The Thorn Birds

What should have been this books prized possession is actually its downfall. The descriptive narrative, if applied to the characters, would have made for wonderful reading. However, the author chose instead to ramble on and on (in a very boring manner) describing grassy plains and bush and the Australian outback to such an extent that she quite forgot to build her characters. Surely there's only so much you can say about these things...
True, her writing is flawless and fluid and the plot, though a tad contrived, should have made for good reading. But unfortunately it didn't. Meggie, the central character was introduced at age 4. And I knew nothing more about her towards the end of the book except what she looked like and that she was a bit cross with Ralph?!?!? The love story was way under-developed and limped along to its demise leaving me feeling absolutely nothing for either character!
What a shame. I have a feeling that the TV adaptation must have been better than the book (to earn it it's 'hype') - not something I've ever found before...

Best left in the 1970s (1/3 people found this helpful)

If you like your fiction readily translatable into low-budget television mini-series, you'll love this book. If you like every scene set out as an instruction to a director, every facial expression explained as if to an actor, every insight, thought and emotion described and redescribed to set the scene, then this is a book for you.

Broad in scope, McCullough takes the reader from rural New Zealand at the outset of the 20th Century, to the heat and dust of the Outback, with insubstantial forays into Tobruk, the Vatican, 1960s London and a few other places. McCullough's descriptive style works best here when evoking geographic and architechtural beauty. When she applies the same approach to people and in particular, character, it is at best, annoying, for it extinguishes all scope for personal interpretation, for guesswork and the novel becomes completely predictable.

The novel chronicles the life of Meggie Cleary (a little girl celebrating her 4th birthday when the book opens) and the notable exploits of her family and close loves. According to McCullough her "titian" hair and beauty enchant and beguile all those who meet her (throughout the whole book regardless of circumstance, age or relevance). Likewise, the book's hero, Father Ralph de Bricassart, is relentlessly described as "a beautiful man" whose "gracefulness" unnerves and charms all who meet him from sheep farmers to wealthy dowagers and Cardinals.

The novel is 573 pages long; to read chapter after chapter of Father Ralph's disarming beauty and Meggie's golden hair drove me mad: it's simply inconceivable that every person they ever encounter would think the EXACT same things about them. This is heavy-handed, broad-stroke storytelling, quite apart from being lazy and McCullough applies it to every character description, giving each a unique and repeated quality or trait noticed by all. Just to make sure, she also endows every character with the ridiculous ability to see and accurately understand others' emotions simply by looking into their eyes. As the novel progresses, it's apparent she applies this same heavy-handedness to the plot and despite the 1970s scandalous twist of the story (which is probably more uncomfortable reading 30 years on), there are liberal dollops of moral retribution left, right and centre that you can see coming a mile off.

I'm normally pretty generous, but I hated this novel at times: a supposed 1970s classic was for me an over-long family melodrama, peopled by two-dimensional, unbelievable characters in a second-rate morality tale.

One final point. This is the 30th anniversary edition with an introduction by Maeve Binchy in which she merrily gives away and simplistically revels in the major plot twist: failing to notice the queasiness such a twist (unintentionally, I think) triggers on account of Meggie's juvenility. If you come to the book new, like me, don't make my mistake of reading her introduction first.

Colleen McCullough

Reader Reviews:

What a shame... (1/5 people found this helpful)

Best left in the 1970s (1/3 people found this helpful)

Similar Products

Categories