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jenrinaldi 's review for:
The Thorn Birds
by Colleen McCullough
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
"Something in her little soul was old enough and woman enough to feel the irresistible, stinging joy of being needed."
The centre of a fifty-year, cross-generational saga, Meggie grows up starved for love, pouring all her adoration into the wrong person, and for that she is doomed to repeat her mother's mistakes. My heart broke for her across the chapters on her childhood, and the author gave me plenty of pages of text to understand Meggie’s transformation into the villain of her own story. The storytelling is intricate, with breaks for vivid descriptions of the Australian outback and reflections on the country's role in modern history. The remote Drogheda estate struck me as cursed, like some haunted house of the gothic romantic variety,so I felt catharsis when the last of the family line escaped it .
The premise that the book is known for, a forbidden affair with a priest, is soap-operatic, dripping with drama, but still carries complexity, with the priest disavowing Meggie not quite for God but for his own ambition. While the tragic romance drives so much of the story, McCullough may be more invested in the implications for family, particularly the ripple effects from holding onto loved ones--a favoured child or some memory of a past lover--too tight.
The centre of a fifty-year, cross-generational saga, Meggie grows up starved for love, pouring all her adoration into the wrong person, and for that she is doomed to repeat her mother's mistakes. My heart broke for her across the chapters on her childhood, and the author gave me plenty of pages of text to understand Meggie’s transformation into the villain of her own story. The storytelling is intricate, with breaks for vivid descriptions of the Australian outback and reflections on the country's role in modern history. The remote Drogheda estate struck me as cursed, like some haunted house of the gothic romantic variety,
The premise that the book is known for, a forbidden affair with a priest, is soap-operatic, dripping with drama, but still carries complexity, with the priest disavowing Meggie not quite for God but for his own ambition. While the tragic romance drives so much of the story, McCullough may be more invested in the implications for family, particularly the ripple effects from holding onto loved ones--a favoured child or some memory of a past lover--too tight.