Without Foundation

I don't think I'm a lit-snob. I like a good yarn, well told as well as pieces with complex symbolism and subtle style. But I couldn't get past the first 100 of the almost 1100 pages of Follett's fictional 'masterpiece' about medieval cathedral building. This is the length it takes him to introduce his protagonist, a stonemason who has a rather 20th century view of his importance in the world and an architectural obsession not unlike that of Howard, Ayn Rand’s hero of the Fountainhead.

Yet the reader knows nothing more about his character after 100 pages than she does after the first 10 pages. Lots of detail about the brutality of life in the 12th century, and several repetitious summaries of the plot are provided along the way, just in case the anthropological overload obscures the story-line. But other than his sexual fantasies at the most inopportune moment - just after the death of his wife in childbirth and the disappearance of his new son - the central character remains a somewhat vague performer of the role of overburdened paterfamilias who has made one hell of a bad career choice long before the novel starts.

What the reader can guess, unfortunately, is where the story will go from moment to moment, so even plot dies a wordy death. The young woman met in the forest in the beginning of the chapter is of course going to be his saviour and ally by the end for example. The tension is not about what will happen but when we're finally to get to it. My inner pleas of "Please don't let it be so" were as about as effectual as similar entreaties to the divine concerning Donald Trump's election.

In short, if all I need on a rainy autumn evening is readable prose with no obvious merit, I'd go for Mills & Boone. As far as medieval cathedral stories go, I recollect that Golding's The Spire had something going for it. Maybe I can dig it out.

This is one of those novels where you come to care about the characters (most of them; others you come to hate), where you are cheering them on and hoping things will finally go their way. As in his previous novels, Follett doesn’t shy away from hard truths; this was a brutal time in history, and there are some horrible and disturbing acts of violence in the novel (and not all occur during battle), but that only makes you root for the main characters even harder. I even found the scenes describing the cathedrals and building process interesting, much to my surprise.

Despite its length, the book never dragged for me. Follett writes with his usual talent for pulling the reader in and moving the story along at a fast pace. Don’t be afraid of the size of the book – just dive in and enjoy the ride. I didn’t want it to end.

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Genul este fictiune istorica, actiunea petrecanduse in Anglia inceputul secolul XII. O poveste de proportii epice, fascinanta cu personaje credibile si foarte bine schitate, pe care Ken Follett le creioneaza cu mare arta. Nu te mai saturi sa citesti, e o carte plina de istorie, saracie cumplita, boli, invazii, tradari, crime, conflicte religioase, razboaie civile si lupte pentru succesiune la tron, tot felul de orori din care nimeni nu scapa, fie nobil sau cersetor, dragoste, conspiratii, rasturnari de situatie , in permanenta esti tensionat ( in sens pozitiv ).

Autorul incepe cu trei planuri narative, in care protagonistii par a nu avea legatura intre ei, insa destinele lor incep sa se intersecteze. De la prima pagina pana la ultima totul este atat de bine scris, se intampla atatea evenimente ca nu-ti dai seama cand ai ajuns la final. Sunt mai multe personaje centrale, toate cu povesti interesante, unite de incercarea de a construi o catedrala de proportii mari intr-o staretie nu prea mare si nici de importanta majora in lumea catolica.

E foarte interesant sa aflii cum traiau atunci oameni, tot pachetul socio-economic de atunci. Ce era valoros pentru ei, cat de periculoase erau acele vremuri pentru toti indiferent de statusul social, cum dormeau, ce mancau, si asa mai departe. Intri intr-o lume primitiva si straina noua, iar talentul incontestabil al autorului de a descrie peronajele, locurile, atmosfera si chiar mirosurile te ajuta sa vezi totul clar ca si cum esti acolo.



Recomand tuturor persoanelor peste 18 ani indiferent de genul literal pe care il preferati, e o carte ce trebuie citita, are de toate.

A tapestry of medieval cathedrals centered around an epic drama and some would term it melodrama but that's open to debate.

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Ken Follet actually wanted to write this book years before it was published. But his agent told him to build up his base of fans by writing several more thrillers. His EYE OF THE NEEDLE pushed him up to the best seller list.

At a later point, after writing those novels and studying medieval cathedral architecture, Follet got to write his 900 page novel centering around the British dispute of the crown between Queen Maude and King Stephen; these were the contestants who preceded Henry II, who is best known for his colorful History with Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lion Hearted and the gray King John.

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Story centers around several commoner types, with a few exceptions, whose lives intertwine in the eventual struggle to build a glorious cathedral. Without revealing too much and generalizing this story has: lurid scenes of lust, violence, intrigue, political disputes, wars, loves gained, loves lost, main characters dying, a child abandoned at birth and much more. And, to enthusiasts of History, it even teaches readers of the period.

Highly advised reading, even if the dialogue is a bit informal and the structure sometimes isn't as focused as it could be. If those two points don't bother you, this is a great book.

And, for those too lazy to read the novel, there's now a miniseries.

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STORY/PLOTTING: A minus; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: A minus to A; SETTING/EPIC SCOPE: A minus; HISTORICAL FLAVOR/ACCURACIES: B plus to A minus; OVERALL GRADE: A minus; WHEN READ: 2006 (second reading)

(one minor spoiler ahead, reader beware...)

I started this book without too much expectation but between the self-congratulatory introduction that the author gave to his book and learning part way through that it had become an Oprah pick I must admit that I mentally raised the bar a bit.

Unfortunately, I found the book fell short...

I was very interested through about the first half of the book, it is clear that Follett writes thrillers in his other life and some of the initial action scenes were fairly exciting. The plot started out a tad slow, but began to build and I was hopeful suspense would continue to build. But found myself becoming more and more sour with the book as I continued. It may be that I was just holding my breath waiting for the end of the book (in the bad way), but the last 100 pages of the book felt tacked on and even more forced. I did not find the book to be terribly enlightening about the period as others have, though some of the architectural information was mildly interesting - I'll admit that I never really thought much before about what it would take to make such a huge building stay together. The characters developed up to a point, and then never really matured, remaining fairly unrealistic. Though the pure malevolent nature of a few of the “bad guys” did have me rooting for the protagonists in the beginning, the repetitive nature of the plot lines and "twists" eventually just became annoying and I wasn’t really attached to any character.

This book falls prey to far too many of the classic blunders of very long novels or series. I was reminded of the Clan of the Cave Bear series (which initially was quite a fun read too) in that the main characters try to be too much. For example, Jack is not only intelligent, good with stone, handsome and charming, but he is super-humanly inventive and lucky. Like Ayla (from the Clan series) he makes ludicrous mental leaps to revolutionize technology and develops overnight insight into city planning and tactical defense when it is convenient for the plot line (by the way… a city wall in a day? please… wasn’t one of the selling points of this book supposed to be its architectural realism?). On the other end of the spectrum, the antagonists are constantly attempting to one-up their last act of moral depravity and it becomes difficult to believe that anyone would really let them remain in power, regardless of their political tricks or bribes.

This would have made a great yarn if it was about half the size and toned down on the sensationalism a bit. As it is, I am really surprised at the positive outpouring for this book… Maybe I’m missing something…

This is an amazing novel, A 5 Star Historical Fiction read
A lengthy novel at over 900 pages and not for the faint hearted and yet the story moves at a surprising quick pace. The characters are so well portrayed and engaging that you cant wait to turn the pages to unravel their fates. I loved the twists and turns of this story and as historical fiction goes this is among the best I have read as the research is excellent and the sense of time and place so real and vivid.

Set in 12th-century England, the narrative concerns the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge. I never thought I would read a 900 page novel on the building of a cathedral but the plot is so compelling as it spans 40 years of social and political upheaval and we see how church politics affect the progress of the cathedral and the fortunes of the protagonists. Ken Follett has written a novel that entertains and presents an amazing sense of time and place.

A memorable Novel and certainly one for my real life bookshelf.

At Christmas my work does a blind secret Santa which basically means you buy a gift but not for a specific person. I foolishly chose a package that looked vaguely book shaped - and it turned out to be a copy of this book - which I have already read, albeit long ago - around 1992 by best guess.
Initially I though to consign it to re-gifting or selling on, but realised I could not remember a single detail about the book, other than it went into great detail about cathedral building - which interested me at the time, and still does for it's architectural and stonemasonry input. On this basis I though I would commit to the (almost) 1100 page reread.

I had initially rated it four stars, which is above my general 3 star rating for books read prior to joining Goodreads, which meant that in 2012 I recalled enjoying it more than averagely. On completing it this time, I felt that 4 stars was still correct, although it might have been 3.5 stars, rounded up.

This is a pretty thorough historical fiction, set in the years 1135-1174, with a prologue in 1123. Other readers have complained about the detail, but that is perhaps the part I enjoyed the most about this - plenty of detail around the cathedral, the stonemasonry and carpentry but also around the aspects of life in this period for the different people from serfs and poor townsfolk to the monks and the lords, even the small amount we saw of the King.

Based around the priory and village of Kingsbridge, which grew to a city, then reverted to a town and grew again to a city, the story follows many characters, and is written from the individual viewpoint of each, typically changing several times per chapter. The destruction of the old cathedral, the commencement of a new cathedral, and then the completing of the cathedral in a new style are the basis of the action. The primary characters who we see the perspective of are Tom Builder, Ellen, William Hamleigh and Prior Philip, then in the later part Jack Jackson and Aliena. There are a multitude of other characters who play parts through the entire book.

The book explores the complex relationships and politicking of the monks and with the Bishop and the Earl who all live locally and all compete for power. With the country in a continual civil war - Stephen challenging rival Maude to rule England, the Earl (William Hamleigh) battles to remain necessary to the King which allows him to act ruthlessly with the town of Kingsbridge, which he sees as a threat to his own city.

I won't outline more of the plot, as in fiction it is too easy to spoil the story. Probably the most annoying aspect of this book is the use of modern words in the dialogue - it just wasn't necessary, and breaks the historical spell so easily. The other minor annoyance was the recapping / repetition - towards the end of the book there were several occasions where characters make fundamental decisions, and the key events of the story we have just read are rehashed and set out as the basis for making the decision. It is somewhat insulting that the author doesn't think we can recall what we have just read sufficiently to understand the decisions made by the characters.

Glad I read this one again, but I doubt that I will pursue the other books in the series, which are awarded a range of ratings by those who enjoyed this book.

4 Stars

I loved this book! It is one of my favorites.

This really is an EPIC book set in twelfth century England. How can a book about building the largest Gothic cathedral be so goods? Because it is also a story about good vs. evil and brother vs. brother. This book comes down to people. People who build, people with tremendous faith, people who are corrupt, people who love, people who cheat, people who lie, people who tell the truth. In essence it comes down to people being people in a time that was harsh, where harsh rules were in place, where class divided people, where religion was often law, where hard work really was HARD work. I could go on and on.

Tom Builder wants to build a Cathedral. But where will he get the funds? Who will hire him? What hoops must he jump through?

Philip Prior, raised in a Monastery finds himself drawn in and tries to always put the interest of the church first. The politics of it all.

This book is HUGE. Do mot let that stop you from reading it. It is HUGE but rewarding and beautiful. The writing is beautiful and spellbinding. There are a lot of characters. There is a lot going on, but with that, I did not feel overwhelmed or like any part of the story took away from another. It takes a community and lots of people to build such a Cathedral. It does not happen overnight and we see these characters through it all.

I was captivated and engrossed in this book. I feel that my review of this book is not enough. I don't know how to say how much I enjoyed this book. There is a lot of history here and I imagine a lot of research took place prior to writing this book.

In short, this book is 100% worth the effort. I found it did not take me long to finish it. I did not want to put it down. The beauty in this book is the writing, the characters and the character development. Would I have ever thought I would love a book about building a cathedral? NO! But Follett hit it out of the ballpark with this one. Sometimes the right story paired with beautiful writing can make any subject interesting, moving, affecting and a pleasure to read.

Highly recommend.

See my other reviews on www.openbookpost.com

This epic novel draws the reader into the 12th century story filled with tragedy, romance, success, betrayal and revenge. We have a host of characters to love and hate. Through these characters we live vicariously. The description is so well written that the reader feels they are in the story, whether in Kingsbridge, England building a Gothic cathedral or in Saint-Denis (France) studying cathedral architecture. The plot and subplots weave through the building of Kingsbridge cathedral and the many character lives it touches.

For the review of the storyline, I point you to fellow reviewers, all excellent reviews. I will be reading the next two books in this trilogy. I highly recommend this book.

First thing to say....Richard E Grant is a fantastic narrator. There was not a single squirmingly awful accent....Derek Jacobi take note. His women characters were not voiced by men doing silly soppy voices as if that communicated woman but were voiced in such a way that you believed the characterization and it did not jar as inane, patronizing or laughable. He communicated tension and horror, sadness and despair, injustice and vengeance, adoration and admiration, grief and fear and frustration and so many other emotions and all without over dramatizing. Full marks Richard.

The story itself is fascinating. In a nutshell, it is the story of the building of a Cathedral in Kingsbridge and the way the village clustered around the small priory there gradually grows into a town and then a small city and then a thriving urban centre and the way the fortunes of the town and its inhabitants wax and wane through the long disastrous reign of the usurper king Stephen and his battle with the rightful but ignored monarch Matilda or Maud on into the reign of her son King Henry II and his battles with the ecclesiastical powers of the Medieaval Church and Thomas a Becket. Alongside these national and more historically significant encounters, we have the ebb and flow of the lives of any number of people ranging from the Prior of the Monastery from which the Cathedral grows and his rival Bishop, an underhanded shite if ever there was one, through the aristocrats both great and small who buzz and twitch around the story down the various levels of society grazing past Master Builders and Merchants, Troubadours and Artists to the lowly serf-like peasantry and even touching upon a robber or two. The cast of characters is impressive and yet Follett manages to keep every plate spinning quite wonderfully.

He seems to time perfectly when to bring a minor character back into the frame to keep our sense of the wider life of Kingsbridge bustling on. The enormity of the battles and alliances happening on the wider stage are cleverly interweaved and the dramatic use of a Forrest Gumplike appearance by Prior Philip, and one of the other main characters, at the murder of Thomas a Becket is clever and not in any way as annoying as Gump.

He teeters along the tightrope of OTT love interests but, IMHO, never quite falls off either side whether into the river of vomit-making sentimentality or into embarrassingly badly written porn. It is a story that sweeps you along, characters are real and believable, and here I feel i ought to almost put in a spoiler alert of some kind because i am straying into major cliche territory, but the Cathedral itself, in its long journey to completion, stands as a major character in the whole work. Follett describes magnificently the way the Church is built, the influences on its design and describes in a truly fascinating way the development of different techniques and actions which enabled the various artisans and architects to build this incredible Chucrh.

One little caveat in my hymn of praise might be that coincidence and overly convenient incidents have a tendency to feature perhaps a tad too much. This enables the story to move on, for characters to re-enter the story they appeared to have left for good but dare i say it smacked a little of lazy writing.

Having mentioned that little whinge I would say this was a wonderful read and I have already begun listening in the car to the next story of kingsbridge. This one is set 200 years later so none of the characters remain the same except, of course, for the Cathedral.

“The first casualty of a civil war was justice". Yep how true is that!!!!

Amidst so much Political upheaval, religious dominance, and economic poverty for many, one man dared have a dream. The impoverished Tom Builder wanted to build a Cathedral and appealing to the vanity of the clergy at the time, this seemed the most likely and comfortable of arrangements, where ambitions would form a partnership, and the lucrative outcome of the cathedral would bring stability of a different kind, but treachery in abundance.

However, this was never going to be an easy read, all you have to do is look at the size of the novel with its @1000 pages and you are set for a rollercoaster that does not shy away from the brutality of the age, the religious fervour of the populist, and the greed of mankind. Yes it is mostly about men!!! It is anarchy, it is a story where the savagery of ‘absolute power’ is not left to the imagination. A clash of state versus the church. Set in the 12th Century but authentic, compelling, and spellbindingly brilliant.

A crude summary of the plot (because it is impossible to capture everything with such an enormous book) so very high level.

The central story to the ‘Pillars of the earth’ is about the construction of a new Cathedral supported by those who want to build a thing of beauty to glorify God, and there are those who want to destroy the dream because they have different ambitions and plans.

While packed with lots of wonderful historical detail, an abundance of themes, it is the characterisation and character development that makes this such a towering classic from the humble stone mason to the tyrannical rulers, greedy aristocracy and the bonds and betrayal within family.

The book opens with a hanging and the pregnant woman’s curse placed on those that murdered the father of her unborn child. From then I was hooked, and it was this feeling of ‘fate’, punishment, and providence that set the tone of the novel that carried on through the stories of so many.

Review and Comments

A richly imagined story that combines real historical figures within the fictional world of Kingsbridge. A magnificent and sweeping tale from a superb author who animates the ugly side of humanity, brings to life the intrigue of the period, embraces the social prejudice, and uses some poignant themes, to deliver such a captivating story of greed, power, lust, betrayal, ambition, and religion.

A story of contrasts, not just good and evil, rich and impoverished, but also of honesty and deception, salvation and damnation, while love is threatened by envy, hatred, and resentment. Where the principled face the corrupt in this showcase of medieval treachery.

I read this over 3 weeks and there is that much going on in the book and it is structured in such a way that you could treat this as a series of novellas (6 to be exact), so I took a break between each section and read other books. I would recommend this approach if like me you are daunted by a 1000+ page book.

As far as historical fiction goes, ‘Pillars of the Earth’ is up there with the best of the HF books written, and as Follett says “Culture clash is terrific drama”, and this does not disappoint. To maintain the rhythm, keep the momentum going, and to hold the interest of the reader for so long, is nothing short of a triumph. In fact I was actually disappointed to have finished which speaks volumes for an oversized book!!!

Mesmerising, hypnotic, addictive, compelling, a book of medieval savagery and timeless beauty.

Ahem.
"Pillars of the Earth" is a very long book. It's got a lot of soap-opera-like twists and turns - no amnesia, but just about everything else, including mistaken identities, illicit marriages, illicit lack of marriage, illegitimate children, questionable parentage, love triangles, revenge, greed, power, a few murders, rape, witches, politics, knights, swords and horsies. OK, that last bit is not so soap-opera-like. There's also lots and lots of architecture. And it's a very long book.

Main story follows a single family of stone masons for (roughly) three generations, and the extended families associated with re-marrying, etc. Around this family revolves an aspiring monk/prior, a powerful but morally questionable bishop, a ruthless Earl (title, not name), and several kings. The thing is, even with all the re-marrying and such, there are so many evolving inter-relationships between these main characters as the struggle for political power unfolds, and of course everybody grows up, has children, etc - that EVERYTHING seems to happen to this small group of people. And just when you think things have settled down for a while, something else happens, or attempts to happen. And these things keep happening for approximately 980 pages.

Along the way, you learn a lot about medieval culture - particularly the role of religion, the political power of a monestary, priory, or diocese - how life is funded, and just how much it sucks to be a serf. There's also quite a bit of focus on the reason for, and the means to, building cathedrals - Follett muses in his Foreward that one of the things he never could understand is why people in such destitute times would have put so much energy into buildings of such scale, and this book addresses that. You also learn a lot about architecture and the evolution of cathedral-building. I can also now tell you the difference between a nave, chancel, transept, cloister, and clerestory. Oh, and probably 7 different words for "horse".

Really though, I very much enjoyed it, despite its very lengthy nature. Very full of words. Long. Not a day went by I didn't read at least 50 pages (note - at that rate, it will still take about 3 weeks to finish).
The building is a constant, its a reason to keep the central family of masons from wandering off and having more illicit marriages, and its a reason for the ongoing political power struggles. It's essential, but it's not distracting, and the cathedral is not the focus. The people are. They're engaging, you feel for them, you assign labels (good, evil) you change labels several times (he's pretty self-serving and conniving for a "good" guy), and you constantly wonder just what more can possibly happen to these people. There's also an underlying mystery that keeps you wondering... right up until 100 pages too soon.

My only complaint is this - the big climax occurs, the mystery is revealed, it all comes together - and there are still 100 pages to go. The last part of the wrap-up, the rise and fall, takes a while, has an interesting but probably unnecessary historically accurate reference to English church vs. king to give the whole novel an air of "this could have really happened in some obscure English medieval village somewhere, I wonder which cathedral this is supposed to be? Can I go see the real thing?" But it loses momentum right at the very end. Loose ends nicely tied up, but it wasn't the gripping page turner it had been in the first 900 pages. By that time, though, you've got so few pages in your right hand you just keep going because the end is in sight.

This HF was not even on my reading radar but then my buddy said she was planning to read it and I joined this Buddy Read. When I had started reading it, it was intriguing from the prologue but I procrastinated. But once I started reading this, I stopped reading everything else because this book was so good.

After the death of King Henry I, England was in a state of turmoil since the old King died without a heir. The powerful Barons and royalty refused to swear allegiance to her and her cousin Stephen declared himself the King. This started a civil war in England which lasted almost two decades. During this period England became a difficult place to live as there was no law, King was too busy in war.

But this book does not tell us about the Kings, Queens and wars only, it also tell us the story of ordinary people and how war effected their day to day life. Tom is a master builder and to build a Cathedral is his dream. And to fulfill this dream he along with his family moves from city to city in search of a place where a Cathedral is in making. His family is on the verge of starving because of his dream. During one of his trips he meets Phillip, a monk, and his life is changed forever.

Basically this story is a tug of war between good and evil. There are characters like Jack, Aliena, Alfred, Ellen, Waleran Bigod, and William Hamleigh. They all make this story engaging and there were times when I wanted to stop reading because something really bad had happened. In those moments I felt like 'God can't be this cruel. He can not treat good people so badly.' This book remind me of 'God Sees the Truth, But Waits', a classic short story by Leo Tolstoy. Whenever something bad happened in this book, my mind went back to that short story and I told myself that bad people would pay for their sins. And they did!

I just loved how Follet has shown so many emotions like hope, strength, hatred, angst, greed, faith, trust, bullying, treachery, and so many more in such detail in his characters. I was spellbound and left mesmerize on multiple occasions.

Its an extraordinary tale which everyone should read.