A review by arockinsamsara
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

4.0

I didn’t go into this novel anticipating much more than a historical soap opera…. And I was blown away at the depth of characters and the reflections on life and humanity that we witnessed through them. There is no real plot, we just follow three generations of a family as they go about their lives. The ever growing cast of characters are all hard-earned and complicated and messy and constantly making really awful decisions based usually on pride, and it was somewhere between intensely frustrating and heart-breaking. The former because just some clear communication and an apology here or there would have dramatically changed some folks’ lives for the better, but the latter because it was clear the omniscient close third person narrator cared as much as we do, this is just the hand these characters chose to play. The writing was really compelling, moving smoothly across characters’ perspectives and time and place, occasionally offering some omniscient insight but mostly just letting us observe. It felt intimate, or as much as some of these character would allow. While it wasn’t particularly lyrical it did, on occasion, feel like there was page after page of descriptions. Every new place we visit there would be what eventually felt like an exhausting description of the place. The writing all served the pacing and atmosphere, relishing where our characters put their attention, so it didn’t feel more melodramatic than it needed to be, but it did just feel bit long on occasion. That said, I didn’t expect to enjoy this book nearly as much as I did, it really surprised me. It really comes down to the characters, and how lovingly and expansively they are explored. Yes, they make heaps of bad decisions, and some become a little unlikable for it, but they never cease to be interesting and compelling, truly mirrors, yes maybe antiques, maybe a little cloudy here and there, but mirrors all the same in which we can see versions of ourselves.