It took 200 pages of this book for me to confirm that the novel's 'hero' is a pedophile, and that his love interest is the young child that he meets as a girl and spends years grooming in the presence of her family. A horrible book.

This was a reread for me and just as enjoyable the second time around!

I have been consumed by this: heart and soul. The thorn bird sings only once in its life before impaling itself. But the song is so sweet that even God smiles for its song comes at a great sacrifice: life.I’m in utter awe. The Australian outback is a harsh land. Built for the strongest of humans to survive. The Clearys are a large family who’ve migrated from NZ to Australia to manage Paddy’s sister’s sheep station. In the isolation of the outback, there are few relationships that develop but a y...

It’s a rough job reading a novel that tears your heart apart, but it’s rougher still to see it on GR forty years later... and then give it FIVE STARS!WHY in the name of Sam Hill would I do that?Books can drive you into irrational behaviour. But you know what’s WORSE?This book turned me into a Catholic convert. No joke. I MUST be crazy, right?Actually, no...This book proved to me that Christianity is a religion, above all, of TRYING. Of ‘d*mning the torpedoes’ and sailing ‘full speed ahead.’ Of g...

I would give this all the stars in the sky if I could. This was simply the best book I've ever read.. This might sound strange, but I crave a book that is going to ruin me for all other novels to come. And this was it! Something in my greedy little reader paws, wants a book that is going to destroy me. Wreak havoc upon me. Do you know what I am talking about? Well, maybe you don't. Hmph.This story lifted my heart and made my soul come alive. I felt as if the characters ingratiated the...

In a down reading year, an epic family saga was just what I needed to push away the reading doldrums. Normally, a five star read would merit a long review depicting characters, place, time, and the author's luscious prose. The Thorn Birds had all of this and was hauntingly beautiful. Yet, despite the story of the Cleary family and their parish priest being a much needed tonic for me, I am omitting my long review for now. That is because The Thorn Birds is our quarterly long read in the group Ret...

There could be thirteen million things to write about this book - but since I'm 'retired'.....only writing abbreviated reviews- I'll try to make this short. This novel must have been one of the most scandalous- talked about novels - to hit the book shelves back in 1977. And..... it was a *FINE* read these past few days!!!!! By *FINE*, I mean a VERY ADDICTIVE compelling engrossing WONDERFUL read.....an epic that stretches our hearts beyond the Outback regions of Australia. Tidbits.........The rel...

Oh my fucking God. This book. I was standing in the kitchen this morning angrily chopping veg and I couldn't work out why, then I realised, it was this book just making me irrationally angry, when I wasn't even reading it!Tragedies within the first 50 pages, let's list them.1. She gets a lovely doll!1.5 Doll is trashed.2. She gets sent to school at last!2.5 School is terrible she's beaten every day.3. It's ok she makes an awesome friend!3.5 Friend hates her, fuck you, nits.4. She realllly wants ...

This beaut of a soap opera has been around for decades & for excellent reason. Epics have been forgotten & currently authors satisfy their readers (or not, as the case may be) with smaller stories & smaller lives.McCullough has the tenacity to include three generations in this sprawling saga, and as family portraits usually tell of differences between the generations PLUS the ties that bind them together & to a home, this one exactly does that in an extremely entertaining fashion...

I've wanted to read this book for years, but I'm glad I waited till I was at a stage in my life when I might appreciate it the most (though it wasn't deliberate). I didn't know anything about the story before I started except that it's a classic Australian novel, epic in scope, and was made into a mini-series or something starring Rachel Ward years ago. I like not knowing much about books before I read them, though: it leaves you wide-open for the story to be told, and absorbed.This is indeed an...