mayaware 's review for:

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

3.75

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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These women were all doomed from the start and they did it to themselves! It’s tragic, it’s beautiful, it’s a breaking cycle. Overall, I absolutely loved the drama of this family and how their stories take them all over the world. For me, Fee was absolutely the most romantic and heartbreaking character and I wish she had more of a voice and focus throughout the novel. My main complaint is that I feel like the author was doing more telling me how I should feel about the characters rather than showing me the characters’ actions and letting me decide for myself. It was almost like the details were way too internal which became frustrating when the action of the plot was completely different than how the characters were actually feeling. Like, I’m sorry, I know I was supposed to think Ralph de Bricassart was god’s gift to mankind, but I really don’t feel like he did anything???  I also could absolutely not get over the fact that he meets Meggie when SHES NINE YEARS OLD AND HE IS TWENTY EIGHT. I was so excited to read a romance involving a priest because of the sexiness, the guilt, the pining! But how it was handled was very gross to me and so I couldn’t ever get on board. I could never understand how their feelings for each other developed based on what actions were being described in the book. I very much appreciated the details of the horrors of living in the Australian outback and the disparity between the lives of the women trapped in a dusty fly infested house and the men roaming the country in free fresh air. This novel does an excellent job of commenting on the treatment of women and their roles within their family and society. These women had no agency, no education, no respect, but still managed to cause trouble, live independently, and love hopelessly. Overall I think it walked the line between classic and dated, but the plot was well worth the read.