Hopeless addiction thy name is love. Review on Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullogh

Loveah that blurring thought, that enigmatic feeling and that so very mystic longing for that someone so very special.

Love is like the incandescent eternal obscurity called God, something, which we can?t see, which can?t be proven like a mathematical truth or which can?t be heard. Yet its there and blessed are the souls who have found true love in their lives. We all yearn to love and be loved but how many of us have sat back and pondered what does it takes to love and be loved like that?

The definition of loveis like the fourth law of Newton, unstated and unchartered, something, which has confounded and confused the best of souls from philosophers to poets to dreamers to what have you.

Some men of science in fact took it upon themselves to prove it, hold your breath mathematically, that there is nothing called love after all and as they would say it is just a figment of imagination. Well that says it all about the sway of love, doesn?t it?

I also grappled with this question and I decided to read something, which might help me unravel the mystery. Thanks are due here to my good friend Swathi aka Chimera who suggested me this book, and how grateful I am to her, coz after reading this one I did realize that love is much more deep a thought and feeling then what I used to think.

Some strikingly different forms of love have been beautifully captured in literature. It can be the passionate possessive love between Howard Roark and Dominique Francon in Fountainhead or it could be the gentle yet longinglove between Micheal Holme and Julia in An Equal Music or for that matter the eternal undying love between Rhett Butler and Scarlet O` Hara in Gone with the Winds.

It is in this same genre that I would like to introduce to all the romantics and the not so romantic souls, a piece of work, which has become in ways more then one a saga of true undying un-aging love.

Let me present to you The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. It has become a classic in its own right and has acquired a cult like status among books of this genre.

So says the legend, the legend of the Thorn Bird. Long Ago, there was a bird that sang just once in its life. From the moment it left its nest, it searched for a thorn tree. And it never rested until it found one. Then it began to sing more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. And singing, it impaled its heart on the longest, sharpest thorn. But as it was dying, it rose above its own agony to out-sing the lark and the nightingale. The bird pays its life for that one superlative song, existence the price but the whole world stills to listen and God, in His heaven smiles. As it?s best was bought only at the cost of great pain. Driven to the thorn, with no knowledge of the dying to come.

The Title of the book is very apt as the sacrifice and pains of the bird is likened to that of the protagonists as they sacrifice everything for their love and to find true love. It talks about sublime love, a love so divine that knows no demands, that seeks nothing in return, which longs for nothing but love in return. It talks about the platonic relation which two people truly deeply madly in love share, a relation, which remains warm and cherished, unimpaired by the vagaries of mortal world. Like the thorn bird, the protagonists keep forfeiting everything, for their love for each other is so great, that nothing else would do. They are willing to live their lives just with the thoughts of each other. It talks of a love, which is so surreal that it nauseates someone who doesn?t understand the depth of love and its true meaning.

Colleen McCulloughborn in Wellington, NSW, to a rural working class family which led a nomadic life due to the times they lived in. After dabbling with several things, she tried her hand at serious writing and this is where she truly belongs. The Thorn Birds went on to become an international bestseller and there was no looking back for this lady with humble rustic background. She is one of the 100 persons designated as Living National Treasures of Australia.

The Story revolves around the Cleary family and their little daughter Meggie. It is a story of frustrated love in many forms. The lost love between Paddy and Fiona, which never really blossomed until Paddy?s death when Fee realized how much she did love Paddy. The unfledged romance between Meggie and Ralph De Briccassart, which fails to take off because of Ralph?s ecumenical responsibilities as a Roman Catholic priest, Meggie?s feelings for Luke which she mistakes for love and the undying love of Rainer for Justine complete the love saga. Foiled love is the central theme of the book. It follows unusual storylines with effective old-fashioned story telling. As is my wont I wont give away any more of the story now, for more do check out the novel.

Theme of the book is unmistakably romantic and centers around the love and longing for each other as it spans generations and becomes a classic story of family saga. The book is set in the early 20th Century when family values were rather strong. Colleen beautifully chapters the book around the lives of each of the central characters, following the development in their lives and brings it to a logical conclusion. It throws back the reader to a laid back era when it took six weeks for a mail wagon to complete its rounds, when the world was not so materialistic and when small things meant for so much joy. Her portrayal of rural Australia and the vivid picture of life on a sheep station in the Australian outback are compelling.

Savoryspice of the novel is the ill fated love of each of the protagonists as it spans across three generations. The beautiful depiction of unadulterated love is indeed striking. The unquestioned devotion like love of Fee for Paddy or the innocent longing sacrificing love of Meggie for Ralph or the arrogant unaccepted yet passionatelove of Justine for Rainer, is the vivid forms of love that she draws so tastefully. It leaves the reader lost in dreams and longing for more and feeling for the protagonists, hoping that somehow they would come together.

Piece De Resistance of the 700 something page novel is undoubtedly the apt and striking ending of the story. Consider this but when we press the thorn to our heart, we know we understand and still we do it, as she likens the pains of the Thorn Bird to come up with the swansong to the longing and union of the lovers, as they are willing to take all the pains and troubles just in the hope for that one moment of true unadulterated love.

Must read for those so in love souls for it makes them realize love is not just demanding and wanting its more so about giving and sacrificing. It is also a must read for those not in love for it makes them realize what a wonderful out of the world experience they are missing out on. The forlorn lovers would savor it equally, it reminds me of a wonderful line from an old Hindi song,

poocho poocho poocho parwane se jara haule haule jalne me kaisa hai maja or

ask the moth what joy i