Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I first read The Thorn Birds while in the eighth grade and amid a very difficult, emotionally draining time. My life was turned upside down by having my first epileptic seizure the summer before, and I had to endure a previously unknown world of MRIs, EEGs, blood tests, and seizures in addition to the usual pangs of adolescence. Such a combination is unnerving for anyone, let alone a thirteen year old girl.

So, I began the school year with my circle of friends quickly shrinking thanks their lack of understanding and my own withdrawal. I felt alone and frightened; I neither understood the changes happening to me nor had any clue about how to deal with them. Medication and side effects, seizures at school, bullies--they all invaded my life that year and forced me to completely revise how I was to move forward.

Amid all of this distress, I remember being drawn to my mother's copy of The Thorn Birds. My parents had gushed about the miniseries, which I had not seen at that point, but no one in my family had read the novel. I still remember my first encounter with the book, taking it from the bookshelf and scanning the dust jacket.

From the first page I was hooked. I had never really read an "adult" novel before, and this was my introduction into a mature world about which I was completely uninformed. Truthfully, I can identify with Meggie Cleary's naivete as it resembled my own.

Reading this novel was cathartic for me. It was my escape from eighth grade and seizures; it provided me with a model of strength in Meggie Cleary, who suffers and suffers and suffers without ever losing her humanity or resilience. And unlike another survivor, Scarlett O'Hara (whom I also adore), Meggie does not bounce back at anyone's expense--with one significant exception I will not name for that is a spoiler. Her pain, her fear, her distress, I felt them all. I cried, yearned, and hoped along with her.

Last night I finished re-reading this novel for the first time in about ten or so years. This reading only solidified and even strengthened my love for this novel. Reading it as an adult allowed me to see and understand things that may have gone over my head or just did not make sense to me as a young girl.

This book, believe it or not, is a work of art. McCullough writes some of the cleanest, most economical sentences I have ever read. No one, short of Edith Wharton or Truman Capote, manages to compose such perfect sentences. Indeed, every sentence moves the plot forward! You really have to read it to believe it.

The character with whom I always most identified was Justine O'Neill, and still is even more so. I completely understood her frustrations, her vulnerability, her need to put forth an invincible, hardened facade--everything. While some may find her too brash, too rude, I found her to be one of the most sympathetic characters in the novel precisely because of her need to perform and knowing what causes this desire. I won't elaborate for those who have not read this work, but Justine is still my favorite.

I'm not sure I can fully articulate my love for this book without sounding redundant and giving away every secret, every tragedy, so I will end with this: if you have never read this novel, do it now!