Rating: 
Summary: Lengthy and rambling, but worth it.
Review: This is one of my favorite novels, and the plot line is among the best: the epic of a forbidden love that flowers between a strong-willed young woman and a priest. The book sweeps you from post-World War I New Zealand, the barren Australian outback, the Vatican, and back to Australia. My only criticism was that it didn't have to spend so much time droning on and on about all the details of life in the outback. Most of us can't empathize with rabbit overpopulations, Aborigines dressed as cowboys, sheep, etc. But the book is excellent nonetheless.TTB is an utter pathos and a study in the sacrifices we make to stay true to our faith and values.
Rating:
Summary: great
Review: I read this book years ago, I must have been in the 8th grade then, but I was used to reading big books, and I just loved it. fell in love with Father Ralph and I just love the name Dane. I have never forgotten that name. After Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, which I really recommend if you liked this book, this has got to be one of my all-time favorites. I've kept my copy preserved and on the shelf in a place of honor and I tell you, it really deserves it.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book ever
Review: The Thorn Birds is the best book ever!!! It is completely heartbreaking from the very beginning, and stays that way til the end. What is really interesting is the story of the Thorn Birds at the beginning, which is so much like Meggie's life.The only bad part of the book is Dane, he is so annoying. But I LOVE it anyway, I hope u do too.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: This book is my favorite novel. I watched the outstanding miniseries originally, fell in love with it, and had to purchase the book. The miniseries doesn't even come close to capturing the magnificence of this book. How could it? There is no way to capture the journey the Cleary family undertook or the life they lived in any other media except literature. The book tells the tale of the Clearly family, particularly the women, and, especially, Meggie. There is one thing that puzzles me, though. Meggie Clearly grew up on a farm and didn't understand reproduction, how babies are made -- isn't that a little far fetched? Reproduction is very important on farms.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read
Review: There are several books that stand out in my mind: Lonesome Dove, Gone with the Wind, The Rise of T. Roosevelt, and The Thorn Birds. I became interested in this novel after watching the mini-series. Now they really do not make mini-series like that anymore. I loved Rachel Ward (although she's not that great an actress) and Mancini's music (famous for also writing the Pink Panther and MoonRiver songs). Read the book. If you don't like romance novels... we'll this novel isn't just about the "girl" and the priest.
Rating: 
Summary: Wasn't expecting a full blown romance novel
Review: I've read all of Colleen's Masters of Rome series and thought they were great but found this one to be a disappointment. I had to struggle to even finish the book which I found to be sappy and superficial compared to her fairly hard-boiled and intricately detailed politico-military portrayal of Rome. I admit I am no fan of romances, but I believe her writing skills have improved considerably in her later books.
Rating: 
Summary: A novel with staying power
Review: "The Thorn Birds" looks like a story that will be with us for a while. It's certainly an above average novel in the "family saga" genre, even though I can't get quite as rapturous as many of the reviewers. McCullough fits the cliche of "born storyteller." She puts a lot of words down on paper, spinning the yarn out a long, long time and with no small amount of extraneous stuff. For example, she devotes at least one hundred pages to the lives of Justine and Dane when what we really want to know is what happens to Meggie and Ralph -- the ill-fated lovers who dominate the book. I don't find the love story of Meggie and Ralph all that compelling -- although it will keep you turning the pages. The real merit of "The Thorn Birds" is the vivid picture it gives of life on a sheep station in the Australian outback before about 1950 when life there became electrified and telephoneified, and more or less the same as everywhere else. "Thorn Birds" would be better if it were cut down to about 500 pages from the present 700. It seriously falters when the emphasis shifts from the outback to the theater in London and the Vatican in Rome. These are dime-a-dozen stories, but life in the outback, now that's a tale worth telling! And the author does it well.
Rating:
Summary: Deepest of love stories
Review: This is the deepest love story I've ever read about. More so than Romeo and Juliet, Lancelot and Guinevere, etc. The intensity is unmatched. I think it's because the beginning of their love starts so early, when Meggie is a 10 year old girl, somewhat neglected by her family. Ralph is a father figure to her for years, the only one there to care about her and help her grow up. So the foundation of the relationship is that of a vulnerable little girl and a protective man who's moved by her vulnerability. Then she becomes a beautiful young woman and their relationship is transported into another dimension. The intensity is also related to the fact that the passion has to be suppressed for so many years. Ralph has never been with a woman before, and when they finally come together because he cannot suppress his feelings any longer, it must be the most powerful experience imaginable. All that together- deep love and attraction plus denied passion festering over years and years- then finally being able to let go and express it all. It would be uncontrollable and ecstatic. I saw the miniseries before I read the book and was very moved by it. It was breathtaking. Especially the melody, which is incredibly haunting.
Rating:
Summary: Quite Simply...
Review: ...One of the five best books I've ever read. Among my "hall of fame" which consists of such books as Gone with the Wind, Hawaii, and Lonesome Dove, the Thornbirds never dissapoints and always manages to deliever a compelling and almost magical story. One of the best books I've come across.
Rating:
Summary: The evils of sacrifice and religion
Review: This was a fascinating look at the result of sacrificing your life for religion. For those of us who believe that living a flourishing life here on earth is not only possible, but profoundly moral - this book reconfirms that sacrifice (giving up a greater value for something of lesser or no value) brings guilt, pain, sadness and an overall sense of loss. Beautifully written, this book follows the lives of people consumed with guilt, remorse and hopelessness. From that, they become strong, but happiness eludes them. Many times during my reading of this book I wanted to shout to the characters "I'm happy! You can also be happy! Stop sacrificing, evading and living for false values! Stop hurting yourself and those around you!" This book beautifully shows the destruction of lives caused by religion and sacrifice.
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