Dar prieš skaitant šią knygą, žinojau, kad ji yra apie uždraustą meilę. Tokios knygos nėra man prie širdies, tai galvojau bus taip saldu, kad vartysiu akis beskaitydama. Ir vat šitoj vietoj buvau neteisi. Šioj knygoj tiek visko daug ir taip viskas gerai sudėliota ir parašyta, kad ta uždrausta meilė man liko nublankus kažkur, kiti dalykai labiau patraukė mano dėmesį. Buvo ir juoko, ir netikėtumų, ir liūdesio. Nu labai gerai parašyta, aprašyta tiek dešimtmečių ir viskas tiesiog eina sava vaga.

Sięgnęłam po tą książkę tylko dlatego że moja mama ją uwielbia. Po przeczytaniu jestem tak samo zachwycona, nowy ulubieniec.

I read this book for the first time more than 20 years ago, and now having reread it, I still like it just as much - although I forgot how sad the whole thing was.

This was the best buddy read with @Maegan. We both happened to have this same book and had no interest in reading it, probably because of it's thickness, other books needed reading etc. So we decided to give it a go, finally, and thank GOD we did. We were both mesmerized from page 1 to 637.

I loved how it started out in New Zealand with an Irish immigrant family as the main characters. Then from New Zealand we move to Australia with the grumpy rich aunt and the greedy power hungry priest. McCullough covers three generations of Clearys from 1915-1969. If I knew these people in person I'd say they were ordinary and almost boring but the author does a great job of giving them such life and dignity and secrets that could tear them apart but actually bring them closer to one another.

The outback is described fantastically with the weather and the animals in their surroundings.
I cannot do this book any justice without getting into detail or botching my words. There is always the synopsis but that too cannot make you feel the story as deep as when you are in it.

I highly recommend and would not give this away to Goodwill. It is definitely a keeper for life.

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

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.

692 pages of a wonderful family saga. I loved it all.....the secrets, the family, the bonds, the deceit, the stubbornness, the pride and the love!!!! Sooooo goooood!

Magnificent! Well this was a trip down memory lane.. I read this over and over as a teenager. It was my first ‘racy’ book. At the time it was the Meggie/Ralph relationship I was most focused on. And then Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward went and ruined it. They just weren’t how I ‘saw’ Meggie and Ralph. So when I rated this from memory, I gave it a mediocre 3 star rating. Now I am older and wiser. I loved it all, but particularly enjoyed the evolution of the relationship between Fee and Meggie. And the relationship between Justine and Rainer was the most romantic. Despite a book containing so many men, this book is, for me at least, all about the women. And all about the pain we choose for ourselves:
‘The bird with the thorn in its breast, it follows an immutable law; it is driven by it knows not what to impale itself, and die singing. At the very instant the thorn enters there is no awareness in it of the dying to come; it simply sings and sings until there is not the life left to utter another note. But we, when we put the thorns in our breasts, we know. We understand. And still we do it. Still we do it.’

Sinto que vivi uma vida inteira neste livro. Poderia arranjar dezenas de adjectivos sinónimos de maravilhoso, fantástico, incrível e ainda assim nunca iria parecer suficiente. Acontece com os melhores. Atentem no primeiro parágrafo da obra:

"Existe uma lenda acerca de um pássaro que só canta uma vez na vida, com mais suavidade do que qualquer outra criatura sobre a Terra. A partir do momento em que deixa o ninho, começa a procurar um espinheiro, e só descansa quando o encontra. Depois, cantando entre os galhos selvagens, empala-se no acúleo mais agudo e mais comprido. E, morrendo, sublima a própria agonia e solta um canto mais belo que o da cotovia e o do rouxinol. Um canto superlativo, cujo preço é a existência. Mas o mundo inteiro pára para ouvi-lo, e Deus sorri no céu. Pois o melhor só se adquire à custa de um grande sofrimento.”

Este romance acompanha três gerações da família Cleary entre 1915 e 1969 e desenrola-se principalmente na Austrália. Ainda que ficção histórica não seja dos géneros literários que mais aprecio, tenho uma certa tendência para adorar (e até delirar) com enredos focados numa mesma família. Este em particular toca em temas como a existência do ser humano, a importância das escolhas e a incerteza/certeza do destino.

Motivos para ler este livro é o que não falta por aqui, deixo os meus eleitos:
1 - as personagens são tão completas que sentimos que vivem para além do livro
2 - a escrita da autora é cativante, rica em imagens e sentimentos, conseguimos facilmente visualizar as paisagens que a autora descreve
3 - a autora consegue relacionar muito bem a história da família com os acontecimentos da época
4 - é um livro muito absorvente, daqueles que nos fazem esquecer onde estamos
5 - Colleen McCullough sabe realmente como contar uma história

Não é um romance perfeito, nem sei se tal coisa existe. Reconheço que a autora se excedeu um bocadinho, podia ter contado a mesma história em menos páginas. Também fiquei de pé atrás com o comportamento de algumas personagens femininas, demasiada submissão para o meu gosto.

No final, estes pontos menos positivos pareceram-me pouco relevantes, terminei o livro com uma sensação difícil de descrever e agora que já passaram alguns dias percebo o quanto estas personagens me marcaram. Não se deixem intimidar pelas mais de 600 páginas, garanto-vos que esta experiência é inesquecível.

Opinião no blog:
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Read long ago

A rollicking historical saga about Meghann Cleary and her family, from their poor beginnings in New Zealand to living on a huge livestock ranch (Drogheda) in the northwest of New South Wales, owned by Meghann's aunt and managed by her father, pending him inheriting the ranch on her death. But when her aunt sees the growing attraction between teenage Meghann and the local priest, Father Ralph, she tests his faith by writing an alternative will, leaving the whole estate to the Catholic Church, with the proviso that the Cleary family by allowed to live at Drogheda in perpetuity and be paid an allowance. The author takes the reader through many years of history as the family struggle against drought, war, love and personal tragedies which kept me gripped throughout. Great characters that you could totally believe in and excellent storylines makes this a justified inclusion in the Big Read Top 100 - 9.5/10.

This epic family drama follows the Clearys through three generations, spanning most of the 20th century.
Love, loss, war, fire, and regrets that last a lifetime.