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Summary: Morgan's Run by Colleen McCullough
Review: Morgan's Run gets off to a slow start with in-depth background description. Once past the initial basic information of the story, Morgan's Run becomes a book that is hard to put down.Convicted unfairly of a crime whose penalty is seven years and transportation, Richard Morgan learns to live as a prisoner. Life aboard the prison ship is a job in itself to stay alive. Arriving in Botany Bay, Richard plies his trade as a gunsmith to the building of a convict community. Having lost his wife and child to death before being sentenced, he lives alone and desires no woman. As more and more convicts arrive, living quarters become sparse and each is required to take in a convict. A frightened young girl, half his age, ends up in his house and thus begins the thawing of his heart. Richard finishes his sentence and deems to stay in this new land and with his new love.
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Summary: Wish it wouldn't end..........
Review: Morgan's Run took about 70 pages to establish the story line. From then on it flowed and characters easily developed. I certainly appreciate modern conveniences more from this read. I couldn't get into the Roman series but loved this book as much as The Thorn Birds. If you liked an excellent historical novel like Rutherford's London, you'll enjoy this book.
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Summary: McCullough Does It Again!!
Review: Having read all but two of her books, I am still an avid Colleen McCullough fan, after having just completed her latest, "Morgan's Run." I have never been disappointed in anything she has written, for this author has a rare gift for both seeing into the depths of the human soul, understanding all the sociological, anthropological, medical and legal aspects of the history she so fastidiously studies to present us with these flawless books. The Masters of Rome series is the most insightful and thorough work I have read on that era in human history, and I was a bit resentful when the final volume was set aside to write this book first. However, now that she promises it will be two volumes to complete that series, I am happier again. With this book I had the same feeling that I always experience with her writing: "It can't stop here...I want more of the ongoing story as only she can tell it!" So her closing promise that we would learn more of Richard Morgan and Norfolk Island really gladdened my heart. Perhaps the majority of us knew little of the terrible experiment that created the penal colony of Australia, and nothing of this tiny island, and we can now appreciate more fully the strength of those castaways who created such flourishing new colonies. Thank you, Colleen McCullough, for some of the best reading I have ever enjoyed. Keep them coming!
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Summary: Didn't sustain my interest
Review: I made it through about the first two-thirds of the book. I really did feel suspense about whether they would EVER make it to Australian. I felt like I was on that transport ship, it took so long. Once Morgan was in Australian my interest rapidly waned. I think it was because he was such a cold fish. There seemed to be no driving force in his life, no romance, no burning desire to do anything. At best, he came across as an able manager. Yawn.
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Summary: History At Its Best
Review: What a wonderful way to learn history! Take a certain period, take a special group of people (the convicts), transport them around the globe, under horrible conditions. Then see what strong spirits and resourcefulness can accomplish. I found Richard Morgan to be that perfect central character--strong, focused, weak in self esteem, but strong in his faith and dedicated to survival. I truly look forward to continuation of his life and times, which the author promises us...GO, GIRL!
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Summary: Once you've forgiven her for not writing about Ceasar ....
Review: .... you'll have a splendid time learning about life in England and New South Wales during the 1780's. McCullough is a teacher with a gift for writing and I had a great time with the story. Not as scholarly as the Masters of Rome Series, but I'm guessing her publisher insisted upon her producing something that appeals to a wider market. I have a new appreciation for the Australian's and was shocked to learn about the unfairness of the English court system during those times. This will be a great follow-up to the summer Olympics ... get a glimpse of that beautiful harbor as it was 220 years ago and let the spirit of Richard Morgan inspire you in the same way that some of your favorite athletes have!
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Summary: A real page turner
Review: This book was so compelling that I read all 600+ pages in less than four days. I didn't get much sleep. Instead, I found myself transported to another time and place. The depth of description and character development had me feeling as if I personally knew Richard Morgan. I felt truly concerned for the outcome of his adventures and outraged at the injustices he suffered. Collen McCullough has hinted that there will be more in the life of her hero, and I, for one, will be anxious to read the next installment. This is a must read for anyone who was thrilled by the immensity of The Thorn Birds.
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Summary: An Australian Fable of Job
Review: Colleen McCullough is Australian, and established herself as a writer with The Thorn Birds, a novel of Australia. In the last few years she has been writing stories of ancient Rome, but in Morgan's Run returns to her native Australia. This novel is about the initial colonization of Australia with the Botany Bay penal colony and its offshoot on Norfolk Island, a thousand miles away. The story begins in Bristol, England, as the American Revolution is starting. Richard Morgan is middle class, unassuming, and devoted to his wife and son-unusually so for the time. Prospering until after the American war is lost, Morgan Job-like loses his fortune and family, and runs afoul of aristocratic shenanigans, ending up a convicted felon sentenced to be transported. But with the American colonies gone, England has no place to send her gaol-filling convicts. Barely discovered, much less explored, Australia is picked as the ideal dumping ground. After all, it is two oceans away, and the problem will definitely be out of sight. And by sending only convicts and their keepers, there is not likely to be another of those pesky revolutions. McCullogh captures the soul of long-suffering, long-enduring Richard Morgan as he copes with horrific prison conditions, convict labor, a transport ship little better than a slaver (which it was before being contracted as a convict transport), and a totally disorganized and corrupt expedition. A reader cannot but help to understand why the newly independent Americans insisted on the Bill of Rights as part of its written Constitution. Inept bureaucrats and corruption have been harder to overcome. This is not an action-adventure. It is a well-told tale of a man with deep inner strength, a man who perseveres through adversity. A Job. In her afterword, McCullough promises more about Richard Morgan and his family. Perhaps we will not have to wait too long.
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Summary: Morgan's run
Review: Excellent story!! I have always loved Colleen McCullogh and this book is no exception. The writing style is a bit difficult at first. Many of the "old" style language are a bit confusing, helpful to have a dictionary at hand for an exact meaning of words in someplaces. However, this language adds to the overall feel of the book greatly and I could feel I was in 1700's in goal with Mr. Morgan.
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Summary: A boring Disapointment
Review: Morgans Run was a very strange and oddball novel. There were many literal gaps and parts that left you hanging. Although the characters were fun and enjoyable to read about, it was the only thing that made me put any stars on the book. The book seemed to long to read and not worth thee time. But I figured that I'd stick with it and read until the end. After the last page, I wasn't suprised that I was half asleep. If you like fun and exciting books, this, well, is not up your alley. Colleen McCullough has had much better novels.
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