Rating: 
Summary: Has it problems but the story makes up for it...
Review: This is a work of historical fiction but don't try to pick it apart - it most likely has many factual holes in it. Ken Follett does manage to weave a great story that will have you spell bound. The book is difficult to put down, although predictable and formulaic (it reads like a soap opera) but the simple language allows you to come back to it without feeling lost and having to back track. As for the language and writing style, it seemed a bit simple and read too modern (i.e. the character's speech patterns) but this can be overlooked. The book itself is over 900 pages long but reads much quickly (so don't let the size intimidate you)!
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Summary: Wow! Amazing! Superb! Terrific! Wonderful! Spledid! etc...
Review: Wow! What else can I say? This was one of the best books that I ever read. My best friend was reading it and she gave me a passage to read. I loved that one little passage so much that I just had to go out and get the book. It's written with a unique style that I love and it is about the Middle Ages, my favorite time period to read about. This book is about a bunch of different families and people who all get connected to each other somehow during the course of the book whether it is through love or through hate. There is Philip, a monk, Tom Builder and his family, and more. You just have to smile at the way Follet characterizes the people in this book. He really does an extraordinary job of it. Long novels like this one sometimes get boring in the middle, when nothing is happening. This one doesn't. It is packed with interest and something is always happening whether it is the construction of a cathedral, a struggle for life, or a war. You will not regret reading this book but you will be sad when it ends.
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Summary: "I can't believe he did that!"
Review: This is the only book I've ever read 3 times. It grips you by the cuff of your neck and you can't put it down. Time and again I found myself saying out loud "I can't believe he did that!" Or laughing out loud, "Good for you, Philip!" Reading is for me a quiet activity, but not with this book. This story will involve you to the point that you'll catch yourself thinking about it at the supermarket line and while you are at work in endless meetings. You'll not want it to end, and you'll hate it as you approach the last page--but you should take comfort in the fact that you can go back and read it again, and there'll be joy and rapture every time.
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Summary: Brilliant beyond any words I can come up with .......
Review: For no other author would I reread a book 3 times, nor have I ever listened to a 30 hour epic more than once. But I did this time. No one could even come close to this incredible tale. Words cannot do this book justice (but watch me try). Let's just say that this effort was clearly Follett's lifelong passion. He began the book, stopped for 10 years, and picked it up again to complete. The characters are three dimensional, lovable, hateable, family, friends, and arch enemies; you can even smell them (midevil times you know)! Surely he lived during those times! Your life will be forever changed once you live through the birth of baby John one bitter cold night, mid winter, in the middle of nowhere and outdoors no less! Or the ugly, boil-covered face and machinations of the brilliant strategist Lady Regan. You will roar with laughter when the witch (they thought back then) Ellen hops up onto a table in a pub and urinates on a book, much to everyone's delight! Or the evil Walerin By God, whose black robes mirror perfectly his dark and calculating soulsoul. Or the kindness, good sense, and levelheadedness of Prior Phillip. What a book!
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Summary: Kept my up late
Review: I've read a few of these reviews and find that they generally fall in along gender lines. The girls love the book, guys like it but pan Follett for his historical inaccuracies. Well, I'm no historian, but I checked a few facts and found Follett dead on. If he took a little literary license to brighten the tale, I'm not gonna hang him for it. I read the book to be entertained and I was. If I wanted to learn about medieval england, there are thousands of dry historical texts out there. The character development is exceptional and the story is remarkable (and for the most part true to the historical facts). Read it and enjoy it. If you are a cynic, go get a textbook.
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Summary: Pay extra for good quality cassettes
Review: The book was fantastic..... but. They used cassettes that you had to use your balance control for or an adaptor. Listening to a cassette from the right speaker, then the left is annoying. Also I found that the reader was incorrect when telling you when it was and was not time to change your balance control. I missed half of the first tape because I listened to the reader. I also could not listen to the tape when I travel because my Walkman didn't have balance control and I don't have an adaptor.
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Summary: Engrossing historical read
Review: A friend in a book club just kept nagging me to read this book as she said it was one of the greatest novels she has ever read. Finally, I went to the bookstore and bought it. And I was hooked. Aliena, Jack, Richard, Philip, Tom, Ellen, William among other characters come alive in these pages. You feel exasperation, horror, awe, wonder as you discover just how hard life is in the middle ages. You learn how they build catherals then. You become involve with the intrigues, treachery, loyalties, passion ~~ it's a great book for both men and women to read. It may be a hefty book to read, but once you do, you cannot escape the characters' words and lives as easily as you think. Follett takes you right into his middle ages world and you walk out with a view of life then forever changed.If you need to escape from realism ~~ or you're looking for a book that has love and hate, loyalties and treachery, hope and despair, I guarantee that you will find it all in this one!
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Summary: Excellence in Writing
Review: Ken Follett is amazing. Rather, the work he creates is amazing. The Pillars of the Earth put my emotions on a roller coaster ride of highs and lows. I caught myself at times smiling at the conniving of Jack Jackson and at others frowning with disgust at the evil-doings of William Hamleigh. The characters are magnetic. Follett has a masterful talent of pulling the reader onto the pages of his novel as he weaves the tales of the character's lives. I sympathized with their pain, I boiled with their anger, I laughed with their joy. For two weeks I was unable to tear my hungry eyes from the pages of this novel; I missed meals and cut class, concerning both parents and teachers. BUT I COULD NOT STOP. The Pillars of the Earth easily drew me into its grasp, as I gurantee it would anyone who ventured within its bindings. The novel is about the building of a cathedral in 12th century England. Though Follett brilliantly outlines the amazing architectural components of cathedrals, he brilliantly masters the description of the characters he creates. Each character is unique, though they are scattered along the spectrem of goodness and evil. Follett, as he has done so well in the past, portrays his characters realistically, not struggling to cloak their flaws with fairy dust and perfection. He allows the readers, through his realistic portrayal, to identify with their successes and defeats. Beauty is not found only through the sentences describing sweeping arches and luminescent stained-glass, but also in those explaining the lives of the characters. I urge all book-lovers to read this novel. It amazed me time and again as I leapt into its pages. I have never been so involved, so possessed by a book as I was with The Pillars of the Earth. I only wish for time to pass more quickly so I can once again be caught in its grasp.
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Summary: EXCELLENT BOOK
Review: Like most of the reviews here, I have to agree that this book GREAT. A friend told me about it, and since then I have purchased at least 5 copies. I do not pass up an opportunity to tell folks know that this is probably the BEST book they will ever read. If you have not read it - you will NOT be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: An emotional tale
Review: I have always been interested in medieval Europe and have been looking for a good introduction to historical fiction for quite some time. This book came highly recommended, but as I began reading it I was afraid it would fail to hold my interest. I tend to prefer literature of the more adventurous sort -A thousand pages of monks and masons is normally something I'd quickly avoid. But as I invested more time, the author's contagious enthusiasm for the subject and his very convincing historical backdrop enchanted me. I found it harder and harder to put the book down at the end of each night. Still, there were elements that prevent me from overly praising Pillars Of The Earth... I don't consider myself particularly timid when it comes to sex in a novel, but in this case it was just too often and too out of place. I constantly found my enchantment broken by Follet's excessively descriptive sex scenes and accounts of brutal rape. Also annoying, was the unrelenting flow of evil from Lord William and Priest Waleran -It was too much to swallow. Over and over again the reader is barraged by endless conflicts and resolutions. One climax after another until by the end I just wasn't concerned for the characters anymore. Even so, this is a magnificent read- one of the best I've had. Give it a try!
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