През 1788 г. Нов Южен Уелс (днешна Австралия) посреща флота от 11 британски кораба. Това не е изследователска експедиция, а затворнически експеримент на Короната. След като тринайсетте американски колонии обявяват независимост, Англия остава без място, където да изселва многобройните си осъдени престъпници. Всъщност, поради факта, че съдебната английска система е една от най-жестоките за времето си, седемгодишни присъди с изселване се раздават щедро за откраднато парче плат или за половин хляб. Експериментът със затворниците едва не се проваля поради лошата подготовка, корупцията и жестокостта, както и физическите мъки на едногодишното презокеанско пътуване и предизвикателствата на непознатия нов свят.

Колийн Маккълоу е създала епична сага с плътни, бавни и най-разнообразни детайли от епохата. Читателят плавно проследява пътя на Ричард Морган, сръчен оръжейник, син на почтен ханджия, баща на две деца, от достопочтения морски град Бристъл, през ужасите на затворите Нюгейт и Глостър, плаващите кораби-затвори по Темза, ужасяващите роботърговски кораби за каторжници на път към Австралия до напълно непознатите земи в южното полукълбо. Сюжетът не бърза, опитвайки се да обхване възможно най-мащабно платното на епохата. Ричард, от кротък глава на семейство и образцов гражданин, се пробужда за скритите в него сили и дарби, които разрухата, несправедливостта и препятствията изкарват на бял свят. Заселникът Ричард в края е на светлинни години разстояние от благия, но инертен майстор Ричард в началото.

Портретът на това първо заселване на Австралия с европейци ми беше крайно въздействащ. В старанието си да обхване максимум детайли и действащи лица, Маккълоу не винаги успява да развие пълния потенциал на образите. Също така късметът на Ричард на моменти е почти чудодеен, макар винаги да има рационално обяснение. Ужасна е съдбата на жените в тези събития, и Маккълоу често не отделя нужното внимание на героините си. Но възклицанията на някои читателки, че погледът бил антифеминистки, е чиста проба глупост и невежество. В обстоятелства, в които няма абсолютно никакви гаранции за физическо оцеляване, феминизмът не е онова, което разглезените гражданки на 21-ви век си представят. До 21-ви век има да изтече още много, много вода.

В новите заглавия ми липсва точно този сериозен подход към история и епоха, както и задълбочеността, без да се прилагат наготово и мързеливо готови клишета и кухи “тълкувания” от съвсем различни обстоятелства и периоди. Подход, основан на здрав труд на автора и опит за дълбочинно осмисляне и анализ, с мост към съвременността, защото - в крайна сметка - хората винаги са си едни и същи. Но резултатите от тяхното групиране варират.

4,5⭐️

▶️ Цитати:

“Като оцеляваме, ние побеждаваме.”

“Ветровете са важни, но понякога по-важни са теченията.”

“развратът си е част от опознаването.”

Aš vis dar stebiuosi, kaip galima parašyti 800 puslapių kūrinį, kad skaitytojas būtų įsitraukęs iki paskutinių puslapių... Talentas!
Aišku, man asmeniškai Erškėčių paukščiai buvo geresnė knyga, įtraukusi nuo pirmų puslapių, bet Morgano kelias padėjo geriau pažinti kitas sritis - įdomu buvo įsivaizduoti kaip senais laivais buvo plukdomi katorgininkai iš Anglijos iki Australijos, kaip jiems sekėsi ten kurtis, koks gyvenimas jiems susiklostė. Morganas labai įdomus vyras, o dar įdomesnis jo gyvenimas ir kaip jis priima gyvenimo iššūkius...

Knyga patiks tiems, kam patinka ilgos istorijos, kas nori ilgiau pagyventi su vienu personažu :)

I always remember...

Years ago I enjoyed McCollough's 'Thorn birds.' She can write.
But I had about four attempts to finish this book and only persevered because it covers two aspects of colonial history that interest me; the First Fleet and Norfolk Island. McCullough has either done masses of research or has a thorough research assistant but she could have been more selective with it. The first section begins in August 1775 and so there's a long trudge through a history dump of laborious background about the American slave trade. Most of the book's 600 pages need a ruthless and judicious editor.

Richard Morgan is a paragon of hard work, intelligence and faithful service. His life turns sour when his daughter Mary dies of smallpox, then his wife drops dead soon after. But after the loss of his beloved son William Henry he turns to drink and falls prey to a crooked woman who enthrals him then proves fickle with the crook who traps him. The upshot is that he is convicted for seven years' transportation.

The section about the Morgan's time in Bristol Newgate and then Gloucester prison are interesting. Then there is interminable detail about life and work dredging mud from a hulk, Ceres in the Thames. The main focus of the journey to Botany Bay on Alexander is given to his friendship with a 'Miss Molly' homosexual sailor Stephen Donovan, who nurses an unrequited passion for Richard that will continue right through to the Norfolk Island years.This unsatisfactory relationship is given most flesh through the book; most other characters are mere names, and even tagged with repetitions of descriptors like 'Cousin James-the-druggist' there are too many to keep track of. I must admit my skim-reading caused confusion; after wondering about the identities of MacGregor and Tobias I realise they are a dog and cat respectively.

The plodding and ungainly language attempts to capture dialect and the era. But once the First Fleet arrives in Botany Bay, the author rouses into a more lively, natural style. There are some glaring incongruities never the less; on page 332 Donovan speaks of the French ship 'La Perouse was given up as lost a year ago. Now – here he is.' Even with out the feminine 'La' a ship is usually female?

McCullough gives sympathetic landscape painting, especially of Norfolk Island. Morgan can do no wrong and all respect him from commanders down. But his shallow relationships extend to his de facto wife Kitty, whose Cinderella plainness allows only one asset, the eyes that remind Richard of his lost son. Eventually their prosaic coexistence grows to lukewarm love, and Kitty blossoms into motherhood but it is hardly grand passion. The Author's Afterword indicates that she writes about real people, ancestors of her husband. 'The saga of Richard Morgan is not ended; he was to live for many years to come and experience yet more adventures. I hope to continue with his family's story.' That's enough, thanks.

L'avevo preso semplicemente perché costava cinque euro invece che dieci. La trama m'ispirava, anche se certo non mi aspettavo faville.
“Il più bel romanzo della McCullough”, diceva il giudizio in fondo.
Io della McCullough non aveva letto ancora niente... ma sono rimasta subito affascinata dalla trama.
All'inizio non accade molto, ma nonostante la quasi assenza di eventi l’ho letto con piacere. È scritto bene, senza ridondanze eccessive o troppe nozioni inutili. Solo quello che serve per la trama. Certo, nella parte centrale perde un po' il suo ritmo, ma solo perché... beh, cosa vuoi che succeda durante un viaggio in nave?
Non ci sono salti, né flashback, le anticipazioni non sanno nemmeno tre. Lineare.
Il protagonista, l'eroe come lo chiama la citazione sul retro di copertina, è eccezionale. Pare perfino impossibile che possa essere esistito davvero un uomo del genere. Che difetti ha lui? All'inizio “soltanto” quello di accettare passivamente la vita. E viene messo alla prova, che, devo dire, supera brillantemente. Che uomo! Pensa sempre gli altri, questo Richard Morgan. Alla fine, sono più di una le persone che si chiedono: "Ma non pensa mai a se stesso per primo?".
Ce ne fossero di più, come lui...

L'autrice dice che l’avventura di Morgan non è finita e che spera di scrivere un altro libro su di lui. Chissà, speriamo che valga la pena leggerlo. Non vorrei che si trattasse di una conclusione raccattata in fretta e furia... il libro non è volgare, né scritto male, né affrettato. Non ci trovo alcun difetto, se non il fatto che io devo averlo letto troppo in fretta...
In effetti, però, ci sono molte cose in sospeso...

Fascinating story of a man named Richard Morgan who is transported as a convict to Australia in the 1780's. As always, McCullough's attention to historical detail is staggering, while still creating compelling characters and sending them on page-turning adventures. The first 100 pages dragged a little, but it was worth it because once Morgan was sent to Bristol Newgate prison I couldn't put the book down. From his time in prison to the long journey by sea on a convict ship with horrifying conditions, to the first European settlement in Australia near modern-day Sydney to the even more remote Norfolk Island, Morgan is a survivor who is fundamentally changed for the better by his experiences. Recommended.

I loved 'The Thorn Birds' when I read it years ago so when I came across this on kindle I thought I'd give it a go.

It is set in Bristol and Australia at the time of the First fleet of convicts which were sent to Sydney Cove and then Norfolk island.

The story is based on a real person who was convicted of a crime he was innocent of but made the most of his life in the new country and succeeded in getting his ticket of freedom early and settled on Norfolk island - married and has a family.

The story is long and you really begin to know the characters well.

The conditions the convicts were sent over in was very similar to the way the slaves were transported from Africa to the USA and West Indies. They used the same ships as the slave trade had been stopped by then.

The five original ships were sent with mainly convicts , some guards, and the sailors - none were really the cream of English society at the time. They were sent with few supplies and poor equipment and yet they did manage to survive.

A good story and I found it even more interesting as it was based on real people.

Excellent! A fictionalized account of McCullough's husbands ancestor, who was on the first ship of convicts from England to settle Australia. Most of their crimes were petty, but these folks made the most of a new start. Both an inspiring story and clearly much research went into the historical information.

Just reread this and upped the star count. Colleen McCullough is a master of in depth researching for her historical novels. Reading the facts of the settling of Botany Bay was to learn how England emptied there overcrowded cities on slave ships - filth, rotten food and the men and women who were strong enough to live and produce the ancestors of many of the contemporary Australian. After rereading this, I want to visit Norfolk Island and see how it's prospered. Great read.

Loved the book. All about the original settlers of Australia, the hardships they had as British prisoners, the conditions on the ships that took them there, and how the survivors managed to overcome the odds using very rudimentary knowledge of science, eg. water purification. The best thing was that it profiled in a fictional way a real person.

I have read McCullough's work before and had high expectations - they were quickly dashed. This book took years off my life.

Morgans Run was SO much longer than it needed to be. I love historical fiction but sometimes brevity helps a story, for instance I did not need to know the actual workings of the transport ship, i.e how to make and use a chain pump. It did not add to the story but did wonders for my boredom. Quite frequently I skimmed large portions of this book without missing any of the plot. If I wasn’t so stubborn I would have thrown in the towel. On the plus side, when McCullough got into the actual storyline it was quite interesting and well written - you just had to slog to get there.

The novel tells the story of the convict groups that first settled Australia. You follow Richard Morgan through his life, which, at least for the first half, sucks pretty hard. My heart broke for him a few times because he just could not escape bad circumstances. The second half of the book was more interesting and I found myself rooting for Morgan. Over all, once you manage dig the plot out of the extraneous information it's quite good but it takes patience and a lot more work than I typically like to put into a unwinding-at-the-end-of-the-day book

You experience the whole novel through Richard Morgan. He is not unlikable but also wasn’t easy for me to bond with. In the beginning he is really flat - like his character is waiting to wake up. After he is convicted he starts to be moulded into a more admirable character but he is so withdrawn and private that I felt as shut out by him as the other characters did. Still it was an improvement from the beginning and I was curious to see how things would progress.

I would not jump to recommend this book - it would be a hard sell and might lose me some friends. I am glad I experienced it but am in no rush to do so again.

Wonderful writer who researches her subject matter so thoroughly that it was sometimes TOO much detail for me but I loved the story, as painful as it was at times. The latter part of the book, the settling of Norfolk Island by the convicts, captivated me with it's stories of homesteading and learning how to survive.