historical fiction
It’s the early 20th century in New Zealand and
the Cleary family is so poor that even the nuns at Meggie’s school ridicule the
siblings because of their lowly status. There
are nine children and Meggie is the only daughter. The mother is practical and
unemotional while the father is hardworking and happy for what he has. But the
family is really struggling when they move to Australia to live and work on Mr. Cleary’s
sister’s property. The story follows these characters through a couple
generations.
The settings are vivid, even set half a world
and a century away. This classic novel
is a favorite of many. I felt The Thorn Birds was a well done drama about a
family attempting to persevere. Life for
women was especially difficult in their place and time. I often stayed up
reading too late because I wanted to find out how things would turn out for Meggie.
However, most of the characters were perplexing to me. None
felt real or relatable except for a few of the secondary characters. The rest
all seemed exaggerated, unlikely, bizarre, and/or flat. Their personalities and
choices were difficult for me to understand. Even Meggie behaved oddly once she
returned home as a young mother. I assume the forbidden (scandalous!) love story
was the reason for the novel’s popularity when it was written in the 1970s. But
reading it for the first time in 2022 and at this point in my life, I didn’t find
it anything special. This is usually how
I feel about classic, widely beloved novels so I hope my friends who adore this
novel aren’t upset with me. But I’m happy I read it and I did enjoy Colleen McCullough's novel overall.
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