Girls, Kick Off Those Heels, Brew A Pot Of Tea, Sit Back, And Read!!!!!!!!!!

                                         When "The Thorn Birds" first appeared on the literary scene, back in 1977, the fuss over it was comparable to what it must have been like back in 1936, when a little something by Margaret Mitchell called "Gone With The Wind" first hit the book stands. Not only that, the book, even for the Seventies, was downright shocking, what with its depiction of a relationship, and its consequences, between a secular woman and an ordained Catholic priest.

                                             Well, what a difference thirty six years makes!!!!!!!!  With what is happening, and has been, in the Catholic Church today, the clergy would welcome the relationship between Meggie Cleary and Ralph De Bricassart!!!!!!!!  At least, they are man and woman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                The book is even more panoramic than today, what with its lush descriptions of  land and locales, the kind which fiction writers do not favor, anymore.  They don't write them like this, and it is a pity, but reading "The Thorn Birds" after nearly 40 years, is a reminder how gripping this kind of novel, when someone was writing at the top of their form, could be.

                                                  Colleen McCullough, still alive at 76, is an unquestionably brilliant woman, but no one heard of her, until "The Thorn Birds."  She had written a previous novel, called "Tim," which is only known, due to the stupendous success of her 1977 work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    The story is mired in Catholic passion, guilt and tragedy.  I am still not
clear what Meggie's son, Dane, dies of--is it a drowning, a heart attack, or both?????--with almost everyone in it being punished for something.  This is in keeping with the theme of the novel, and its title--the Celtic legend of a bird who impales itself on a thorn, and in encroaching death agony, sings most beautifully.  The novel says that, to a certain extent, we are all thorn birds!!!!!!!!!!

                                                     Which is a pretty dark message overall, and an extremely dark way to end this book.  But the ride along that way is well worth taking--sweeping, compellin,. the product once directed to a  literary audience that sadly, no longer exists.

                                                       I found the very edition of the novel, pictured above, in a bookstore in New Orleans, two summers ago. Its era of fiction is gone, but the memories of it are still out there, still able to be found, and savored. Which I urge you to do.

                                                        Girls, I am telling you, these birds do not go "tweet, tweet!"  They are even more savage than Hitchcock's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  But read it, and know what it is like to be swept out to sea on a scope of epic fiction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                           And, when done, do not let these birds leave the nest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!