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The Thorn Birds (Paperback)
by Colleen McCullough
Category:
Classics, Fiction, Australian literature, Family saga |
Market price: ¥ 108.00
MSL price:
¥ 98.00
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Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
Good for Gifts
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MSL Pointer Review:
A heart-rending, elegant, thrilling and enthralling story that would span the lives of a family over three generations. |
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Author: Colleen McCullough
Publisher: Avon; Reissue edition
Pub. in: May, 1978
ISBN: 0380018179
Pages: 704
Measurements: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00772
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0380018178
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- Awards & Credential -
A timeless classic novel that has been tranlated into multitude languages With over 10 million copies sold worldwide, still represents the Austalian literature's achievement. |
- MSL Picks -
Someone once described W.S. Maugham as one of the greatest storytellers of our time for he writes with a vigorous flair, extraordinary clarity and precision and tightly disciplined with superb wit and urbanity and his sense of literary form is indeed something to conjure with. After reading Colleen McCullough's The Thorn Birds, I have come to the same conclusion, that is, the description on W.S. Maugham's penmanship can also be applied to McCullough's writing aptitude. Her style of writing is tinged with a touch of lucidity and simplicity, free from affectations and at her best, she has a delicate, condescending grace and charm. McCullough's dialogue is irrefragably excellent for the revelation of character and her command of the idioms of the ordinary speech permits her to effectuate a fine naturalness.
From the day of its publication in 1976, this exhilarating epic of outback life has been celebrated as the quintessential modern novel, a work that vividly brings to life all the details of life Down Under.
The Thorn Birds deals with the tragedy of ordinary lives, unfolded with an intense compassion and profound insight into the truth of the multifarious characters. McCullough fleshes out each and every character with minuteness and precision. The characters are common people, extremely down-to-earth and are convincingly and irrefutably alive. We have already taken notice of her bold and believable characterisation in Tim, her first novel which is an extremely poignant love story told with profound candour that acutely delves with acumen and insight into the affinity and emotional consequences of a forbidden love between an ingratiating, mentally-retarded young labourer and a middle-aged spinster.
Concealed behind her writing lies a sense of tragedy of life, in which transgression and iniquity or folly brings its own retributions, especially Justine O'Neil, who sets a course of life and love halfway round the world from her roots in Gillanbone, Australia, to become an actress in London, who lost her virginity at the tender age of eighteen, and who at the end of the novel ultimately repent.
McCullough can command a beauty of perspicuous expression that provokes the very emotional part of the erring human heart, a sweet, mellifluous, dulcet and piercing melody of infinite regret and yearning:
"In the morning they stared, awed and dismayed, at a landscape so alien they had not dreamed anything like it existed on the same planet as New Zealand. The rolling hills were there certainly, but absolutely nothing else reminiscent of home. It was all brown and grey, even the trees!
"The winter wheat was already turned a fawnish silver by the glaring sun, miles upon miles of rippling and bending in the wind, broken only by the strands of thin, spindling, blue-leafed trees and dusty clumps of tired grey bushes. Fee's stoical eyes surveyed the scene without changing expression but poor Meggie's were full of tears. It was horrible, fenceless and vast, without a trace of green."
From this short abstract itself, McCullough depicts the enigmatic and intractable Australian background with striking vividness.
Of all the characters delineated in this rousingly recounted saga of a grazier clan over a span of fifty-four years (between 1915 and 1969), none is better drawn than that of Meggie Cleary. It seems McCullough has put much of herself into the creation of the story, and in many ways, Colleen McCullough resembles Meggie Cleary. Even minor figures are drawn with sure, minimal brush strokes.
The Thorn Birds is impregnated with memorable scenes that are vividly etched in the reader's mind. The heroine and main protagonist at the heart of the story, Meggie Cleary, whose passionate and forbidden love for the handsome, magnificent Catholic priest, Ralph De Bricassart, who is two decades older than her, is veritably the stuff of legend; her broken marriage to Luke O'Neil; her giving birth to Justine O'Neil, the brilliant actress, and Dane O'Neil, who was not fathered by O'Neil but by De Bricassart himself without his knowledge: these are some of the episodes that may linger in the reader's memory long after he has put the novel down. Alas, the course of true love is littered with thorns.
Much of the fascination of The Thorn Birds can be traced to its blend of high romance and whim with undeniably realistic characters and background. This novel will undoubtedly be considered as McCullough's paragon, a masterpiece, because of its brilliant descriptive passages, the myriad poignant moments and the dramatic plot. She is indeed a writer of ingenuity and imaginative force. In complete control of her plot, her prose sways as gracefully as a waltz, glinting with irony, and meticulous in its detail and accent.
In this family saga, McCullough fuses intriguing period detail onto a generational saga that features a host of superbly wrought characters. Thoroughly enjoyable, this novel offers intelligent, witty entertainment. Its clean prose, empathetic characters, a richly observed tale of love and despair, unravel the tangled threads of doomed relationship. By capturing the dusty, dry essence of life in the Australian outback.
McCullough's real strength lies in her plotting and pacing, an eye for detail, and at creating a host of minor characters that people the landscape of her novel. Where her characters are caught up in a complex world of emotional connections and confusion, intertwined by the ties that bind them. Against a richly nuanced backdrop of people, place and history, it captures not only the breathless drama and agonising banality of life and all that it engenders, buts its abundant paradoxes as well.
Gripping and awashed with dramatic nuances, rich in detail and densely textured, The Thorn Birds sings with an undertone of elegiac melancholy. Read it and weep!
(From quoting Eric Forbes, USA )
Target readers:
General readers.
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Colleen McCullough enjoys worldwide renown, and her novels are bestsellers in a multitude of languages. She is the author of The Thorn Birds, Tim, An Indecent Obsession, A Creed for the Third Millennium, The Ladies of Missalonghi, The First Man in Rome, The Grass Crown, Fortunes Favorites, as well as Caesars Women. She lives with her husband, Ric Robinson, on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific.
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From Publisher
With over 10 million copies sold worldwide, here is the towering epic about three generations of a remarkable family in the Australian outback that was the basis for one of the most beloved television miniseries of all time. The Boston Globe called it "the kind of book the word 'blockbuster' was made for." The inaugural edition of our Modern Classics series, this is the only hardcover edition of The Thorn Birds currently in print.
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View all 12 comments |
Meggie Rose (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-02 00:00>
The Thorn Birds, written by Colleen McCullough, in my opinion is the greatest romance novel of all time. The character of Meggie Cleary is my favorite character in all of literature. Her strength, beauty, passion and love makes her a timeless heroine. Meggie and Father Ralph share a love story that spans many years and many heartbreaks. Even though they are not together, the book always has a undercurrent where you can feel their longing and endless love for each other, even though they are not together. In their hearts, they will be together forever.Meggie and Ralph are the Romeo and Juliet of the Australian outback- just as tortured and tragic. The miniseries was also fabulous - Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward make me speechless every time I see it. It is spectacular. Read The Thorn Birds and watch the series, if you are lucky enough to have the chance. You will never be the same - it's not just a book or a movie, it's an experience. Thank you Colleen McCullough, for such a wonderful story.
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Roger Buffington (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-02 00:00>
This is a truly a great and classic novel. I do not bestow these oft-overused adjectives lightly. This is a story of deep, rich, and forbidden love, betrayal, tragedy, and ambition. This is a truly wonderful story set primarily in Australia, circa 1915 and then spanning several generations to the post World War II era. McCullough writes a sprawling story which primarily centers on the forbidden love between an extraordinary woman and a good but ambitious priest. This is the story of the Cleary family, originally from Ireland, who emigrate first to New Zealand, and early on, to Australia. The young Cleary daughter, Meggie, falls in love with the local Catholic priest, Ralph de Briccasart, who is a good and ambitious man who certainly does nothing to encourage this love, but who certainly returns it as he regards Meggie as the daughter he can never have. As Meggie matures, he comes to regard her in a more romantic way. A great struggle arises between this love on the one hand ("the forbidden rose") and his ambition to become a Cardinal or perhaps more, on the other.
There is much, much, more to the story than this, however. The novel transports the reader to Australia, and makes that country a real place to those of us who have never been there. This is also the story of the struggles of the Cleary family, as they battle with, and come to love, the rich outback country of Australia. This is an extraordinarily authentic and moving story that any review (or at least this one) can only fail to do justice.
McCullough's prose is simply outstanding, and her characters crackle with realism--they become utterly real people and the reader will become swept away with this wonderful story. The storyline never drags, and at no point does this novel ever fail to completely capture the reader's attention. This novel is not only a classic; it is a ripping good read! If you have not yet enjoyed this novel, you are in for a wonderful reading experience.
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Kristi Ahlers (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-02 00:00>
This is one of those books that you read and think "yes, I will read this one again one day." This story is epic in detail and spans three generations of the Cleary family.
This is really Meggie's story. She is one of the main characters that we follow as she finds love where it is least likely to grow but is unstoppable. She falls in love with Father Ralph and the feelings despite being wrong are returned. This is really a story that will have you laughing and crying. Set in Australia in 1915 Ms. McCullough writes vividly and eloquently and you will find this a hard to put down read. This is truly a classic in every sense of the word and one that I highly recommend.
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Beth (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-05 00:00>
The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough, begins in 1915 and spans three generations long. It is a complex story about the Cleary family that leave their home in New Zealand to live and work on a relative's extensive, Australian sheep ranch. At the ranch, the family experiences many tragedies and hardships including fires, floods, droughts, and devastating deaths of loved ones. The main character, Meggie, falls madly in love with a handsome man named Ralph. Unfortunately, Meggie is not able to marry Ralph because he is a priest. Ralph loves Meggie dearly, but has devoted his entire life to God. Throughout the novel, they experience great love and sorrow together. Meggie has children who become the third generation of the novel. The children bring her much happiness, but she still has a deep passion for Ralph in her heart. This forbidden love for Ralph will stay burning inside her soul throughout her entire life.
I truly enjoyed how the author used a lot of description and detail in the novel. This description enabled me to paint vivid pictures of the beautiful, Australian land in my mind, as well as clear pictures of the many different characters' inner and outer appearances.
This extraordinary love story was like an emotional rollercoaster. It twisted and turned leaving me feeling many different emotions including love, humor, sadness, anger, hate, and malice. I often found myself crying as well as laughing while I eagerly devoured every word on the page. It kept me reading and reading until the very interesting ending. I would recommend this captivating novel to anyone who is looking for a great story about life and love! I'm sure you will enjoy it just as much as I did!
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View all 12 comments |
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