The story begins in 1915 and spans half a century. The plot centers on the life of the Cleary family, who have made their way from the New Zealand poor to the managers of one of the largest Australian estates, Drogheda.

Part 1. 1915–1917 Maggie

It's the birthday of my youngest daughter, Maggie, who is turning four. The life of a large family is described, the hard daily work of the mother of the family, Fiona, the difficulties of teaching children in a Catholic school under the command of stern nuns, the dissatisfaction of the eldest son Frank with poverty and the monotony of life.

One day, Padrik Cleary (Paddy) receives a letter from his sister Mary Carson, the wealthy owner of the vast Australian estate of Drogheda. She invites him to the position of senior shepherd, and the whole family moves from New Zealand to Australia.

Part 2. 1918–1928 Ralph

In Australia, the Cleary family is met by the young parish priest Ralph de Bricassart. Ten-year-old Maggie, the only daughter in the family, attracts his attention with her beauty and shyness. As she gets older, Maggie falls in love with him, but they are not destined to be together, since Ralph, like any Catholic priest, took a vow of chastity (celibacy). Nevertheless, they spend a lot of time together, ride horses, talk.

Mary Carson, the widow of the “steel king” Michael Carson, is unrequitedly in love with Ralph and watches his relationship with Maggie with poorly concealed hatred. Feeling that Ralph is close to abandoning his rank for the sake of the matured Maggie, Mary sets a trap for Ralph at the cost of her life: after the death of Mary Carson, her huge inheritance goes to the church, provided that the latter appreciates its humble minister Ralph de Bricassart. He becomes the sole administrator of the Carson estate, and the Cleary family receives the right to live in Drogheda as administrators.

Now that the possibility of a church career is once again opening up to Ralph, he refuses to join his life with Maggie and leaves Drogheda. Maggie misses him. Ralph also thinks about her, but overcomes the desire to return to Drogheda.

Part 3. 1929–1932 Paddy

During a huge fire, Maggie's father Paddy and brother Stuart die. By pure chance, on the day their bodies are transported to the estate, Ralph arrives in Drogheda. Maggie, who has temporarily forgotten her longing for her family, manages to get a kiss from him, but immediately after the funeral, Ralph leaves again. Maggie gives him a rose - the only one that survived the fire, and Ralph hides it in his pocket breviary.

Part 4. 1933–1938 Luke

Maggie continues to miss Ralph. Meanwhile, a new worker appears at the estate, Luke O'Neill, who begins to care for Maggie. Outwardly, he looks like Ralph, and Maggie first accepts his invitations to dances and then marries him.

After the wedding, it turns out that Luke found himself a job as a cane cutter, and Maggie got a job as a maid in the couple's house. Maggie dreams of a child and her own home, but Luke prefers to work and save money, promising her a full-fledged family life in a couple of years. They do not see each other for months, but Maggie, using cunning, gives birth to his daughter Justina.

After a difficult birth, Maggie is ill for a long time, and the owners of the house where she serves as a maid give her a trip to Matlock Island. After her departure, Luke arrives and the owner offers to visit Maggie, but Luke refuses and leaves. After this, Ralph arrives, and he is also advised to go to Maggie, posing as Luke. Ralph hesitates, but goes to Maggie.

Unable to resist their attraction to each other, they spend a few days as husband and wife, after which Ralph returns to Rome to pursue his career and become a cardinal. Maggie leaves Luke and returns to Drogheda, carrying Ralph's child under her heart.

Part 5. 1938–1953 Fia

Meanwhile, World War II begins in Europe. Maggie's twin brothers go to the front. Ralph, already a cardinal, has difficulty reconciling himself with the Vatican's flexibility in relation to the Mussolini regime. In Drogheda, Maggie gives birth to a son, Dan, a copy of Ralph, but no one doubts that his father is Luke, since the men are very similar. Only Maggie's mother, Fiona (Fia), guesses.

In a conversation with Maggie, it turns out that in her youth Fiona was also passionately in love with an influential man who could not marry her. She had a son with him, Frank, and her father gave Padrick Cleary money to marry her. Both Fiona and Maggie loved a man who could not reciprocate their feelings: Fiona's lover cared about his career, Ralph was devoted to the church. Maggie laughs and says that she was smarter and made sure that Dan had a name and no one would doubt his legitimate origins.

Ralph arrives in Drogheda, meets Dan, but does not realize that this is his son. Maggie doesn't tell him anything.

Part 6. 1954–1965 Dan

Maggie's children, having matured, choose their own professions. Justina is going to become an actress and leaves for London. Dan wants to become a priest. Maggie is furious: she hoped that Dan would have children, and so she would “steal” Ralph from the church. But Dan stands firm, and she sends him to Rome, to Ralph.

Dan is pursuing seminary training and ordination. After the ceremony, he leaves for Crete to rest and drowns while saving two women. Maggie comes to Ralph to ask for help in negotiations with the Greek authorities and reveals to him that Dan is his son. Ralph helps her move Dan to Drogheda, performs the last rites on him and dies after the funeral, admitting to himself that he had sacrificed too much for the sake of his ambitions.

Part 7. 1965–1969 Justina

After Dan's death, Justina finds no place for herself and seeks peace in work. She either tries to return to Drogheda, or strives to improve relations with her friend, the German Lion Hartheim. Lyon loves Justina and wants to marry her, but she is afraid of becoming attached to him and becoming vulnerable to pain and anxiety. She ends up marrying him. Maggie in Drogheda receives a telegram from her announcing her marriage.

The estate has no future - her brothers did not marry and are childless, Dan died, and Justina does not want to hear about children.

CC Romantic Express

The book left me impressed. I can’t say for sure which one it is, whether it’s good or bad. I don't know if I'll ever re-read it. In general, I’m not inclined to reread books, it’s like a moment in life - you lived it, and it will never happen again. But maybe one day in 50 years I will read it again to see it in a new way. Now I’m 32, I’m also a mother of many children, I have three, and I paid the most attention, beyond my desire, to the issue of “fathers and children.” Fia amazed me. I looked at her from all sides, and sympathized, and pitied, and condemned. She condemned me the most. As the years passed, it became increasingly clear that she was the source of most of the psychological problems in her children. Her closedness, lack of emotionality, inability and unwillingness to give warmth from herself to her children. And so they grew up, and everyone remained close to their broken trough - they not only don’t have families, they don’t know how to love, they are afraid, men - women, women - men. But there are nine children! Here he is Frank, such a good boy growing up, loving his mother and sister so dearly, and talking to the girl about life, even though she didn’t understand him then. His attitude towards his mother's new pregnancies was also impressive. I never thought about it this way. What about older brothers Bob, Jack and Hugh? Is it really possible to love the earth so much that you forget the call of the flesh? I liked the twins Jim and Patsy more than the others. They seemed to be very gentle creatures, focused on each other more than anything else. And perhaps that is why they suffered less than others from their mother’s indifference. I was struck by Maggie’s role in her mother’s life; she did not pay attention to her so much that she did not even explain such basic issues of growing up as menstruation. Although, of course, the time was different, people had different worries, and a different attitude towards everything. Perhaps I am wrong in judging this mother so much. In general, Fiona as a character did not leave me indifferent

Love line. The situation is very unusual for me. I kept asking myself the question, could Ralph see her as his chosen one at the young age at which he met Maggie? Probably not after all. Although.. Perhaps, it is much more difficult than seeing your chosen one, admitting to yourself that you are attracted to a little girl. Still, I think he didn’t understand anything, either consciously or subconsciously, he was simply taking care of a child whom no one noticed, as he said, that she took up an empty place in his soul. Mary Carson saw ahead of what would happen when Maggie grew up. But Ralph himself, it seems to me, had no idea about anything before her direct hints about their mutual attraction. And even when there was the first unexpected kiss after the holiday, it was Maggie who initiated it. And then, of course, he already understood everything. I believed his feelings, for so many years he fought with himself, not forgetting about her, feeling her. It turned out that it is easy to give your body to God, but it is much more difficult to give your soul and heart. Maggie's feelings were also very clear to me. As soon as she matured, she began to tell him directly that she wanted to marry him. And years later, when he came to Drogheda to announce Frank's return, she received him as if her husband had returned from a business trip. No agreements or discussions were required.

To my surprise, I will say that I only cried twice during the entire book. The first time was from Fiona's words after Paddy's funeral, when she told Ralph that she realized too late how much she loved him. The second is after Dan's death. Dan is an iconic character. In the end, all the loose ends of the book came together. It was he who helped all the heroes show themselves from a previously hidden side. I believe that his early death is due to the fact that, unlike his father, he had nothing to fight with. Ralph had to overcome his love and vanity. And Dan was free from all this.

No less striking character in the book is Justina. Furiously pushing away her mother, she nevertheless follows her life program. It was very surprising that my mother called her a monster, then only Lyon was able to explain to me what she could mean. Lyon was finally the first man in the book who was capable and willing to love a woman. Ralph wanted, but could not be with his chosen one. Luke could, but he didn't want to. And only Lyon combined both desire and opportunity. He's so patient, it's incredible.

Of the words, perhaps the most moving were the words of Maggie when she shouted to Ralph that all men are like moths that fight against glass to die in fire.

Suddenly I caught myself thinking that one day I would re-read this book.

And I also forgot to say, when I was reading, I kept remembering the Soviet film “In Love of My Own Will,” how the characters there talked to themselves in such patriotic intonations, it seemed to me that Colin McCullough also narrates this story)))

Oh, I think I'm getting old. If before I always enjoyed science fiction, now I am increasingly enjoying family sagas. And my acquaintance with this book began extremely pleasantly. A large family, the beginning of the century... Ahead was seen a collision of a cozy home world with the terrible events that were to come... But the story flowed forward, and the events never went beyond the scope of ordinary family troubles. The shadow of the Great War flashed only at the very edge of the action, only to disappear immediately. But the first alarm bell for me was the mention of a possible inheritance. You don’t need to be a particularly experienced reader to confidently assume that all the heroes’ aspirations for a solid jackpot are not destined to come true, because otherwise the best opportunity to suffer will disappear. Then everything went from strength to strength, bursting out fortissimo during the celebration of Mary Carson's birthday.

Spoiler (plot reveal)

“Mary Carson was all in white: white silk dress, white lace, white ostrich feathers. Fia looked at her with all her eyes, so stunned that she even lost her usual equanimity. So blatantly absurd, so inopportunely, the old woman dressed up as a bride - for what purpose, one wonders? It's like a crazy old maid playing a prank on the newlywed. Recently, on top of everything else, she has gained a lot of weight, and it doesn’t look good on her either.”

There was such a sense of Dickensian deliberateness here that for a long time I stubbornly associated everything that was happening with an ant farm. First, the author carefully wrote out living, moving characters, and then began to unnaturally twist and break ready-made characters, testing their strength and reducing them to the role of helpless insects. Either he will flood the anthill with water, then he will set it on fire, then he will throw a beetle inside, then he will rip off someone’s leg, or even slam him completely. This strange change in the already outlined types naturally suggests that the book was conceived and began in one vein, but in the process of writing the general vector of the narrative radically changed direction.

The comparison with an anthill stubbornly did not want to leave my head until everything became even worse, although it would seem that everything was already filled with feigned lamentations. But no, then everything sank into the depths of a real woman’s romance with a full set of pink snot and heartache. In this phase of the story, the main character obediently steps on the rake carefully laid out by the author and passionately rushes between two men, not knowing with whom to stay. And she suffers as she suffers! Day and night, in buckets and rain, while awake and staying in the kingdom of Morpheus, the poor thing is constantly tormented. And, apparently, in order to let readers feel her pain more fully, the author diligently stuffs the text with disgusting bed scenes, after which one immediately recalls a phrase from an allegedly Soviet book on home economics: “After performing an intimate act with your wife, you should allow her to go to the bathroom, but There is no need to follow her, let her be alone. She might want to cry." Fortunately, after a while the descriptions of intimacy change style from medical to Chinese, but they are no less repulsive, but already impossible to cloy.

Needless to say, at this stage my already steadily declining interest has completely faded away? When the focus shifted from the entire clan to the only daughter, it became clear that it was the family itself that was interesting and lively, and not specific members of the family. The characters themselves are written rather one-sidedly and develop very little. Maggie Cleary (O'Neill), the main character, is always sweet, flexible and always beautiful, golden-haired, with silver-gray eyes. And, apart from a couple of flashes of rebellion, it is impossibly boring and lackluster. We are constantly reminded of her pride, but the author clearly describes something exactly the opposite: the girl allows everyone to wipe their feet on her, the main thing is not to complain. This brilliant image is crowned by an attempt to solve all the problems in the relationship with her husband through pregnancy, ahem... Ralph Raoul de Bricassart, the main character, is eternally handsome, blue-eyed, refined, diplomatic and always in a shirt, breeches and riding boots under a black cassock. And all these descriptions are endlessly repeated over and over again in the same words. A rather strange character, considering that the author clearly sympathizes with him and tries to imbue the reader with this adoration, but at the same time endows the holy father with very dubious moral qualities. Throughout the book he tries, not without success, to climb the tree and eat the fish soup, but he cannot evoke any other feeling other than disgust. The motivation of Raoul de Bricassart remains undisclosed, since it was completely impossible to feel his desire for power. However, this is the problem with the whole work: almost all the descriptions here resemble an empty shell, they have a form, but their content is absolutely empty. For almost half a century, the lives of both main characters are marked by milestones: marriage, promotion, birth of children. And between these points there is no filling, complete emptiness. There are practically no changes either in the worldview, or in feelings, or in thoughts, and therefore, for me, none of this pair has acquired volume or real essence. The other characters are endowed with even less texture, both those who appeared from the very beginning and those who entered the narrative much later. I only felt sorry for the estate that had fallen into disrepair, but McCullough stirred it up like a defenseless nest.

By the time the Second World War began, what was happening had completely ceased to evoke any response in me, until I came across a couple of charming pearls:

Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)

“On Christmas Day 1941 Hong Kong fell; but the Japs will never take Singapore, the Australians said to themselves as a consolation. And then came the news of the Japanese landings in Malaya and the Philippines; a powerful naval base at the lower end of the Malay Peninsula kept the sea under constant fire with its huge guns, and its fleet stood ready. But on February 8, 1942, the Japanese crossed the narrow Strait of Johor, landed in the northern part of Singapore Island and approached the city from the rear, where all its guns were powerless. Singapore was taken even without a fight."

Loyalty to the mother country, of course, is commendable and understandable, but such an inept glossing over the shameful surrender of the fortress is puzzling. The Japanese army was outnumbered compared to the defenders and suffered considerable losses both during the transition through the jungles of Indochina and during the battle for Singapore, which, contrary to McCullough’s assurances, did take place. There is no point in pointing to the enemy’s imaginary cunning when there was banal negligence in one’s own command. The enemy must also be respected.

Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)

“The yellow-skinned enemy soldiers are small, frail, almost all wearing glasses and with protruding squirrel teeth. Neither beauty, nor bearing, not like Rommel’s brave warriors.”

Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)

“Half mad, half numb, he waited helplessly - right now, in a snowstorm, without parachutes, Soviet partisans would fall from planes flying just above the ground...”

Why can't I stop thinking about Beorn landing from the Eagles?

And these are far from the only moments that caused me an acute attack of distrust of the author. The described conversations and meetings with the participation of high church officials with the support of de Bricassart are invariably shown as a tea party with jokes about the “hostess” and worldwide stroking of the cat. Somehow poor for the Vatican.

The denouement with the participation of the third generation of characters completely passed me by, I was just glad that it was all finally over. The general poetic message about birds in thorns was completely unimpressive. On the contrary, I consider such external morality harmful, when everything that happens inside the book is artificially adjusted to the desired result. The recurring thesis that working the land renders men sexless, sapping all their strength, is an excellent example. Yeah, all the other farmers around here have a lot of offspring, but in Drogheda it's the other way around. It looks more like the author was simply too lazy to write out all the growing branches of the family tree, so impotence and infertility plague everyone and everything. And if we consider the entire male part of the book’s population, suspicions begin to overcome that the author does not understand not only the history and administrative structure of the Vatican, but much else. I’m afraid to even imagine where McCullough saw so many young men who had absolutely no desire for intimacy with the opposite sex. And, perhaps, what I missed most in this book was the positive impact of feelings and affections. If the heroes find support and support in their love, the author carefully obscures this, pushing forward only suffering and sprinkling ashes on the head. Such one-sidedness does not at all contribute to the emergence of positive emotions from the book. In all the mass of words, descriptions and repetitions, I found for myself only a couple of pitiful grains of truly powerful moments. Everything else was unimpressive at best, or even left a depressing impression. Selma Lagerlöf in the novel “Charlotte Löwenskiöld” depicts the doubts of the hero-priest much more vividly, and Sigrid Undset’s religious reflections are much deeper in the trilogy “Christine, Daughter of Lavrans”. So the narrow-minded thoughts here had no chance of winning my favor.

In fairness, it is worth noting that I still managed to glean something useful from the book. Thanks to Colleen McCullough's novel, I got a general idea of ​​the provincial life of Australia, as well as some of the natural and climatic features of this continent. And even more, I was able to take away the main moral from all this: thank all the gods that I live in the north! But that's all. And now put them in a swing, great love and pink laces together! Give me a rocket, a rocket! I'll rock the old days on Alpha Cygnus!

I listened to the audiobook performed by Margarita Ivanova. The reading is professional, dryly detached, with intonations at almost the same neutral level. It is not uncommon to encounter dubious or outdated accents. There is no musical accompaniment at all.

Rating: 6

One of the best love stories of the 20th century and certainly the most popular Australian novel of all time. For a long time I had a prejudice about this book (“purely women’s prose”). I remember one friend enthusiastically recounted McCullough’s novel to me, especially emphasizing the “forbidden love” of a Catholic priest. Now that I have read the book, I can say with confidence: “The Thorn Birds” is, first of all, good literature, which will not appeal only to those who, in principle, do not recognize melodramas and romance novels.

How did an aspiring writer (“The Singings...” - Colleen McCullough’s second novel) manage to create a worldwide bestseller? It's not just that epic family sagas are loved all over the world. And not only in the “local color”, although Australia is an amazing country, and the life and way of life of the inhabitants of the “green continent” are described with love and attention to detail. In her private history, McCullough managed to show a portrait of the era (both the Great Depression and the Second World War invade the lives of the heroes). At the same time, the conflict of feeling and duty central to the book is relevant in any country at any time.

Well, the main character, Maggie (on the pages of the novel she lives her whole life - from 4 to 58 years!) is an extremely charming, lively and real person. Very soon you begin to empathize with her, like a real person. To get to know Maggie, it's worth reading The Thorn Birds...

Rating: 8

This is not at all the “women’s novel” that I expected from the recommendations. For the most part, this is a solid and measured family saga, spanning three generations of Australian settlers in the first half of the 20th century. Detailed, with stories of each member of the extended family, detailed descriptions of their surroundings, and even some historical context (at least as the story moves to the WWII era). In the center is the love story of a daughter from the middle generation of the family and a local priest, but it cannot be said that she occupies any particularly significant place in the novel in terms of the volume of the text, although, of course, it is the most significant in terms of plot.

It all starts in a large, poor family of New Zealand immigrants: despite the fact that the family lives not so much on the brink of famine, but with some constant threat of it, more and more children are added, however, all of them successfully turn out to be boys who remain here and work from an early age . There is only one girl, Maggie, and she will become the main character. The head of the family unexpectedly receives an invitation to move to Australia, to live with his older, rich sister, who has no other heirs, and with the move, their standard of living improves significantly. But nevertheless, this does not allow them to somehow significantly change the very essence of life: all family members, including growing children, remain on their estate and work on the land, doing purely physical labor and not thinking about anything more. None of them thinks for a second that it would be possible to change something in this life, for example, to go to study at university, to become someone else, and not a sheep farmer or head of sheep breeders. There is something degenerate in this regularity passing from generation to generation, something indicating the loss of the vitality of the family. By the end of the novel, all the remaining family members are already sufficiently wealthy and constant work is not a condition for their physical survival - but for the most part, with a couple of exceptions, they continue to lead some kind of drab, inconspicuous and familiar life. Only two children from the younger generation give any hope in this regard. By the way, this is a very good idea and very correct: “She was surprised to realize that continuous purely physical labor is the strongest barrier that people can erect in order to prevent themselves from truly thinking.” It seems to me that not only physical, but in general continuous and hard work of any kind is such an obstacle, because you get no less tired from mental and organizational work, and you also don’t have the time and energy to think about your life.

Separately, I would like to say about the main character of the novel, to whom the love story with the priest relates, the girl Maggie. You know, in all of world literature I don’t remember such an example of an “ideal woman” in terms of the combination of all those qualities that are traditionally considered to be the personification of femininity. She is beautiful, but she is not carried away by her beauty and is not aware of it herself. Until very adulthood, he retains complete, almost idiotic innocence in terms of gender issues (I don’t believe that for a person living on a farm where all kinds of living creatures breed, this is possible). And most importantly, she is completely submissive, lacking initiative, capable of enduring bad conditions and mistreatment for years, taking it for granted, and at the same time waiting and hoping. The kind of person who sits wherever they put him and does what he is told. The young girl fell in love with the priest, and he fell in love with her too, but he chose a church career, and she patiently waited and waited, and married the first person she met who was more or less like him. Oh yes, another purely feminine characteristic: not understanding where children come from, she desperately wants to have them. Initially, from childhood. Which, by the way, is also not particularly typical for people from large, poor families, it seems to me. And, of course, sex with her new husband seems monstrous and terribly painful to her. And she openly dislikes her eldest daughter, who, as luck would have it, has grown up smart, proactive and on her own. But he dotes on his son, a gentle little calf. In general, the writer has collected all the cliches about “tender hearts” and whatever else this type of people is called - although for me, the most suitable epithet for them is sheep. Maggie did good to whom exactly with her spinelessness and long-suffering - but to no one, on the contrary, she made everyone around her suffer from the fact that they did not live up to the high expectations of the sheep and provoked a new round of her humble suffering. A priest - because he chose a career over her, a son - because he dared to choose his own path in life.

Why am I so annoyed by this female type and this approach to life? - Yes, because it is precisely the qualities described that many owe to the fact that they grew up in poverty with an alcoholic father, and a suffering mother worked three jobs and said “in fact, he loves you”, taking out bottles. What is typical is that in happy families, a woman somehow fails to maintain this type of humble sufferer - because there is nothing special to suffer from. Apparently, this is why such sufferers do not create happy families, otherwise their main talent will be wasted.

It would be interesting to hear the opinion of men - how cute and attractive do they think Maggie is?

By the way, it is in this story that the priest’s dilemma - love or career - does not touch me at all. Maybe because it was initially clear what he would choose, and if Maggie had been livelier and more active, there would have been other options, but here she didn’t help him at all to tip the scales in his favor, and everything went the way it went. In this regard, the drama in “The Gadfly” touches the heartstrings much more strongly. And Ralph in this regard is not a very attractive character, although he is very understandable as a human being. If he didn’t have a favorite career, he would have, for example, a beloved wife and a beloved mistress. His confidant, Cardinal Vittorio, is much more reserved, insightful, and thereby likable. “Humility is what you lack, and it is humility that makes great saints—and great men too,” and this is very true of Ralph and characters like him, who, by and large, love themselves best.

The most sympathetic character in the novel is Justina, an unloved daughter from an unloved husband. Who, despite all the unluckiness of her situation, grew up to be a lively, strong and active person, chose her own occupation, made her way on stage on the other side of the world and, as a result, was the only one from the entire family who, at the end of the novel, received the hope of creating a happy family of love. Although, of course, all this also seems a little dubious: the red thread running through the entire novel is the idea that all female heroines stubbornly love one man all their lives. This is cute, of course, but somehow doubtful - I’m not saying that this doesn’t happen, but I’m saying that this doesn’t happen to everyone.

Rating: 7

I also had some prejudice as a female “love” novel. But, fortunately, the book focuses not only on this. The book was interesting to me precisely as an everyday saga that covers entire generations of the life of one family, a saga wrapped in the surroundings of New Zealand and Australia, so distant and strange to us, with happy periods and periods of grief, with its difficulties, crises and ups.

For me, in addition to the main line, the life story of Feona, the mother of the family, who unfortunately remained somewhat behind the scenes, was also interesting: it is clear that this woman fell out of her midst due to some tragic accident or her own stupidity (most likely the latter), but, Despite this, she was still lucky with her husband, who loved her very much and tried as best he could to brighten up the vicissitudes of a poor peasant life. And from the very beginning of the book, I was left with an indelible impression by the touching picture of how little Meggie received the first doll in her life as a gift... But still, the people and characters of this work remained somewhat far from me - throughout the entire story I didn’t come across a single one, so to say, a kindred spirit. I can understand Peggy, who was all about work in order to get food for her large family (and even then she could not stop expanding the scale of this family), but I find it strange the mother (Feona), who singles out with her love first one, then another child and is absolutely not interested in others. Likewise, Maggie can calmly leave her children in the care of elderly servants and travel around her livestock farms for weeks, months, and then cry and wonder why the grown-up children are so far from their mother. Yes, still not our mentality. Justin's truth, a child of the modern era, makes a striking contrast with the rest of the characters in the book; it is more understandable to me, although it still (or rather, even more so) does not evoke empathy. In general, the characters in the book have been torturing themselves and those around them for years in attempts to resolve their everyday dilemmas; With all due respect, but how can you be so wasteful with life? In the end, only sadness is caused by the fact that such a large family, having all the prerequisites after the smile of fortune, to take its warm place in life, stupidly withers and finally bends under the unbearable weight of its own cockroaches, sadly. Well, luck, what else can you call the fact that the descendants of an unknown New Zealand farmer, and even not only descendants, but also direct members of his large family, become accepted into the best houses of Europe - to Rome, to the cardinals and the pope, and the potential Has the German Chancellor been trying to win their daughter's favor for years?

Well, McCullough’s skill as an author is worthy of all praise; she managed to almost equally vividly and naturally portray both Australian life with flies and dust, droughts and floods, as well as war, depression, and the emotional turmoil of the heroes; both the features of Australian livestock farming and the cultivation and processing of sugar cane; It is somewhat more difficult to judge the reliability of the description of the Catholic behind the scenes. Separately, it is worth mentioning the pictures of the gradual arrival of relatively modern civilization in the original Australian wilderness. In addition, the book also contains scenes of an openly erotic nature, for example, Justina’s deflowering (if I’m not mistaken, there were no such pictures in Soviet translations, or they were greatly simplified). I don’t know whether the book benefited from them or not; to be honest, I’m not a fan, but you can’t give it to children anymore. Although for girls, teenagers can be considered as an unobtrusive guide to adult life: here it’s about periods and where children come from and how, and about virginity and contraceptives; even using the example of Justina, one can consider whether they want it to be like this or whether there should still be love.

Speaking of children. Maybe I’m wrong, but Feona and Meggie also take credit for the fact that they don’t interfere in the children’s affairs from scratch (they stupidly don’t pay attention to them, in other words). Then how can the question arise, why children grew up this way, and then also do not pay much attention to their parents? And generally not like, for example, Maggie would like? Well, this is the most controversial part - the author shows that both of Maggie’s children clearly took after their fathers, without even knowing them. That is, Maggie’s genes were not successful, and, I repeat, she was practically not involved in her upbringing... For me, it is somewhat unconvincing. Towards the end of the book, Maggie complains to God for some reason because she was left dissatisfied with her life. In relation to our realities, I would say that life (God), on the contrary, was presented to her on a silver platter, all she had to do was reach out and take it! But no, our heroine was almost all the time a passive contemplator of her own life, except for the decision to have children. And even then - she gave birth and scored! This is especially clear with Justina, who ceased to be needed by her mother even before birth - and why then be surprised at her character and behavior, and complain about life, God and the daughter herself?

And so my final verdict: the book is still worthy of being read and placed on the shelf next to other classics, and the ending turned out to be one of the strongest moments of the book. On the one hand, it is quite in the leisurely spirit of the entire work, on the other hand, it is so short and succinct. Throughout the novel I was wondering who should sing in the thorn bush, by the end I had already decided that the whole story about the bird was for the sake of a beautiful word, but no, just as the novel began with a beautiful legend, it ended with it, literally the last paragraph!

Rating: 8

The book is undoubtedly special. Conceptually monumental, but suffers in detail. I didn't like her too much. Why? because the question “why” tormented me throughout the entire book. why doesn't anyone hold a grudge? Why does the author hate men so much? Why is it right and good to rob your family and be proud of your career achievements bought with stolen money? Why is it right and good to break vows and biblical commandments over and over again while preaching them? Why does the hypocritus priest put pride above humility, restraint, simplicity, modesty and moderation, and everyone adore him for it? Why are all women separate and all men separate? Why are there such gaps in the narrative line, where do the years disappear? from 2 to 8 years just evaporate into nowhere and nothing happens? why such a weak ending? where is the apotheosis? What is the book actually about? It seemed to me like it was nothing. so - small tragedies for 60 years and then everyone died. Well, maybe not all. Of all the characters, we can say with certainty only about those who either died or survived to the last pages. others have vanished into thin air. What is the moral? About what God gave and God took away? somehow stingy, despite the abundance of material

Rating: 6

One of my favorite novels, a book that can be considered the standard of a love-psychological novel. The amazing depth of the images, the actions of the characters, their thoughts, feelings are completely natural, there is not the slightest artificiality or decorativeness. An epochal book of its kind that can be read and reread many, many times, and each time you find something new. I liked the film less.

Rating: 10

1. Firstly, this is a love story and only then a family saga. What I mean is that all these love pains and troubles simply add up some hint of a family saga. If I understand correctly, a family saga should not have a single main character around whom the plot is built. In a family saga, the whole family and each individual person from this family are the main characters. But in this book, the main character is Maggie and Justina, and the other characters are written only in order to more clearly outline the image of these two women (and I also suspect to increase the volume of the book).

2. If it were just a love story, I would probably still be able to put up with it. But this is a love-tragic novel, my most hated genre. It's like an Indian movie where a couple in love can't reunite because of a million obstacles. But unlike an Indian film, it immediately becomes clear that the novel will not end well, and the snot will haunt the reader until the very end.

2.2 I have never understood people who write and read novels where everything is bad for everyone and everything ends badly in the end. Is it really possible that everything in life has turned out so well for the writer and the reader and that they have so little grief and misfortune in their lives that they want to write/read about the torment and suffering of other people?

1. Exotic. New Zealand and Australia in the first half of the 20th century, its life and nature, described in detail and generously by the author. And also a little bit of North Africa, the Vatican, London and Greece.

2. Interesting and well-written main characters. I especially liked Frank, Stewart, Lyon and of course Ralph.

3. The scale and large time period covered by the novel. There is a little mention of the First World War and a little more detail of the Second World War. It was also interesting for me to read about the economic crisis, politics and religion.

To sum it up. The book, in general, could have turned out to be very, very good, but the family saga simply choked under the onslaught of unrequited love and inappropriate behavior of all the women of the Cleary family. And I still have many questions related to the fate of the male half of the Cleary family, but the author, in order not to be distracted by them once again, simply “castrated” them. Can you imagine 5 (okay 3) healthy men who not only did not marry, but, in my opinion, did not even sleep with women throughout their lives? The author seems to be too dismissive of men.

While reading, I involuntarily compared this novel with the only book I had read in the genre of the family saga, “Rich Man, Poor Man” by Irwin Shaw, and I can say that this comparison was far from being in favor of “The Thorn Birds.”

P.S. I was the only one who was bothered by the fact that at the beginning of each part the title included the name of some hero to whom this part should, in theory, be dedicated, but invariably the narrative returned to Maggie and her suffering, and in the last two parts Justina appears along with Maggie , because Maggie is no longer able to surprise readers with her love pangs.

Rating: 6

Frigid Australian debauchery

The poetic title of the book, the promise of a love story of several generations of a family, claiming to be a classic and high literature... All this is a voluminous lie, big words, excessive pathos. Like a typical pulp book that hides behind a revealing cover the claim that it is a historical novel, this plump volume similarly features a sex scene almost exactly in the middle. Either this is a commercial move for those who test the interest by opening the book approximately in the middle, or a trick for those who like to tell fortunes, but the fact remains that its audience is definitely not far off. Just like the author and the characters she created.

“The Thorn Birds” consists of seven chapters, which themselves can be considered separate novels, connected by common characters and places of action. They are so disjointed and meaningless that they could simply be absent from the book or exist on their own. For a long time I wondered on what basis they were given such names - after the names of the heroes. It seems that only in half the cases did they leave the stage in those chapters... But then it became clear that each such character, whose name the chapter is named, sings his own tragic song in it, “perishing in the thorns.” So, almost the main character Maggie ends the song at the very beginning, in childhood, although her life continues outside the book, because each subsequent part gives a narrative further in time. The fact is that she, being a naive provincial girl, never overcomes her underdevelopment. As soon as it comes to separation from the family, independence, and especially relationships with men, she turns into an inadequate creature with a mental disorder. Actually, this is inherent in almost all the other members of her family: the reclusive mother Fiona, whose tragedy, it turns out, is the status of the mother of war veterans, and her eldest son Frank, who also went crazy just during adolescence, and later due to deviant behavior. the behavior of the person in prison, Stuart the autist, the rest of the indifferent brothers... The main sex symbol of the book - the priest Ralph de Bricassart - performs his funeral service, having sold himself to wealth and political power... The Drogheda estate becomes a rival to prudence, taking away from everyone a certain romantic component of love .

And none of this touched me at all, because the experiences in the book are clichéd, and the characters have far-fetched personalities, if these shortcomings can even be called that. The only moment that brought me tears was the death of the father of the Cleary family. Paddy Cleary was the only real person on the page, completely unremarkable, simple, but capable of repentance, forgiveness, patience and sound reasoning. His infrequent appearances meant much more than Ralph's horseback rides around Drogheda in his half-unbuttoned shirt, showing off his tanned, smooth chest.

If the first part of the book pleased with its childish naivety and fairly realistic stupid dialogues, although they were conducted by a matured 16-year-old girl and not a child, then with the appearance of sexual thoughts the world of the book goes crazy. The heroine turns into a hysterical woman who absolutely must give birth to children, regardless of the presence of a man, because she does not know by what principle conception occurs. Ralph, with whom she is in love, whenever problems arise with the Cleary family, begins to sing pseudo-prayers in which he blasphemes God. As the discussion of all this progresses, the tribute generally turns to the ancient gods, and the author’s text, instead of the usual descriptions of the life of sheep farmers or sugar cane cutters, begins to make references either to Homer or to the creators of ancient Greek tragedies. From time to time you can see references to folklore: Irish myths about elves shine through in the story of Luke and his child, and silly Christian superstitions shine through in the faith of Catholic priests.

By the way, the book contains quite a lot of details about the climate of New Zealand and Australia, about the people of different nationalities inhabiting these regions, and always provides the historical context of the events taking place, be it world wars or political squabbles in Europe. But all this is very dry, as if copied from a reference book, and is not at all lived through by the characters, it is artificially inserted. The same applies to purely tabloid clichés: if sex is with the main character-lover, then of course at a wonderful resort in the most comfortable atmosphere and beautiful descriptions, and as with a dear, but not loved, husband, then in a cheap dirty hotel on an uncomfortable bed, yes also painful. It can be seen how the development of relationships corresponds to the sale: if it is rich and beautiful, then it means fate is love and pleasure, if it is usual and like everyone else, then it is violence and hatred. One more thing by the way: it also happens when a man is a bit of a woman in character, and therefore an evil, bitchy creature, prone to intrigue and secrecy. But when a man is just a man, devoting most of his time to physical work, and his leisure time to drinking beer with friends, then there is definitely something gay and abnormal about him. After all, a real man should ride around a woman on a horse, demonstrating his sexuality. It is in this way that Colin McCullough, for example, shows, in addition to everything else, Ralph’s diplomatic skill in official circles: turns of his head and strands of hair in the wind, complemented by an all-knowing, languid gaze. It doesn’t matter that he speaks complete heresy throughout the book.

There is no love as such in this book. There is no real family history either. If characters and birds perish among thorns, their last song is almost always disgusting. This is especially true for women, whose evolution begins with a naive, passive and withdrawn girl, and ends with an expressive bitch who knows no decency. Fiona managed to hold on while all her time was occupied by the estate's reporting; Maggie was helped by her mental retardation and attempts to shift her attention to the children. The last heroine, Justina, tried to overcome this by acting on the stage, to which she was drawn, and therefore looked like the more promising character of all. Each of the heroines at the beginning of the journey had an intriguing note, but by the end the author, apparently, decided not to give any of them anything special and wrote a stupidly clichéd text to the point of vulgarity instead of the good original fate of extraordinary girls, simply equating them with potential residents of a madhouse. The romantic story of how criminals and adventurers became aristocrats on a new land was not overgrown with love romance, and the family existed here only when its head was alive - a rootless but honest farmer, content with what he had. After him, only female fantasies remain among men, and it becomes impossible to treat The Thorn Birds as a serious work.

I simply don’t believe in some character changes. Fia has changed so much in her old age, why would she? What were the prerequisites for this? After all, it is clear from everything that, on the contrary, she could only become more closed than in her youth. Well, or somehow you need to justify this.

It's very strange about Luke. In my opinion, the author wanted to show him as a stereotypical “bad husband”, in which all the qualities are petty and disgusting. But it turned out to be unreliable and contradictory. In the beginning it is said that he wanted to charm a rich girl in order to escape hard work and become a manager. And after 30 pages they no longer remember this, but he, having fulfilled his plan with the girl, suddenly wanted to work as a cane picker. Where is the logic?

Frank had such a great beginning and such a tragic story. But in the finale he is the same cardboard character as the rest of the uncles.

The very story of the feelings of a woman and a priest is unusual and touching (perhaps because this is my first book in the romance novel genre). But overall I expected more.

Rating: 9

I’ll say right away that I’m not a fan of this kind of literature, but this novel made a great impression, literally from the first pages. One scene with a doll is worth it. If I were the father of this family, the boys would be mercilessly Whipped, and the girl would receive a new doll, despite the difficult financial situation :) and yes, you can read from anywhere.

Rating: no

Written as part of the “My Favorite Book” competition. Review author: Irina Bolotova. .

I think that I, like many others, was introduced to this book by my mother. Quite by accident, I found it on a dusty shelf where no one had looked for a very long time. From the very first glance at it, the desire to read overpowered all caution. And I started reading.

If I say that I liked the book, it will be an empty phrase. No. I really liked her! This is my very first novel, which made such a fantastic impression on me!

Throughout the book, the fate and life of Maggie Cleary is traced. She was the only girl in this huge family. It is not surprising that the head of the family loved her more than the other children. But how hard it was for her!

Having matured a little, she began to help her mother. And then everything started to turn out like a very ordinary girl. First love and separation from a loved one, a new meeting, and then a wedding, the first child, leaving the family. Although, I think I was a little hasty with the conclusion. Maggie's life is by no means an ordinary one. Not every woman can bear everything that befell this poor girl.

It’s probably worth saying a few words about Maggie’s very first and only love, the Reverend Ralph de Bricassart. Yes, he was a church minister. Quite a good servant of the church, because every second he moved up the career ladder. He was one of the first to meet the Cleary family when they moved into their new home. All his life he served God and most of that life he loved Maggie. Perhaps for him it was the only and most important choice in life. Love or Faith?

“You are all the same, these huge hairy moths, trying with all your might to reach some stupid light, hitting the transparent glass and not being able to see it at all. And if you manage to get through the glass, you climb straight into the fire and get burned, and that’s the end. But there is shade and coolness nearby, there is food and love, and you can get new little moths. But do you see this, do you want this? Nothing like this! You are again drawn to the fire and you fight, fight until you feel insensible, until you burn!” Maggie.

Probably someone will say that since the book is about love, then in the end he will still choose love, Maggie. And someone, on the contrary, will say that the only love for Ralph was and is the church.

Well, if anyone is interested in Maggie’s fate and what Ralph de Bricassart will ultimately choose, then libraries and bookstores are always open to you! Read and re-read this great creation of a wonderful author!

The review was written as part of the “” competition.

American writer Colleen McCullough's second novel, The Thorn Birds, became a bestseller. Even though it was published in the second half of the 20th century, it still attracts the interest of new readers. The novel was filmed and translated into many languages. A person at any age can find something useful for themselves in this work and draw conclusions.

Maggie Cleary is the only girl in their large family. The mother does not know what a woman’s happiness is, she is busy with housework, she does not have enough time for tenderness with her children. The girl's father is forced to constantly work hard, and in addition, he treats all women with contempt. This concerns not only his wife, who has long come to terms with this, but also the innocent girl. After all, she will not be able to become a good worker and help support their large family. Maggie suffers greatly from a lack of love from her parents and feels useless to anyone.

One day, their father’s sister invites them to move in with her, where she gives them work. Maggie meets a priest, for whom she experiences her first and strongest feelings. Time passes, and he also understands that she causes him deep feelings, he thinks about giving up the priesthood. With their love, they aroused the wrath of Aunt Maggie; it turns out that she has been infatuated with him for a long time. The heroes have to make difficult choices. How will the girl’s life turn out next? And how will her upbringing affect her attitude towards children? Will she repeat the fate of her parents in marriage?

“The Thorn Birds” is a story of three generations spanning 50 years. The author touches on the topics of family relationships, wealth and poverty, life values, large families and attitudes towards step-children. The novel describes a string of events happening to colorful characters, which will make the reader plunge into the depth of human relationships and worry about the characters with all their souls.

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