3.5

Quando o amor é genuíno ultrapassa todas as diferenças. Este livro retrata magistralmente essa realidade.

In library context, I preferred recommending Tim to the Thorn Bird sequel seekers. Some "interesting" feedback. The Colleen tale I most attracted too. Interesting perspective on Aus-tralia.
Could I read again ... doubtful. Skim for memory, maybe.

a most unusual but believable love story. Not only do the main characters ring true but they are surrounded by equally believable supporting characters. I loved Tim's mum! And the Australian landscape was beautifully evoked. A remarkable book.

Quando o amor é genuíno ultrapassa todas as diferenças. Este livro retrata magistralmente essa realidade.

An easy read and a lovely tale

Gorgeous. Just gorgeous.

3.5 stars

Our book club assignment for May is re-reading a book we've read before. And this book--which I read around 40 years ago--was very memorable. Not many books--casual reading--are remembered, some 40 years later. I read 'The Thorn Birds,' along with everyone else in the country, shortly after it was published, in 1979. And, like everyone else, I really liked it. So I went to the library (this was before we could just turn to the internet) to see if they had any other Colleen McCullough books--and they had 'Tim.'

I loved reading 'Tim' the first time. I found it sweet and touching, exploring all kinds of issues that most books wouldn't touch: how we treat those with cognitive disabilities, what it means to be a fully grown human, societal expectations about love and marriage.

This time through, I was filtering the story (and the language used to describe someone with cognitive limitations) through my 2021 beliefs and experiences. The story was occasionally jarring. Things that seem natural now--providing all people, regardless of IQ, outlets for sexual response, for example--were described as sinful and wrong by some characters in the book.

Now, we read Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte and easily accept the societal mores they describe as just part of the story, but it was harder to do that here. Turning a healthy 45-year old woman into a dessicated spinster, undesirable to anyone 'normal,' felt kind of creepy.

So while I remembered a lot about the book, and it had a big impact on me decades ago, re-reading it made me realize that I'm a very different reader now. It's an interesting book, but felt dated enough to make it less moving.

In this novel first published in 1974 and set in Australia, Colleen McCullough, a well-known and respected writer with a loyal fan base among women, crafted a tale that surprised her readers with content and characters that differed from her usual literary efforts. It tells the story of Tim Melville, a good looking but mentally challenged young man, and his relationship with Mary Horton, an older single woman who had never married and was financially comfortable. Their relationship began when Mary hired Tim to mow her lawn and care for her garden and they began a casual friendship. Their connection deepened over time and they became a couple enjoying a happy and fulfilling life together.

Readers reacted differently to the evolution of this relationship in McCullough’s narrative. Some were entirely comfortable and saw their connection as simple and pure. They enjoyed the fact these two people could be happy together as both benefitted from their deep connection. Mary taught Tim how to read, write and better understand the world around him, which up to this time had never given him any happiness. He had often been bullied and ridiculed by others, both at school and later when as a young man he began working in construction. Mary grew more caring and outgoing as she moved out of her isolated and secluded life to help this young man grow as a person. Tim helped her move away from caring so much about what other people thought and encouraged her to live her life as she wished.

Both had difficult loveless lives growing up, without supportive and loving relationships, so both were experiencing something new. Each helped the other learn what life was all about and gave something to the other to help them lead a more fulfilling life. In the process they had to face the many who disapproved of their relationship including Tim’s sister. Facing their criticisms was especially difficult for Mary, who has always valued the opinions of others and now faced their disparaging comments. Their detractors were clear about their feelings of a relationship between a twenty-five-year-old man with the mental capacity and innocence of a child and a forty-three-year-old, financially independent spinster.

Other readers felt less comfortable with their story. Readers must remember the time period in which this book was published and the prevalent social norms of the time. I believe everyone should be free to love the person they choose, as long as others are not hurt in the process. It sounds trite and cliché but I am not sure of another way to describe it. I had difficulty with this novel, not for where things ended up, but from how they began. Mary had first noticed Tim as he worked a construction project near her home. She was attracted by his both his handsome appearance and his muscular physique and would spend time at the window admiring the attributes of this very physically attractive young man. Her inner monologues about his muscled frame and physicality drew her in, but gave the narrative an uneasy predatory feel. When she hired him to do her gardening, it made me wary. It felt as if either consciously or unconsciously, she was setting something up.

Although I read this novel several years ago, I still remember the feelings I had about the content. I appreciated McCullough’s story of how their relationship developed over time once it had begun, enjoyed the well described characters and her strong writing, but still had that uncomfortable feeling about the many times Mary stood quietly at her window, admiring a physically attractive young man.

The setting is always important in McCullough’s novels and this one is no exception, filled with the Aussie culture and their distinctive way of speaking. The character of Tim is expertly drawn and he is presented as an endearing and vulnerable young man who readers hope will find some happiness in life.

I think the content of this novel was ahead of the social norms prevalent at the time and might not have faced controversy if it had been written in the present day. However, no matter the time period in which it appeared, the plot does not appear reasonable or realistic but instead presents a narrative in which what happened, is what everyone would like to have happened, when a lonely woman in midlife approached a strong, physically attractive young man, hired him to do her yardwork and the couple lived happily ever after in a mutually beneficial relationship. Instead the novel, despite its strong writing and its characters, never rises above the plausibility of a fairy tale.

I loved this.... a simple touching story

Good book for a book club. Quick, easy read. Lots of discussion points.