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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: Why isn't this woman better known?
Review: At the pagecount 220, when Richard Morgan is surprised at his own eloquence, I am caught in surprise at hers, although I ought not be. For I have known her work these two decades, and there is none better now writing in the English tongue.Colleen McCollough has both a voice and an ear; when she writes, you can hear her characters, and what she writes, you can her own voice, her own very active mind at work -- and at play. When I first read The Thorn Birds, what surprised me most was her voice; it was the first time I ever read a writer that didn't write in American English or even British English, her syntax and rhythms had an element all its own, it was my introduction to a distinctive AUSTRALIAN English (this was the mid-70's, before even Crocodile Dundee, after all). Once again, she hits the nail right on the head with Morgan's Run. It's exciting to read, you fly right through the book. What amazes me, though, is the level of research she does for every page she writes. You can tell just from the maps and illustrations in each one of her books she's done her homework, and made it so interesting, to boot. When I read CREED FOR THE THIRD MILLENNIUM, I wound up infuriated by it. After reading Creed, I realized how tired I was of people following or searching for "a philosophy worth dying for." What I wanted was a philosphy worth living for. Richard Morgan is, in many ways, the opposite number to that novel's J.C. -- he puts his nonverbalized view of life into practice, into action, and Colleen McCollough takes you along on his journey. There are many sly little touches tossed off throughout. Early on, one of the characters uses the phrase, "The die is cast", which was attributed to Caeser as he crossed the Rubicon; yet, in CAESAR, she suggests an alternate translation of the phrase, "Let the dice fly", which is more in keeping with that books themes and character. I loved catching the reference on the fly (as it were) as I zoomed through this fascinating story. If the language is at first a little off-putting, it seems a trifle arch, but once Colleen gets going and the story gets mvoing, it all becomes of a piece. I make no apologies; I love this woman, and I am thoroughly enjoying this book. More people should become aware of who she is and what she does and enjoy her as much as I do.
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Summary: Not Enough Australia
Review: Being a big fan of The Thorn Birds, I was hoping for a novel set mainly in Australia. But after 300-plus pages with the protagonist still in England, I just couldn't muster the interest to finish.
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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: I love this book!
Review: Colleen McCullough is wonderful!
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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: Good Job Colleen, Now Back to Caesar....
Review: First off, I am a big fan of Colleen McCullough. I am desperately waiting for the next novel in the First Man of Rome/Caesar series. Having said that, I was only slightly disappointed that this wasn't the book I had been waiting for. McCullough shows us what life must have been like, for any emigrant from England, in the late 1700's. Her character, Richard Morgan, (a testament to Darwin's theory) along with beautiful descriptive passages of Australia and Norfolk Island, keep us reading. She takes us to a continent most American have never seen and allows us a glimpse. I recommend this book to any McCullough fan, lover of historical fiction, or armchair traveler.
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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: Well done
Review: Having read most of Ms.McCullough's books, I was looking forward to Morgan's Run. Although the book got off to a slow start and the detailed descriptions made for very slow reading, I was not disappointed. One of the reasons I like reading Colleen McCullough's books is that her reasearch is very thorough. She describes in detail how people performed everyday tasks. Her descriptions of life in the jails and aboard the convict ships show the hardships of the times and what these people really had to endure. Alot of other books, and especially the movies, paint too romantic a picture. You could almost smell the stench of the prison hold. I liked the character of Richard Morgan. And, even though he may be bigger than life and almost too perfect, isn't that what a hero is? Looking forward to the sequel.
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Summary: Historically excellent, but
Review: I agree with previous reviews of this book - I found it hard going and only because of Richard, it's main character, did any of the story hold together. The historic details, as is Ms. McCullough's wont, are superbly researched and I have learned a lot because of them, but I was not riveted, which is something I do expect from Ms McCullough.
A sequel to this story - I don't think I'll stand in line to buy it.
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