was 'emotionally' loved by her mother- Meggie...she was my least favorite character in the book too. And... for no real reason - she didn't do anything wrong --( I did like her relationship with her brother) -- but I was too interested in other characters, more.

I could go on and on and on.....It's filled with drama, tabu themes, forbidden love, angst, secrets, love, family, marriage, illness, death, loyalty, money, religion, sex, - heartbreaking and affirmative... gorgeously written - master-storytelling!!

Thanks for all the - many friends here who encouraged me to read this!! I'm thrilled I did!!!

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. I didn't want the book to end. By the way, the so called affair the Priest had, was pretty mild. I highly recommend this book that is a story spans 6 decades.

"‏أما نحن، فعندما نغرز الأشواك في صدورنا، فإننا نعلم ونفهم. ومع ذلك فنحن نفعله، نحن نفعله مع ذلك.!"

نظن غالباً أن الألم قدر لا مفر منه.

ولكن عندما نصل إلى حافة العمر، ندرك أن بعض تلك الآلام كانت مجرد خيارات
ولكل منا أسبابه التي دفعته لجعلها قدراً..
فبعضنا مازوشي ،وأخرون يجدون الاكتواء بنارها كفارة دنيوية عن آثامهم، وهناك من يجعلها كندّ لاختبار شجاعته أو مقارعة خوفه، لكن الكثيرين منا يختارونها كنصال يزرعونها في قلوبهم فقط لأنهم يحبونها كآلام، أو لأنهم أضعف من أن يدركوا أنها "قابلة للاجتياز والتغيير" فيتقبلونها كما هي، بحتميتها الزائفة التي تعري وجهها الحقيقي أمامنا عندما نجتازها ونصل إلى خط النهاية.. حيث يغدو الإيضاح بحد ذاته ألماً يضاف إلى أرصدتنا القديمة...

طيور الشوك..
ثلاثية أستراليا بحق..
ورغم أنها ليست عملاً كلاسيكياً، إلا أنها هيجت ذكريات سنوات فتنت فيها بروائع الأدب العالمي الكلاسيكية ككوخ العم توم والبؤساء وقصة مدينتين وأحدب نوتردام وغيرها الكثير الكثير..

بين دفتي طيور الشوك تاريخ محايد لأستراليا في سنوات الحربين العالميتين والأزمة الاقتصادية والجفاف الكبير الذي أقرأ عنه لأول مرة في حياتي...

وهي كذلك كتاب توثيقي يحفظ قصة حب عذبة، ويعري الضعف البشري ورضوخه لجبروت الطبيعة، ونزاع النفس الإنسانية بين الجسد والروح، بين الدنيا والدين، وبين المخلوق والخالق.

لن أنسى رالف وفيونا ما حييت..
لقد كانا برأيي أشقى شخصيات الرواية...

يا الله كم شعرت بأن قراءاتي في الفترة الأخيرة كانت جافة وخشنة، فجاءت طيور الشوك كالمطر بعد الجفاف الكبير ❤️


تستحق أن تقرأ وتقرأ وتقرأ... وكم أتمنى أن يعاد نشرها في طبعات جديدة لتنال حظها الحقيقي من الشهرة والمبيعات في عالمنا العربي ولتصل إلى كل القراء الجديرين بالأدب الحقيقي الراقي.

Finally, I have read the book that everybody is always talking about. I loved this epic family saga, following Maggie throughout her life. This book is very descriptive, it also had lots of passion, but also lots of sadness because of the hardness they encounter. Overall, this was a good story and a book you need to read in life and I am glad I have read it. Romance is still alive in this world!

Heartbreaking and Beautiful! The writing and storytelling are magical. I have never and will never forget this book and will always be one of my all-time favorites!!

I have given this fabulous novel 5 Outstanding

نسخه‌ای که من ازش خوندم خیلی قدیمی و دو جلد کت و کلفت بود، نمی‌دونم این همونه یا نه، برای همین امتیاز نمی‌دم. اون نسخه رو من تو عالم بچگی خیلی دوست داشتم. شاید سه‌ی رو به بالا بهش می‌دادم.

Oh my word. This book was so unbelievably bad. I guess the problem was I began reading this book with high-flown expectations of it being "Gone With the Wind".

Well, it sure went somewhere. Downhill. Fast.

It literally made me talk to the characters, and not in a good way.

Fiona Cleary: "Lady, you have major issues."

Frank Cleary: "You have even more issues than your mother."

Meggie Cleary: "Honey, get off that stupid ranch and get a life."

And last but not least, Ralph de Bricassart:
"Stop whining about your stupid vows of chastity and CONVERT TO PROTESTANTISM ALREADY!!!"

Good grief, just about everyone in this d*** book needed to be psychoanalyzed.

It's been so long since I read this book that I can only guess... I think between 1980 and 1982, probably. I loved the movie years later, but not as much as I had loved the book. Too long ago to write a proper review, but this is one of those books that I know I will always remember.

Добра романтична история, по времето на соца вървеше и сериал по книгата, с Ричърд Чембърлейн в ролята на отец Ралф - голямо избухване си беше.

Романтиката на далечна Австралия си е чиста екзотика и до днес - колцина са успели да додрапат до там?

Given the epigraph (about a bird who sings the most beautiful song in existence, but only when it impales itself on a thornbush), this book thinks it's about a family that repeatedly suffers from self-inflicted wounds by making the wrong choice.

I think it's actually about a family that repeatedly suffers from self-inflicted wounds by not actually getting around to doing anything.

I swear to God, this is the most passive group of ninnies. I guess it all works out in the end after the third generation finally does make a choice of her own and gets to be happy, but she's manipulated into that choice, so I'm not sure even that counts.

Spoilers: Grandma is forced to marry the wrong guy. Grandpa doesn't actually woo her or anything--his employer basically tells him to marry her, so he does. Son 1 does manage to get himself imprisoned for murder, but it happens off screen, so who knows what actually happened there. The rest of the sons...never do anything. Everyone inherits a giant farm just for being related to a crazy lady, but get semi-disinherited for something not their fault and don't fight it. Family priest gets manipulated into inheriting. Daughter gets seduced by random dude and kinda tricked into marrying him. Then gets convinced by other people to go home, after other people set it up for her to sleep with priest. Grandpa dies accidentally. Son dies accidentally. Grandson dies technically saving someone but really accidentally. No one actually comes up with a plan for their life and actually does it--the entire plot consists of things happening to them, not them doing something on purpose. Arrgh!

It's well written enough, and I did want to know what happened to the characters. But when I found out, I mostly just wanted to strangle them. Yes, the wounds are all self-inflicted. But they're not even self-inflicted for good reasons. These are the most un-self-aware characters ever. You know what? They deserve to suffer. At any point, most of them could have ended their suffering in fifteen minutes by removing their heads from their asses. There are plenty of people who suffer tragically and nobly. These ain't it. Grow up, people. There's no reason to be so miserable.

¡Magnífico!

On the face of things, The Thornbirds wears the guise of a romance novel, the story of forbidden love, but that's only the novel's outward guise. I think anti-romance would be a better way to define this novel. In fact- in this way- The Thornbirds reminds me of the pulitzer-prize winning Lonesome Dove which- I would argue- is actually an anti-Western. Both The Thornbirds and Lonesome Dove find the outer reaches of their chosen genres (romance or western) and then push as far as they can, fighting and buckling against the constraints that the genres impose, standing theme and plot on their head and inventing a new world of literature.

Both novels result in loaded, epic tomes, like some sort of Biblical whale that swallows everything in its path. So: The Thornbirds is epic (Australian) history, family psychology, feminism, theology, romance and anti-romance and melodramatic tragedy nearing Shakespearian ordinance. Oh, and solid, almost brilliant, use of the omniscient narrator in action.

Let's break it down:

History: The Thornbirds gives us a panoramic view of the development of Australia from just before World War I through the 1960's including wars, hard times, the development of technology, changing fashions and styles, and changing culture itself. These changes manifest or appear mostly in the background of the novel which is really focused on three generations of women of the Cleary family and the men who (would) love them, but make no mistake, this is also a novel about the land itself and how it is transformed both by nature and by people. In fact, one of the biggest characters in The Thorn Birds is Drogheda, the massive estate (and sheep farm) that plays a major role in the lives of four generations of people. If other parts of the world are transformed by mankind, Drogheda- which sits on the edge of the blazing Australian outback- is that which resists the march of progress. Any progress that comes must trickle in so as not to disturb the blazing heat, endless dust, dry lightning storms, and the needs of 125,00 merino sheep.

Colleen McCullough is the author of The Thorn Birds, and as a writer, she brings a lot of good stuff to the table. One is her ability to report on natural and historic detail. Whether its describing an army of rabbits, sheep, "kangas", and emus racing to escape an outback brushfire (possibly one of the most frightening and menacing description of a landscape fire in literature) or describing General Montgomery's army advancing towards a wall of artillery fire in the North African desert (I told you this novel covers a lot of ground), McCullough has a gift for describing the big and small in brilliant, vibrant strokes.

Beyond her ability to rend scenery in great detail, McCullough is also very good at presenting characters' inner psyches. I feel like McCullough is a smart observer and reporter of the human condition. Some great examples includes Fionna Cleary's tendency of favoring her boys over her sole daughter, Meg and- even further- favoring her first born son, Frank, more than the others. She does a fabulous job of blending this into the wool of story, showing how a mother's rationed love will effect each set of children differently, give them a different perspective on the world, and how that- in turn- changes other things and so on, a great domino effect. Other examples of this psychological examination include Father Ralph's intractable pride (possibly his greatest sin), or Justine's total fear of serious commitment. These are built elegantly into the plot, but one refreshing things is that McCullough is not afraid to also tell her readers exactly what the case is. She's not afraid to just come out and write a piece of exposition stating that Fionna Cleary has essentially no use or interest in having a daughter, or that Father Ralph will sell people out in his hunger for a career in the church. I think that it takes a certain boldness for writers to just come out and state something in the 3rd person omniscient, but McCullough is capable at pulling it off.

Feminism: While not a feminist tract by any means (and that's good because novels that are blatantly political tend to be problematic), Thornbirds is not a story that shirks seeing its female characters developing across the generations. Spanning from proud Fionna who will never question her husband's (Paddy's) will, to Meggie who starts off as everyone's doormat but who eventually builds her own spine, to prickly Justine who is not giving up anything for anyone. McCoullough is smart enough to give each of the Cleary woman their own collection of merits and flaws. None of them are perfect, but it is heartening to see them reflect the slow progress for women since the end of the industrial era, and by the time we get to difficult/ contrary Justine (Meg's daughter) we can forgive her stubbornness because its been earned by the suffering of her mother and mother's mother.

I also mentioned that this book is an anti-romance. What does that mean? Well, romance novels have a certain set of conventions that go with them, and we mostly expect them to end happily or with a tragedy that is counterweighed by immense spiritual uplift. True, it does have some hot romantic scenes between the very handsome Ralph and a beautiful Meggie and those scenes are tinged with burning desire and desperation and there is a deep sense of spiritual sacrifice (for Ralph, not so much for Meggie); however, without (hopefully) giving too much away, The Thorn Birds give us neither the happy ending nor the transcendent tragedy. Instead the end is a jigsaw puzzle of bittersweet riddles. It seems, in some ways, everyone gets what they want, but not what they need, and that's not good. So if you always get what you want and not what you need, then your victories ring hollow, or there is a lack of soul in there or something lack that. Ergo, the book bucks the conventions of romance and travels it's own enigmatic route.