The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

So I read this book for the first time many, many, many years ago...like I think I might have been 13 or 14, which scarily enough means it was over 30 years ago (dear god, did I really do that math right?); certainly it was before I went to college.  I may have read it again in the intervening years; I don't really know.  What I do know is that there are certain scenes from this book that have stuck with me since my first reading even to this day.  And I also know that this was one of the books I read that solidified my love for the romance novel...and my equally fervent annoyance at most books in the genre.  Because this one was so well written, the characters so etched in my mind, the land and the story and the love stories buried in the plot were so palatable that its hard  (dare I say impossible?) to find other books that match up.   I mean, I probably should have started with a Harlequin romance or something and eventually stumbled onto this one instead of reading this one first and then never finding another that even comes close.  I've written before about my love for Mary Steward and she wrote her fair share of "romance novels", all of which I loved, but certainly I'd put her a couple of steps above the average (with the possible exception of the Moon Spinners, but I have not read that one in many years either and I'll have to put it on the list for a reread because my recollection is that that one stands out from the other Steward romance novels and is on par with The Thorn Birds)...

This one stood up to a reread.  The lice episode, the moment when Frank finds out about the twins (or was it Hal?), the scene where Meggie manipulates Luke to get pregnant with Justine, the visual of Dane being found...each of these stuck with me for all these years.  As I got to each recalled passage I felt myself getting keyed up in anticipation.  Each was close to, but not quite, as I had remembered it.  Reading this book as a teenager and as a 40-something are very different experiences, and I am fairly certain I read this as a very young teenager...I would have been completely inexperienced in most of what I was reading about and so the fact that it left an indelible mark on me may be attributable to and a natural consequence of my youth when I read it.  (My parents had a very liberal view of what I was allowed to read...which means, I was allowed to read anything I could get my hands on...Flowers in the Attic and Clan of the Cave Bear in third grade or fourth grade was probably not what Dr. Spock would recommend (my aunt let my similarly aged cousins read Clan but she cut out the "bad" parts...at least thats the family story) but I was a precocious reader and when I had finished every single book that my elementary school librarian could give me I suppose they just let it ride...plus my mom figured that it I understood it I was old enough to read it and if I didn't understand it, what's the harm...we did not have the internet in those days so mysteries were easier to keep mysterious.

The characters changed and morphed in my mind from the original read too, and their relationships with each other... Meggie's overall relationship with Luke I recalled as being abusive, though on the reread I found him more indifferent than anything else.  My young self probably would have interpreted that as more horrifying that I do now with (slightly  :  )  ) more experience under my belt.  Meggie's feelings for Justine I remembered as indifference with love only coming at the end of the book.  On the reread, and having a couple of kids in my own life, I was far more sympathetic to Meggie's feelings for Justine and I realized that she did indeed love her just as much as she loved Dane, but in a different way.  I believe that I judged her rather harshly over her lack of love for the "monster" who was her firstborn-Meggie was never my favorite character.  Justine's personality lent itself to only a certain kind of visible love which to my mind doesn't mean that the love was not there.  

To not spoil the book I won't say who it was but the death at the end of the book I recalled as being tragic and possibly even a suicide; upon the reread it was written to be more of a divine intervention which we are supposed to liken to a martyrdom or at least the calling home of a chosen one.   Father Ralph I recall thinking was suspect as a romantic lead; the years have not softened my feelings for him, indeed, I think that he was a bit of an ass at the end of the day.  Which I believe we are supposed to think but I am not sure I got those overtones via my youthful reading.

I loved this book then and I love it still.  It SUTMR (stands up to multiple reads) and rates very highly:  #2 Fabulous