"The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough

It has been a few years since I’ve read “The Thorn Birds” by Colleen McCullough. I read it for the first time when I was nineteen and it was the first book I read before I started university reading from then on for a few months. I discovered the book after a re-read of Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind” that I was doing in order to compare the book to the movie and see exactly what I really thought about the casting choice for Scarlett O’Hara. I was told online by someone on Reddit that “The Thorn Birds” was basically the Australian version of “Gone with the Wind” and that it would make me emotional in the same way. And it didn’t. It made me far more emotional than I’d ever been with “Gone with the Wind”. I was actually so emotional that whilst I was at work, I finished the book and had to excuse myself so that I could go and cry in the foyer. The book managed to change my opinion on how epic a 20th century novel could really be and to this day, even when I think about it - I can feel the same tears start to well up in my eyes. Only if there was more communication between some of the characters, most of this mess would not have occurred and everyone would be okay.

My favourite character in the book was obviously Meggie, the main character. Meggie was the daughter of a man who once loved horses and a woman in desperate peril about her own motherhood. She falls in love with a much older man, a priest - she and her brother don’t talk for a while. There are moments when you’re left thinking whether she’ll make her move before it’s too late. Meggie’s greatest attribute is her patience. I love the fact that she is deep and contemplative. You’ve probably noticed by now that I like these overtly philosophical, almost hype-romantic characters of fiction. It is like reading into someone’s soul. It is a beautiful thing. However, Meggie’s greatest fault is also her patience. She ends up being so patient that the precise moment to do something passes her by and it ends up being too late for communication. It’s almost tragic and yet, she learns this and manages to become a better person as the novel increases in tension, apprehension and story. Meggie represents this almost blinding light in a story packed full of darkness. Her ability to be patient, her ability to endure even the most tragic events and her ability to wait calmly for the exact time is almost beyond comparison to any other character in the book. She is the endurance of the novel and the only reason why some of the characters do not collapse in their moral or psychological compasses. It’s a very beautiful thing and Meggie is an incredible human being. Sometimes, I feel like I’ve known her all my life.

A key theme in this book is communication. I’ve noticed that communications happen after the moment is gone, regrets are made because certain communications did not happens and love becomes a form of simple communication. It’s not just verbal though, it’s also through body language, expression and when two characters, like Meggie and Ralph, feel a vast connection between each other’s souls. The theme of communication is used to entail most of what is normally seen as ‘the base’ of the book. Meggie, as a character, is often late to communicate her feelings and emotions to certain characters and ends up drowning in her own regret. She then communicates her feelings and soulfulness to the reader and we see truly what was going to be said but now, is too late to say so. The empathy level for Meggie is very high as she enacts her own story through her communication, lack of communication and late communication with the other characters. Meggie plays out this theme in order to show us that we must be patient, but we must also act at the correct time in order to make our feelings known, or they will bottle up inside of us and the other person will never find out. The theme of communication is used, I believe, in order to connect certain characters back together when there has clearly been a miscommunication or a falling out between them. When Meggie’s father dies, I noticed that there was so much that Meggie felt about him and yet, never actually said to him. It is a really sad state of affairs and one that will be repeated throughout the book. Evoking a massive amount of sympathy for the patient young woman who tries to gage the perfect time to make her philosophical, deep and contemplative feelings known in this complicated family saga and romance.

This book means so much to me because it is on the list of one of the few books that actually managed to make me cry. I remember finishing it and weeping in the bathroom when my co-worker came up to me and asked what was wrong. I told her to read the book I’d just read and she said she wouldn’t. When I asked her why, she stated that I had a heart like a swinging brick and if it could make me cry, then it would absolutely destroy her. It impacted my later reading experiences because obviously, I went to seek more of these books out. I read the works of Isabel Allende, Richard Yates, Nevil Shute and Michael Cunningham because of this book and the lingering emotional torment it left over my existence. And you know what, that was the best thing about this book. The emotional torment.

I think far more people should read this book, I know now that there is a TV show and didn’t know that until I’d finished the book and a friend at university told me because her mother watched it. But far more people should read the book because it is the damn experience of a lifetime. Emotionally, it will not leave you unfulfilled. I have found that some people still read the book rather than watch the TV show though and the general consensus is that the show really doesn’t evoke the emotions in the same way. Some people like TV, some people like books - both are okay. Upon my next re-read of this book (whenever that is) I would like to explore the way in which the title has a profound effect on how we understand the novel and how that legend really links in with the plot like of the book.

“When we press the thorn to our chest we know, we understand, and still we do it.”

"The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough