فعلا فقط در این حد که بگم شاهکار بینظیری بود. بعدا میام یه ریویو خوب واسش مینویسم

بعد از جین ایر احتمالا این کتاب قشنگ‌ترین کلاسیک عمرم خواهد بود.
چقدر فصلای آخر گریه کردم.

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?

لم أشعر بالوقت وأنا أقرأ هذه الرواية العذبة التي تتكون من أكثر من 1300 صفحة، كنت التهم الصفحات والأحداث وأتابع الحوارات الجميلة والشيقة بلهفة وشوق.
مهارة السرد لدى الكاتبة جميل وبسيط ومتقن، يجد القارئ نفسه منسجمًا مع الأحداث وكأنه يعيش حقيقة مع شخوصها.

الرواية جميلة رقيقة وعنيفة. تحبس الأنفاس بل وتمزق نياط القلب. تجمع كل عناصر الجذب الروائي، الرومانسية والحب المحرم، الغنى والفقر، الغيرة والانتقام، الفضيلة والكبرياء، الحب والألم، الكراهية وجحيم الجفاف العاطفي. الزواج وتعارضه مع النذور الرهبانية الكاثوليكية، الإيمان والإلحاد. إضافة للوصف الساحر الذي أغدقته الكاتبة للورد والشجر والبحر والقرى والمدن والحرب والحرائق.

ملحمة إنسانية أبطالها حقيقيين كما تقول الكاتبة:
“إن الحوادث التي تتعرض لها طيور الشوك هي قصص حقيقية، سمعتها تروى في البيت منذ كنت صغيرة. وعشت أحداث بعضها بنفسي. وعندما كنت أجلس أمام الآلة الكاتبة، كنت أفكر دومًا بذكريات وأشخاص حقيقيين. فهذه الرواية هي ثمرة الأمانة التي أصف بها أشياء أعرفها تمامًا، بدءًا مني ومن عائلتي.
رالف حقيقي… وأمي هي التي أحبته.
كان أحد أخوالي يملك مزرعة أغنام في قلب أستراليا تشبه جدًا دروغيدا.
أبي كان قاطع قصب في كوينزلاند، مثل لوك، ومثله كان يجري دائمًا وراء النقود، ولا يريد أولادًا”.

ولأن الكاتبة كتبت عن شخصيات حقيقية سمعت عنها في طفولتها، والبعض الآخر عاصرتها فتكاد تكون أحد أبطالها، إلا أنها أخرجتها ككاتبة معتمدة على أحداث حقيقية في نسج روائي متكامل، أعاد إنتاج الواقع فمزجت بين الحقيقة والخيال بأسلوب أدبي جميل. رواية لا تنسى.


اقتباسات..


“عندما ترى يدي شخص مشققتين فاعلم أنه شريف”.

“عندما تصبح الأمنيات خيولًا يصبح المتسولون أغنياء”.

“لست أدري لماذا تستحوذين على قلبي الذي لا وجود له، بهذه الطريقة!”.

“يا إلهي، أريد أن أحيا، أن أحيا حقًا! وأعانق الليل والحياة، وأكون حرًا”.

“أن يكون الإنسان رجلاً فهذا يعني ألا يكون كاهنًا”.

“الجهل يولد الجهل. وحين يرقد الجسد والعقل فهما لا يستفيقان أمام أشياء تبدو واضحة جلية لشخص آخر أكثر تيقظًا ووعيًا”.

“ما لا تراه العين لا يأسى عليه الفؤاد”.

“كل إنسان يملك الحزن في داخله، وليس خطيئة أن يتذكر الإنسان أحزانه”.

“تستطيعين القول عن حق أنني قد عرفتُ ميغي عبر الفياضانات والحرائق والجوع العاطفي، وعبر الحياة والموت. وكل ما علينا أن نتحمل. ميغي هي المرآة التي أرى من خلالها فنائي”.

“هل الحب ليس إلا نسيج من صنع مخيلات النساء؟ أم أنه شيء لا يمس إلا النساء أو الرجال الذين يملكون شيئًا من المرأة في داخلهم؟

“الارتباط العاطفي يجعل من الانسان قاضيًا عقيمًا”.

“أولئك الذين ذهبوا إلى الحرب بفرح، متلهفين ضاحكين، عادوا إلى بيوتهم صامتين، يتكلمون القليل ويضحكون نادرًا. من كان يحلم فقط عند بدء الحرب أنها ستدوم هكذا أو ستكلف كل ذلك الثمن؟”.

“إن عالم الفاتيكان هو عالم عتيق، فاسد، متحجر”.

“كل منا يملك في داخله شيئًا لا يمكن انكاره، حتى لو دفعنا ذلك إلى الصراخ متمنين الموت. نحن ما نحن، هذا كل شيء. كما في تلك الأسطورة السلتية التي تحكي قصة الطائر الذي يغرز الشوكة في صدره وهو يغني قلبه حتى يموت. لأنه مجبر على ذلك. لأن ذلك قدره. إننا نستطيع أن نعلم بخطأ ما نفعل، حتى قبل أن نفعله، ولكن هذه المعرفة تعجز عن التأثير على النتيجة أو تغييرها، أليس كذلك؟ وكل منا يغني أغنيته الصغيرة وهو متأكد أنها أروع أغنية يسمعها العالم. ألا تفهم؟ لقد خلقنا أشواكنا بأنفسنا دون أن نتوقف لنقدر الثمن. وكل ما نستطيع القيام به هو أن نتألم، وأن نقول لأنفسنا أن ما فعلناه كان يستحق الألم”.

“إن حب الله سرّ عظيم”.

“هذه هي نتيجة الشيخوخة، إنها تعطينا الوقت الكافي لكي نفهم لماذا فعلنا ما فعلناه، والخرف رحمة لمن لا يستطيعون أن يواجهوا أنفسهم”.

“إن الطير الذي يغرز الشوكة في صدره يتبع بذلك قانونًا ثابتًا، وهذا القانون يفرض نفسه عليه. إنه لا يعلم ما الذي يدفعه إلى غرز الشوكة في صدره، فيموت وهو يغني. وفي اللحظة التي تخترقه بها الشوكة، لا يعلم بأن الموت قادم، ولكنه يغرد، ويغرد، ويغرد إلى أن لا تبقى فيه ذرة من الحياة لنغمة أخرى. أما نحن، فعندما نغرز الأشواك في صدورنا، فإننا نعلم، ونفهم. ومع ذلك فنحن نفعله، نحن نفعله مع ذلك ."

كولين ميلو.

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

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!

I am only giving this book 5 stars because I can't give it 10. This is one of the best books I have ever read!

Highly recommend!

It took 200 pages of this book for me to confirm that the novel's 'hero' is a pedophile, and that his love interest is the young child that he meets as a girl and spends years grooming in the presence of her family. A horrible book.

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 was super creeped out by his "love" for Meggie. Meggie herself I didn't like at all. She seemed so vapid, and most of her dreams consisted of marriage and babies, babies, babies. Urghhhhh.

The dialogue felt stilted and overly formal, even for the time period in which the book took place. The story didn't feel at all real to me. Despite the religious aspects of the book (Ralph is a freaking priest for God's sake) it didn't make me think about religion or spirituality or Catholicism in any meaningful way.

So yeah, I'm quite disappointed with this book. I think I'll stick to The Poisonwood Bible and Gone with the Wind and The Legend of the Fire Horse Woman for my family epics.

Красива, затрогваща и на моменти жестока история за род, земя и любов. Любов, грешна и свята, неподвластна на времето и обстоятелствата, прекършвана и създавана отново и отново в един вечен кръговрат.

Това представлява на пръв прочит най-четеният роман на Колийн МакКълоу. Не може да се отрече, че романтичната нишка в книгата движи голяма част от сюжета ѝ. Голям плюс за мен е това, че „Птиците умират сами“ всъщност е семейна сага, която представя живота на герои от цели три поколения. Страхотни бяха описанията на действителността и битието от началото на XX век – връзката на хората с природата и земята. Имението на семейство Клийри за мен е едно от най-магнетичните, очарователни, топли и едновременно с това свирепи места, на които съм имал удоволствието да се радвам като читател. Подхващайки романът не знаех нищо за любовната история в него, пред какво се изправя тя, през какви конфликти преминава и как завършва, затова не смятам да развалям преживяването на бъдещите ѝ свидетели.

С добри чувства оставам към „Птиците умират сами“. Единственото нещо, което не ми допадна толкова, бе че книгата леко промени тонът и атмосферата си от един момент нататък.

This beaut of a soap opera has been around for decades & for excellent reason. Epics have been forgotten & currently authors satisfy their readers (or not, as the case may be) with smaller stories & smaller lives.

McCullough has the tenacity to include three generations in this sprawling saga, and as family portraits usually tell of differences between the generations PLUS the ties that bind them together & to a home, this one exactly does that in an extremely entertaining fashion.

Fee marries her second choice, not the man of her dreams, and becomes pregnant with more or less the number of digits one has in both hands; she lives a quiet & ironically isolationist existence. Her daughter Meggie, the protagonist until her daughter takes the helm, also suffers her mother's character flaws... fate plus genes a maudling story make. Her priest Ralph, in what is the central love story, chooses God over his heart. The same is not repeated but is indeed echoed in the last generation as Justine, who finally breaks the curse, leaves the warmth and monotony of her family in Drogheda to actually take flight & follow her instincts which had failed the Cleary women in the past.

There are only 19 chapters in this massive chronology and many events occur, mostly random and sometimes poetic, but they never fail to surprise. There are so many characters, & all of them, you feel, actually employ humanity, act like actual persons that may have lived. There are acts of stupidity and compassion. People repress many feelings, more for personal convictions than for social or familial obligations we seldom don't visit in books such as these!

Ralph is an idiot for causing so much pain to both he and his love. What does that say about organized religion and the crimson-clothed of the almighty Vatican? The Clearys, though not intelligent mainly because of the collective "Irish pauper" mentality the patriarchal figure bestows upon his offspring (Papa Cleary and Ralph's proxy, Luke pretty much F*** things up for the rest). They are, however, extremely hard workers and this pays off well. There are many morals, many moments of euphoria, and even slight (by today's standards) snippets of hot erotica! You pretty much stand witness to one of the most complex yet endearing pieces of literature.

Highlights: 1) the death of one of the Cleary boy's via warthog asphyxiation immediately following the death of his father via fiery "holocaust." 2) Ralph meeting his love at her retreat where she is in isolation is definately one of the most romantic notions I have ever read... it is written with the finest sense of what love really is. 3) learning what "French Letters" mean. 4) transition from New Zealand to Australia to Rome, Greece, London. Such sprawls indicate that life can expand from its moldy origins to experience infinite possiblities, arrive at distal ends.

I recommend this book for someone not afraid to having a two-three week relationship with a soap opera that, unlike those on t.v., does not insult the audience with romantic cliches or expected "disasters." The novel is organic: a testament of lives that experience pain and pleasure. The reader only experiences the latter.

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

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The Thorn Birds is one of those books that might be as great as I remember . . . or it might have been a real turd. However, it consistently pops up on my feed due to other friends reading it and I felt it was high time to explain my 5 Star rating (and Tadiana’s review of a different book added some inspiration).

Here’s the deal. This was the first book I ever stole from my mother. It was right after the miniseries came out, I was like 8 years old and I sneaky-read this sumbitch like nobody’s business. Holy inappropriateness Batman! As a terrible good Catholic, I spent the remainder of my formative years reading and re-reading this book, attending mass, and fantasizing the entire time that I would end up as a “Meggie” to our young priest, Father Ralph Rick.

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In all actuality, Father Rick was probably more interested in one of the altar boys being his Meggie. I keeeeeed, I keeeeeed!

Now that I’m a grown up, I think I would have ditched ol’ Father de Bricassart and made much sexytimes with Luke O’Neill instead : )

n  n

This is a book I can NEVER re-read. Talk about unrealistic expectations of perfection.