Reviews

FINALLY.

This book was such a chore to read. It actually started off as a four star read for me. Little Meggie and practically the whole world against her. But then it just slogged on and on in the most depressing manner, and for what?? All the sad stuff is horrific but also melodramatic, the women have no agency, and by the time I had a little over 100 pages left, I hated every single character.

Is it me? Am I the drama? Who knows. But this was not for me.

herphoenixloves's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

sconroy9697's review against another edition

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3.0

At first I loved this book & then it got really long. But, overall pretty good!

baby_cthulhu's review against another edition

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2.0

Un libro ben scritto e che sa appassionare, almeno all'inizio.
Colleen McCollough ha un ottima capacità di scrittura, che nei suoi storici si manifesta molto meglio che qui, ma ha il vizietto di tirarla per le lunghe a tutti i costi.
Ci troviamo coinvolti dalle vicende della famiglia Cleary, e come ogni romanzo di rispetto, capitano tutte, ma proprio tutte a loro e alla lunga questo stanca parecchio, fra morti, guerre, siccità, amori non corrisposti, manca solo la peste e abbiamo fatto il pieno.
Alla lunga, anche le magnifiche descrizioni diventano solo noia pura e si ripetono a non finire inducendo il lettore a saltare interi paragrafi.
Perchè fare un libro di ben 600 pagine quando ne bastavano la metà?
La storia è quella classica da telenovela, con amori impossibili e struggenti, anime in pena e destini avversi. Come sempre è appassionante ma insipida.
All'inizio mi sentivo di valutare bene questo libro, proprio in virtù della scrittura e solo leggermente della trama, ma poi cercare di arrivare in fondo è stata una tale agonia che si è mangiato tutti i miei buoni propositi.

Se proprio dovete farvi del male, guardatevi lo sceneggiato.

kirkcarp's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow. Re-reading The Thorn Birds 35 years after my first reading was an experience. We are wiser today about issues such as grooming and misogyny, and our modern lens shows the book is quite problematic, but it still swept me away despite that. Being in my 50s now, it gave me a wholly different insight to the characters. It was absorbing and I still loved it.

spencerdance's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Trash. But solid trash.

jmrprice's review against another edition

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4.0

Other worlds, other times… grief and pain with passing happiness.

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