The Touch

Rating:
Summary: It lacks passion
Review: I read Colleen McCullough's THE THORN BIRDS long before it was a mini-series and thought it was a masterpiece. I haven't changed my mind because McCullough's novel about the universal human condition strikes a chord in most people. The passionate story, spanning three generations, describes the complex Clery family on a sheep ranch in Australia. One of the most memorable parts of the book is the forbidden love of Meggie and Ralph de Briscassart, a priest. McCullough is still a very good author, but THE TOUCH is a notch down from her other works. It simply lacks passion.
In the latter novel Andrew Kinross, after leaving his native Scotland as a youth, made a fortune in Australia in the late 1800s. Years later he wrote to a relative to send for his 16 year-old cousin, Elizabeth, to be his bride. After an arduous journey from Scotland, she arrived in Sydney. Upon seeing Andrew for the first time, she experienced revulsion, a feeling which remained throughout their long, loveless marriage.
At times glimpses of the old McCullough surface, especially when she graphically describes Jade's, the nursemaid, revenge for Anna's murder.
Most of the characters are not outstanding. Of them all, tough-talking, generous, Ruby, stands out. She serves in the unlikely position of Andrew's mistress and Elizabeth's best friend. Also the off-spring of the main characters fail to shine in any particular way.
If you want to be entertained rather than stirred, choose THE TOUCH.

Rating:
Summary: Such a pleasure
Review: I was so excited to hear of this book as I am an enormous fan of Colleen McCullough's Australian epics ("The Thorn Birds", "Morgan's Run") and other non-Caesarean works (although I like historical fiction in general I could just never get excited about the Caesar series). On the rare occasions that McCullough publishes a non-Caesarean book it is very much a book "event" for me. As expected, I really enjoyed this. McCullough continues her tradition of impeccable historical research and gifted storytelling plus the plot is great and well-thought out. Basically the story is about the various rather complicated relationships between a group of highly likable characters that you can really care about, all taking place at a very interesting time in history (late 19th century). I personally don't want to give anymore than that away in case, like me, you don't want to know exactly what to expect as you read (for instance, I usually don't read flyleafs). However, I believe the reviewer immediately below me did a great job of laying it out in a bit more detail if you're interested in knowing more about the plot before you buy the book.

Although this isn't my favorite of her books (I like "The Thorn Birds" and "Morgan's Run" better), I still feel this book stands head and shoulders above the majority of the historical epics out there (well, I also adore "Gone with the Wind" and "Through a Glass Darkly"). So if you enjoyed her previous books, Caesar related or not, or any of the other books I've mentioned, I think you will definitely like this as well.

Of course, if you haven't ever read "The Thorn Birds" or "Morgan's Run" you may want to pick one or both of those up first - they're really fantastic.

Rating:
Summary: Such a pleasure
Review: I was so excited to hear of this book as I am an enormous fan of Colleen McCullough's Australian epics ("The Thorn Birds", "Morgan's Run") and other non-Caesarean works (although I like historical fiction in general I could just never get excited about the Caesar series). On the rare occasions that McCullough publishes a non-Caesarean book it is very much a book "event" for me. As expected, I really enjoyed this. McCullough continues her tradition of impeccable historical research and gifted storytelling plus the plot is great and well-thought out. Basically the story is about the various rather complicated relationships between a group of highly likable characters that you can really care about, all taking place at a very interesting time in history (late 19th century). I personally don't want to give anymore than that away in case, like me, you don't want to know exactly what to expect as you read (for instance, I usually don't read flyleafs). However, I believe the reviewer immediately below me did a great job of laying it out in a bit more detail if you're interested in knowing more about the plot before you buy the book.

Although this isn't my favorite of her books (I like "The Thorn Birds" and "Morgan's Run" better), I still feel this book stands head and shoulders above the majority of the historical epics out there (well, I also adore "Gone with the Wind" and "Through a Glass Darkly"). So if you enjoyed her previous books, Caesar related or not, or any of the other books I've mentioned, I think you will definitely like this as well.

Of course, if you haven't ever read "The Thorn Birds" or "Morgan's Run" you may want to pick one or both of those up first - they're really fantastic.

Rating:
Summary: A Dang Good Read
Review: Ignore the silly cover and you will find a well-written, enjoyable historical romance by someone who knows how to do this kind of thing very well. Actually, "The Touch" is not quite a romance (I seem to have been influenced by the yearning profile on the cover as well) but something more interesting. Read on.

Rich goldminer and entrepreneur Alexander Kinross writes to a Scottish relative for a bride. He gets Elizabeth Drummond, who at 16 has lived a joyless life. Alexander is handsome and charismatic, but contrary to what might be expected, she is repelled by him. He's sorry she doesn't like him, but since he has a very satisfactory mistress all he expects of Elizabeth is that she do her duty. Although she lives in a grand house opulently furnished, Elizabeth's life in Australia is as repressed as her life in Scotland was. That is, until she meets Ruby, her husband's mistress.

Ruby and Alexander love each other deeply, but the fact that she runs a suspect hotel and has a son by a Chinese businessman means no wedding bells for them. Next to Alexander, Ruby is the town's most influential citizen (with her Chinese ex-lover a close third), so it is certain that Elizabeth and Ruby will meet. They do, and like each other immediately.

This fine how-do-you-do is the crux of an entertaining story that will have you looking forward to the next chapter. Set between 1872 and 1900, this booming period of Australian history provides a lively background for the appealing characters' surprising but believable lives. It is a pleasure to see Colleen McCullough back at the sort of fiction which flows from her pen so easily as to seem almost organic. Unlike her Roman series where historical detail began to smother characterization and action, 'The Touch" is bound to please from first page to last.

Rating:
Summary: Failed to Touch Me
Review: This book certainly had me turning pages to find out what would happen, but it was ultimately disappointing. It had none of the richly-drawn characters that made The Thorn Birds such absorbing reading, and the plot was laughable in places. Alexander's decision in particular was facile, unbelievable and totally out of keeping with his (entirely one-dimensional) personality. The Nell character is clearly borrowed from Justine (Thorn Birds) and we are given absolutely no insight in to why two of the key characters fall in love - it appears to be entirely superficial because they have no more than four or five conversations before running off to live happily ever after. I really get the impression she just did this for the money.

Rating:
Summary: Failed to Touch Me
Review: This book certainly had me turning pages to find out what would happen, but it was ultimately disappointing. It had none of the richly-drawn characters that made The Thorn Birds such absorbing reading, and the plot was laughable in places. Alexander's decision in particular was facile, unbelievable and totally out of keeping with his (entirely one-dimensional) personality. The Nell character is clearly borrowed from Justine (Thorn Birds) and we are given absolutely no insight in to why two of the key characters fall in love - it appears to be entirely superficial because they have no more than four or five conversations before running off to live happily ever after. I really get the impression she just did this for the money.

Rating:
Summary: Awful! Awful! Awful!
Review: This book was the biggest waste of time. The only good thing about this book is the cover. I'm starting to doubt Colleen McCullough ever wrote "The Thorn Birds" it's hard to believe someone who wrote a wonderful epic like that could produce a book like this. Sorry, but this stinks from beginning to end.

Rating:
Summary: Richly Detailed and A Great Read-Bad Reviews? Why??
Review: This story I thought was very well-written!

Elizabeth Drummond is a sixteen-year old who is forced to marry a man she doesn't want to after a difficult voyage. To her, Alexander Kinross absolutely repulses her and reminds her of the devil himself.

Isolated, and lonely in Alexander's great house, with no company other than the Chinese servants, Elizabeth can hardly stand the intimacies of marriage as well. Alex is a very secretive man, and doesn't tell Alex anything about his past life, much less his present one either. He is carrying on an affair, with his mistress as well. The mistress is the tough outspoken Ruby Costevan. Ruby has a son Lee, whose father is the head of the Chinese community; the boy becomes dear to Alexander, who fosters his education as a gentleman.

Captured by the radically different natures of Elizabeth and Ruby, Alex wants to have both of them. But of course, he does not have the love of Elizabeth. Elizabeth bore Alex two daughters, one of whom is mentally challenged, and the other a superior intellect. The story alone of these two girls is interesting, and is tragic at once with what will happen to Anna, the retarded one.

I enjoyed the book and don't understand the bad reviews. It isn't exactly fully passionate, but is a wonderful family story and tells of the trials and tribulations with each of them.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing!
Review: We loved "Morgan's Run" and eagerly anticipated her sequel. This is a poor second. One of the characters relationship to Morgan is mentioned in passing, but it reallly has nothing to do with this silly plot. This is more unbelievable soap opera stuff than good novel writing. Don't waste your money or your time. She also gets bogged down in technical stuff about mining and inventions that can be skipped.

Rating:
Summary: It Was OK!
Review: Well, I was a huge fan of book The Thorn Birds as well as the mini series which is why I was immensely excited to read this book. The book was just OK in my opinion. It lacked that certain passion that the other books had. I felt there was too much detail given of the gold mining industry and not enough of the characters. I also found the ending a little bit too hard to swallow. The way I perceived Alexander to be was not how I thought his character would end up in the end. I did enjoy Ruby's character as well as Nell's although I found it hard to believe that any child could do the things that Nell was doing when she was an infant and a toddler. I don't care what kind of a genius they are. As I said earlier the book was an OK read.