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Summary: Pillars of the Earth
Review: The book is great. The audio tape is terrible. The reader seems to be hell-bent to finish the reading in a stated number of tapes, or either the reading was technically altererred by speeding up the recording and thus raising the pitch of the reader. I could take no more than 5 minutes of the tape. I returned it to Amozon.com for refund. I am looking for another reader. Also, what's this about having to listen on a specific channel to hear the recording? Technology hath gone from this place.D.C.
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Summary: As good as it gets.
Review: Ken Follet's took me on a journey of a life time. His use of words and phrases capitvated me. I found myself immersed in this story and at times comming to the surface of reality only once in a while realizing that it was like I was actually there. I could smell the smells and feel the cold and warmth of the air. Truely, spinning a magical spell on this reader so strong that I did not want to leave the place and when forced too hurried back when ever time allowed. This book is a must for those lovers of the great escape into the past of history.
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Summary: If you love Medieval Society and Architecture
Review: This was my first Follett book and my first Historic Novel; I loved it. I don't know if the historic information was accurate or not and many of the negative reviews indicated that it was not. Unfortunately only a few of the negative reviews offered other books and writers who are accurate in this genre. I thank them for pointing me in the right direction to enjoy more of my new-found favorite reading. Most of the negative reviewers just rant; I appreciate and always read those who give information I can use. I took this book on my vacation to London and that really made it more real to me. But I think it is important that prospective readers understand the subject matter of the book. If they are NOT an accomplished historian of this time period, and are interested in historical building techniques, politics, religion, and daily life they will truly enjoy this epic book. If the reader knows a lot about Medieval History, they will no doubt find faults. The only fault I found was that the language was sometimes too modern.
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Summary: Brilliant
Review: The Pillars of the Earth was, without a doubt, the best book I have ever read. Ken Follet has succeeded in bringing the golden age of cathedrals to life. His characters are beautifully developed, and his attention to detail is superb (I especially liked how he based last names on occupation). Could not put this one down!
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Summary: an epic disappointment
Review: Several people had told me that this was one of the best and most fascinating novels that they had read, so I decided to give it a try and I was severely disappointed. Both the characters and plot were underdeveloped. The one positive aspect of the book was the description of the architecture. It was the one thing the author got right.
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Summary: ...Where we realize how small we are in front of history
Review: It was a giant of a book. It made it worst that i got it in Audiobook. 24 tapes of 90 minutes. Let me stop there...I enjoyed every single moment of it. In the middle ages ordinary mens accepts that the lord has right of life and death over his subjects, that to progress in the clergy you have to be politically astute and that any ennemy must be silenced. This stoty brings us the life of helen, a witch who married a french thief and brought to life a little prodige, Jack. Jack, as his adopted father did before him, wants to build a cathedral, one that encompasses the latest advancements in building, leaving the conservatism of medieval england behind. Philip, Prior of Kingsbridge, dreams of his cathedral. Men of ideals and honor, he will fight for what he believes in, stepping on the big toe of monarchs in the middle of an England civil war, a Thomas Beckett Archbishop of Canterburry and countless other legends of history. It is the life of ordinary people who did extraordinary things which is exposed in front of our eyes, Their lifes, loves, passions but also their pains, sorrows and desillusions. If you want to embark on this journey with Follett, do it before a holiday. Otherwise you will end up going to work half-dead from having been in the middle-ages all night...and for many nights. Mr. Follett, why is it the only ancient historical novel you wrote ? You are quite talented at it.
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Summary: Engrossing tale of intrigue and heroism
Review: The place is feudal England; the year is 1123. A crowd has gathered to witness the hanging of a thief-but the man is no ordinary thief. He has been sentenced to death for stealing a jeweled chalice, a crime which many of the townspeople cannot understand. Before he is hanged, he sings a sad yet beautiful French song. The man is not even English! As he sings, he gazes at a young pregnant girl in the crowd. Tears stream down her cheeks as her lover is hanged. Then, she hurls a dead cockerel at a young priest, one of the three men responsible for the stranger's death, and bellows: "I curse you with sickness and sorrow, with hunger and pain; your house shall be consumed by fire, and your children shall die on the gallows; your enemies shall prosper, and you shall grow old in sadness and regret, and die in foulness and agony..." Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth is a sweeping epic of intrigue and mystery, love and betrayal and, ultimately, of triumph and justice. It is set in turbulent and war-torn 12th century England. The plot is a tightly woven tapestry that centers on the building of a cathedral in the poor priory of Kingsbridge. The prior is an ambitious young monk named Philip who dreams of lifting Kingsbridge out of its destitution. Throughout the novel, his ambitions are thwarted by the evil bishop Waleran, who wants nothing save the destruction of Kingsbridge and its proud prior. At the same time, a similarly ambitious builder named Tom dreams of building a cathedral, but for the first several hundred pages of the novel, he roams the countryside in search of work. He and his family suffer from starvation and the death of Tom's wife. Tom and his children later meet up with a wild young woman named Ellen who lives in the forest with her son Jack. Jack looks uncannily like his hanged father with his shock of fiery red hair. Together, they head to Kingsbridge, where Tom hopes to become a master builder. Lady Aliena, the teenaged daughter of the earl of Shiring, and her younger brother Richard, are cast out of their castle when Percy Hamleigh seizes the earldom from her father. Before his death, her imprisoned father implores her to devote her life to instating Richard as earl. As the novel progresses, Aliena advances triumphantly towards her ultimate goal, but not without many obstacles that threaten her throughout. The Pillars of the Earth is a novel that gets everything right. To his credit, author Ken Follett eschews the subjectivism and amoralism of most modern "literary" writers. Though one would categorize Follett's novel as popular fiction, he writes with an unpretentious flourish that is refreshing in an age where literary means dull and naturalistic. Follett's characters are not "real" men and women in the modern sense of the term. The heroes and heroines are truly heroic and the villains are truly evil. What Follett does is present the kind of characters that one would like to meet in the real world, if such men and women existed. It has been said that in an artist's works one sees the heart and soul of the artist. A nihilistic artist, for example, will show man as impotent, determined by forces beyond his control and irretrievably depraved. Ken Follett is not a nihilist, and this is his great virtue as a novelist. In this novel, he paints man the hero as strong, productive and moral. Nevertheless, a good novel is not merely an ode to values as such, but an integrated whole. The plot must have a logical structure that shows the characters' values in action, the conflicts between characters or within a character's soul. On these counts, Follett succeeds admirably. Despite its romanticism and tightly integrated plot, there are occasional modern touches that mar the novel. Follett's descriptions of the violent battle scenes and his periodic use of four-letter words are inappropriate. While these are minor occurrences in an otherwise superb novel, they are offensive to the discerning reader. The Pillars of the Earth is a novel that demands the reader's full attention, but it is well worth the effort. It is ambitious in its scope and captivates from the very beginning. One burns with the desire to know what will become of Tom Builder, Aliena, Ellen, Jack and prior Philip. Will they succeed in their goals? Are their lives important? The pleasure of contemplating the story as an end in itself is reason enough to recommend Ken Follett's wonderful novel.
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Summary: Second best historicl fiction I have ever read.
Review: This was a wonderful book that was obviously well researched. It was plotted very well and the characters were well developed. I was rivited to each of their stories and was unhappy that the book had to end (even though it was over 900 pages). Incidently the best historical fiction book I have ever read was River God, by Wilbur Smith. That book was very excellently plotted.
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Summary: Enormous and Fantastic Tale - As real as if you lived it!
Review: Follett takes his time building the characters in this epic tale of life, death, honor, love, evil and the strength of human sprit. Epic, which is USUALLY a code for unnecessarily long and boring, is anything but boring here. It reads a little slow at first as the characters are developed, but it is so worth it as we follow them all through several generations. Seldom have I read a novel in which I truly cared about the characters. All of the heroes are incredibly real and human with tremendous strengths as well as fatal flaws and the evil are equally real and easily despisable. On more than one occasion I found myself yelling at the cast (hopefully not out loud lest my neighbors think me mad!). Follett's knowledge of the era and of the cathedral building process ring true, although I am no middle ages scholar, and his work appears well researched. The depth of the technical details could easily have brought down the readibility of the story but were instead handled masterfully by the author and served to enhance the reading experience. I could never have just one favorite book, but this certainly ranks among the top.
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Summary: Ken Follett is absolutly Amazing!
Review: Positively intriging. This book warps your imagination into a reality of life in the dark ages. It brings you into the world of these real people, a true page turner. This book keeps you thinking even after you've finished reading it. Defining his charicters with poverty, war, true-heartedness, and love; Ken Follett has created a masterpiece that should be enjoyed for generations to come. This is a truely outstanding book.
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