Cheap The Thorn Birds (Book) (Colleen McCullough) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Thorn Birds

Touching, beautiful saga that leaves reader overwhelmed!
"The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough is my favorite novel. It is in a category by itself and deserves more than five stars. I saw ten minutes of the miniseries on television and knew I had to read the book. I was twelve, and the story of Meggie and Ralph moved me to hysterical tears. I am now 18, and I have read the book so many times I have lost count. Set in the Australian Outback in the years surrounding WWII, it is the story of a girl growing up, learning that "The best is only bought at the cost of great pain...Or so says the legend." The courage and strength of Meggie despite the tremendous hardships of her life inspires me. I must admit I fell in love with Ralph de Bricassart; first with his name, then with the man. (I can only hope to find such a person!) All of the other characters--Fee, Paddy, Frank, Dane, Justine, Rain--are developed clearly throughout the story. McCullough is a genius for combining three generations of the Cleary family into one novel! I still cry when I read the story, for the love, and for the pain. The introductory story of the thornbird is a lesson for life: all sadness will pass, and one day something beautiful will come from that pain. A highly emotional book, "The Thorn Birds" is the best work of this century. It is worth reading to anyone who enjoys drama and romance, as well as suspense, action, and sadness! The movie based on the novel starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward is an excellent interpretation.

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What an epic!
Like so many other girls of my era, I picked up the name Megan after my mother saw the mini-series in the 80s and absolutely fell in love with the characters. I'd always been intrigued with the story of how my mama's little girl got her name from a MOVIE, of all things, so when I "was old enough" to investigate for myself, I picked up the book (no easy feat, at over 700 pages!) and started reading this past summer. I just finished a few weeks ago and all I can say is WOW!

It's not an uplifting tale, but I was more than content with that -- life is not always uplifting. It was an intricate, stunning story of the three generations of the same family, focusing on Meggie Cleary (my name sake) and her forbidden obsession with Father Ralph. At times throughout the novel, I simply had to sit back and say, "Wow." No other words formed coherently in my brain. It is an epic of the truest sense... you'll cry, you'll gasp, you'll... cry some more. It's got everything you could really ask for -- action, adventure, romance... and more romance.

It leaves you strangely unfulfilled, however... Dane never learns the truth of about his father, and Meggie never lives happily ever after with Ralph. That's the most tragic part of all. But I cannot say that I didn't enjoy it... I'd be lying through my teeth. It was one of the most powerfully written stories I've ever had the privilege of reading, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to really sink their teeth into a good novel.

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The Greatest Romance Novel of All Time
I have read this at least a dozen times, and still love Meggie, Ralph, Fee, Paddy & Frank. A classic, cannot recommend it highly enough.