Not bad at all. I'd read it again.

books:


	• The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett Signet, 1990 - 983 pages average customer review:based on 1246 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Pillars

Did I enjoy this book? - Yes.
Was it too long? - Yes.
Was there too much repetition? - Yes.
Was there too much sex? - Yes.
Give it a three.

Not bad at all. I'd read it again.

I finished The Pillars of the Earth today and all in all, I enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of historical fiction and was interested in the details of "everyday" life, although based on some negative reviews here I'll have to research to find out what Follett incorrectly portrayed. No historical novel is perfect.

As others have noted, this is a character-driven novel. Expect to love it if you enjoy books which immerse you in personalities and personal conflicts rather than grander, larger struggles. Each of the main protagonists was well developed and felt believable.

The antagonists were, I must say, a different story. William of Hamleigh was such a cape-swishing, mustache-twirling villain stereotype that I found it difficult to get into hating him at first, he was just SO bad. We do get a peek into the basis for William's terrible personality but it comes so late in the book that one will already have decided to take him as a cardboard cut-out of a bad guy and enjoy the book in spite of his flatness or one will have abandoned the book long before.

In spite of the somewhat flat "bad guys," though, the interactions between the well developed "good guys" really makes this book hard to put down. I found no problem with the few sex scenes - they were tastefully written and highlighted the love between the characters; they were not what I'd call "gratuitous." Nor did I have any issue with the violence. While a lot of violence occurs, it never felt out of place or over the top to me. The rape scenes were hard to read through but did much in establishing the characters involved and as such did not feel gratuitous either.

Like me, the author is an atheist and I think he did an admirable job of portraying many different points of view in his characters, from the utterly faithful to the unbelieving with all stops in between. He never makes mock of religious beliefs, nor does he make his atheist characters more admirable or worthy than the very religious. His characters simply are what they are, and he explores most of them fully and well.

Minus one star because some judicious editing would have been welcome in some areas; and I also found myself wondering frequently, "Is Aliena REALLY worth all this?"

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Pillars of the Earth

For anyone who is interested in the early days of the Church in England, this is your book.

You will be apalled at the hardships people endured just to cling the the skirts of survival.

I wish I had read this before I visited England and toured so many cathedrals. They are awe inspiring and you just have to stand and gape and wonder how these magnificent edifices could possibly have been built without the benefit of our modern cranes.

I recommend this book to anyone who is planning a visit or has visited any English Cathedrals or wishes they could.

Patriciaa R. Cramer

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, page 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

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