A Place Called Freedom

Rating:
Summary: Two Stars is Being Kind, Kenny Boy
Review: Ask yourself if it's fair to review a book four years after having read it. If you feel such subjection is unfair treatment, then either stop reading this or heap it with a grain of salt.

I am a Follett fan, but this one disappointed me immensely. The book stays on my mind because it seems to pop up in so many places, like used bookstore shelves---in mass quantities. Obviously, there are others who felt less than passionate about A Place Called Freedom. I have read most of Follett's works and I daresay this is his most lackluster effort. It is smooth, fun and at times most characters and circumstances fit together like a charming jigsaw. Such is his talent. But Follett's main flaw throughout his works (I'm not at all implying that I can do better) is that his stories can be so damned formulaic. The grudges, romances and plot devices are often forced and never moreso than in this novel. If you haven't read it yet, please don't read the rest of what I have to say. But I found it to be a glaring insult to the reader's intelligence and sense of the dramatic that in the vicinity of the third act, when all parties involved were settled in the Virginia colony, Jay, our antagonist, resigns with little fight to the fact that his nemesis and rival for his wife's affections, protagonist Mack, is working as a servant inside his own home. The two were at odds across the globe in Scotland and London (with Jay never seeing Mack as any sort of equal, but simply an annoying obstacle to all his aristocratic goals) and even though Jay sought to punish Mack by endenturing him as a servant in the New World, he comes to accept him within his own walls working a cush job in close proximity with his wife? What the hell is that? Welcome to "Plot Convenience Playhouse!" And the name Follett chose for our hero, a coal miner working the fire-damp in the hills of Scotland: "Mack McAsh." It reflects the imagination present in a small comic book one obtains free-of-charge from the inside of a cereal box.

Four years between reading and review may not be just. But even though I could heartily recommend any other Follett novel to an avid fiction-reader (save for Jackdaws) steer clear of this one if you harbor any concern over adding more time to any you feel you've already wasted in your life.

Rating:
Summary: Another's work under the name of Follett?
Review: At best this is a Harlequin romance .... it's hard to believe that Ken Follett wrote such trash. Although the historical aspects were interesting, the story was very predictable.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting saga of 18th Century Scotland and Virginia
Review: Fast paced saga of life in 1700's Scotland and Virginia. Ken Follett again does a masterful job of interweaving historical fact with fictional characters. The story encompasses all strata of family life, both rich and poor. The tale starts out in Scotland where an indentured servant toils in the coal mines yearning for freedom. His interactions among his peers and the landed gentry vividly evoke the harsh life of the eighteenth century Scotland. His relationship with the mistress of the castle moves from Scotland, to London, to Virginia and finally to their freedom. Follett evokes eighteenth century life and makes you feel that you are there. He skillfully details life in small town Scotland, the City of London, and the Virginia frontier. The book provides an enjoyable, fast paced read in a historical setting. Over the years Follett has broadened his range from spy/mystery novels to historical sages mixing fact with fiction. The book moves right along and you won1t want to put the book down until you are finished.

Rating:
Summary: A good reminder of the value of freedom
Review: Follett has written a very interesting study of freedom and non-freedom. He reminds us vividly that freedom is much more than the right to vote. By starting with Scottish coalminers who were enslaved to the mine owners if they worked a year and a day in the mines and dramatically communicating the human costs of subservience and the brutalizing aspects of power over others he carries the reader into a variety of experiences far more interesting and thought provoking than the traditional revolutionary era novel. For anyone who would like to think about the nature and value of freedom and the importance of the rule of law, private property and basic human dignity this is an interesting novel that will hold your attention.

Rating:
Summary: Not up to his usual standard
Review: Follett usually concentrates on one locale and one historical period. In the case of this book, he concentrates on the period just prior to the USA Declaration of Independence, but the location of the book switches fairly rapidly between Scotland, Britain and the American colony. The issues current at the time (coal-mining, transportation, Federation) are all touched on, but for my tastes none was given enough investigation. As a writer who obviously spends a lot of time researching his work, Follett has let himself down by spreading himself too thin. Apart from this criticism, the book is terrific, with all the suspense and drama we've come to expect

Rating:
Summary: Reminded me of "Far and Away."
Review: Good book, but a lot of it seemed lifted from the Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman movie "Far and Away," including the journey from Great Britain to America, the boxing scenes, the class differences (the same rich-girl/poor-boy formula as "Titanic" and "Aladdin"), etc. I suppose much of this fits the history of the era, I guess.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing, and not very satisifying.
Review: I am a BIG Ken Follett fan. I actually met him here in Boston while he was prompting "The Pillars of the Earth". He's a very nice man, and excellant writer, but "A Place Called Freedom" started off with good intentions and fizzled out.

Rating:
Summary: The Book That Never Ends
Review: I am a bit disappointed in the author after reading this book. I think he was trying to build on the success that he had with Pillars of the Earth but this book falls far short of that classic. This book is more like a [$] mass-market teen-age Romance novel. There is nothing new hear except maybe the name, the plot is so predictable it is sad coming from such a good author. I knew how this book was going to end before it even started. He has written much better books, I would stay away from this book unless you are looking for a long love story.

Rating:
Summary: DISAPPOINTING
Review: I found this book to be simple, silly, and predictable. A pillar it is not.

Rating:
Summary: No Pillars of the Earth, but a breezy, if predictable, read.
Review: I found this story to be rather over-ripe and predictable, but it kept me turning the pages. Something not previously noted by this reader in Follett's work, a rather pedantic, even patronizing attitude towards the reader. Follett seems to write the way the army teaches its instructors to teach: 1. Tell them what you're going to say 2. Say it 3. tell them what you just said. Well, DUH....