The Thorn Birds Critical Essay | Critical Review by Walter Clemons

SOURCE: "Bed of Thorns," in Newsweek, April 25, 1977, pp. 93, 96, 97.

In the following review, Clemons provides a brief analysis of The Thorn Birds and commentary on the novel's popular appeal.

It has, as they say, everything: three generations of suffering (from 1915 to 1969); an indomitable cast of dozens, who move from rags to riches (money doesn't bring happiness); scene shifts from a bleak New Zealand farm to a huge sheep ranch in the Australian outback to the inner chambers of the Vatican; sexual frustration and brief-lived bliss (the latter duly paid for in grief); plus fire, flood, drought, myxomatosis and World War II. Since The Thorn Birds has already sold to paperback for a record $1.9 million, a reviewer can only make a fool of himself by getting all hot and red in the face and protesting that it's junk. Better get out of its way...
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