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Summary: A wonderful survey
Review: This book is a wonderful survey of life in England, covering an enourmous sweep of history, and yet focusing in on individual lives and tying the pieces together in a compelling way.
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Summary: my review
Review: This book is about the story of a small town in the south of England. Just relating the story of this town, the author is relating the history of England.Each chapter of this book is about a different period of history and it is narrated through the lives of four different families. I really enjoyed reading this book vey much. All the characters are exceptionally well described and real. Also, each chapter with its history explains the how and why of changes and progress. If anyone is interested in understanding history, I really recommend this book. It is a masterpiece.
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Summary: Sarum
Review: This is a masterpiece of research and story telling. I have read this book three times! (About every two years) Each time it is as vibrant and the stories as fascinating as the first time. The scope is so big, that this is truly one to buy as a hardcover and keep in your library to enjoy over and over again. And this is one you can confidently give as a gift - I have many times and it's been loved by one and all.
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Summary: The Stuff Epics Are Made Of...Simply Amazing
Review: This novel is more than just a beautifully written romance; it's also a captivating crash course in British history, and Rutherford makes the learning a joyous experience. Herein the full history of events affecting Britain (not just post-Norman Conquest history) serves as a backdrop for a fascinating narrative that follows the trials and tribulations of five families in a region of Wessex from the late Ice Age to 1985. The Wilsons (descended from a paleolithic hunter-gatherer), the Porters (descended from a Celtic princess and a Roman army officer), the Shockleys (from Anglo-Saxon stock), the Masons (whose story begins in the pre-Celtic Bronze Age), and the Godfreys (of Norman stock) interact (and intermarry) with one another throughout the centuries, their stories weaving a tapestry of triumph and tragedy that is stunning and unforgettable. From the uprising of Queen Boudiccea, to Mathew Hopkins' witch hunting atrocities, to World War Two, it's all here. The characters are all beautifully developed and the families retain their own peculiar characteristics and mannerisms throughout the ages...and their stories are not confined to the Salisbury area, for Rutherford (in two brilliantly written chapters) brings the American descendents of the Shockleys into the action. I urge anyone of British descent to read this book: in an often cold and alienating modern world, it is easy to lose touch with one's own ethnic identity if one happens to be of the "majority" culture...and that culture is NOT a rootless one, for the roots go back far and modern Western culture is about so much more than blue jeans, mega corporations, McDonalds, fundamentalist Christianity, and MTV. Reading Sarum will help get you in touch with the real spirit and legacy of the West and remind you that your ancestors didn't just come out of nowhere. Don't pass this one over.
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Summary: Rutherford Rocks!
Review: When I opened the Christmas package containing a large hardcover volume of "London" a few years ago, I thought it would be miraculous for my interest to be captivated. Well, I was wrong. Wrong enough that I had to buy Sarum, and The Forest. Rutherford is able to endow his characters with personalities and family traits and kinks. His ability to create several lineages of families is what keeps me reading his books. His knowledge of history and how to place characters within specific contexts keeps the reader entertained, and unwittingly educated! A must read for Anglophiles.
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Summary: Great!
Review: I loved this book even though it took me awhile to read. It's got everything-love, deceit, history and more. If you like epic sagas, than read this.
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Summary: magnificent
Review: This book, like other works by Mr. Ruthefurd, remind me of watching debris cast upon a beach by the surf. Characters traits, like physical idiosyncracies and mannerisms, manifest themselves in different ways over 10,000 years of the waves of political, socio-economic and religious history. Yet, the matter of escaping (or not escaping) one's genetic make-up and geneology is only one of the remarkable themes of this novel. Stonehenge and the Salisbury Cathedral are durable touchstones contrasted with the technological advancements such as the small pox vaccine, print press, and sheep breeds and breeding practices, among many others that serve as the impetus for civilization's evolution. The roots of religious extremism as well as the transitions from hunters & gatherers to agriculture, to feudalism to the industrial revolution are all marvelously portrayed through the microcosm of the Salisbury plain where the "five rivers meet." Not that the novel lacks in its human component - individual, interpersonal relationships are also vividly described pulling the reader along on an emotional level, balancing the intellecual delight in the historical perspectives elaborated. The novel demands re-reading; but even after the first, the result is a catharsis of self-centered, time-biased perspectives held hostage to our socio-economic and national environment. Truly a masterpiece, for those willing to invest their emotional and intellectual energies in the 1000+ pages, political machinations, and intricate geneologies of the novel's five families.
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Summary: A GUY'S PERSPECTIVE OF ENGLISH HISTORY
Review: As *Toronto* said earlier, SARUM is all about the male perspective of history, and that is not the whole story... Is this why *Toronto* finds that Sarum is not very good history? This guy Rutherfurd gave his guy perspective, which happens to focus, in a rather antiquated way but not as totally as *Toronto* says, on the guys' perspective. Rutherfurd writes the book, it's his prerogative. I too would love to see more such books, and written from a woman's perspective, be it by a male or female author. But I'll certainly not begrudge Rutherfurd for not being that author. Stand up and be counted, Women's Perspective Writers of the World, and I'll be the first one to be glad to read your stories, if they are good! I enjoyed this book tremendously, as the reader that I am. Women were in the shadows too long so there's less to say about their role and impact in days of old. NOW they are taking their place, and SOON there'll be something to write about. GOOD. With a book of this scale, it is a wonder that *Monroe*, for his part, focussed on a few (dozens, hundreds or whatever) missing commas. I also found unsettling, but amusing, the idea that one cannot escape one's heredity. Often while reading SARUM, I was reminded of my paternal ancestor John Baptist (imagine such a name?), already known in 1635 as "Break It All" -- and of my Dad John, who was nicknamed "Break It All" years before we even knew about J.B.
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Summary: Bringing History To Life, Through Fiction
Review: I love this book! I have since the first time I read it, and I've read it several times since then. I've been a fan of this genre of historical fiction, since James Michener's "Chesapeake" made the history of the area in which I was raised, not only palatable, but interesting and relatively easy to follow. My interest in that particular book was its' ability to teach me about my home. Well, as much as I am from the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., I am also a passionate anglophile. This book not only played well to that passion, it actually whetted my appetite for even more information about that lonely isle off the northwest coast of the European continent. Edward Rutherford begins his tale in a time, before recorded time, as the last ice age retreated from northern Europe and severed Britain from the rest of the continent. Rooting two fictional family trees in characters from this era, he then takes broad strides through the history of Sarum, an ancient name for the area in and around modern Salisbury, England; right up through World War 2 and into the 1980's. Routinely rooting additional fictional families in characters, which arrive over the progression of ages, Rutherford floats a very human dramatic narrative of individuals, families, personalities and geneology on the real timeline, currents and subtleties of the true history of a fascinating region, country and people. While focusing on a relatively compact region of England, this book offers some deep insight into the very unique, historically multi-cultural and yet, deeply reserved people that are the English. The history in this book is rich, while not overwhelmingly scholarly. Rutherford picks and chooses his timing, sometimes becoming quite detailed in his descriptions of technological advances or historic upheavals which may have changed the course of human development, and relaxing at other times to nearly "romance-novel" treatments of passionate relationships amonst his fictional characters. He uses mysterious Stonehenge and the beautiful 13th-century cathedral at Salisbury as lasting monuments to the character of a people who force tradition and a resolute slowness to change, at every turn; despite their being invaded and fundamentally changed repeatedly throughout their history. Enjoy this book. Don't try to make too much out of it. Enjoy the light fiction and learn from the history given; this is a large book, and one without the other would've been too much.
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Summary: Great - But You Must Like History
Review: I have read about 15 James A. Michener books, so I thought it was time to try this one. I wasn't disappointed, for I enjoyed all the detail. By comparison I find Michener to be a better writer, however Rutherfurd probably outdoes even Michener, for all the historical details. Bottom line: If you like historical novels, have enough endurance, I recommend this book. I have obtained another of Rutherfurd's books, "London." It is another really long one, which I expect will be very educational. That's why I read this type of book; to get history in a fun, enjoyable format.
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