I was supposed to post this review yesterday, but I must be honest and say that these days review writing isn't as fun as it once was. I need to think much more about what I'm going to say and how I'm going to say it. I need to remember what I liked and disliked and sometimes I forget. Firstly, I wouldn't have bothered reading this if my friend Martyn hadn't urged me. The Christian element scared me off at first, but it focuses more on the individual characters than it does the Christianity.

This and A Song of Ice and Fire do bear some similarities, but not many. Whilst plot matters more to me than writing style, this was definitely lacking. There isn't anything very recognisable about the way it's written. Despite its size, it's easy to plough through because of how simple the writing is.

I had a few hurdles with this. I deplore rape scenes, but after this book I feel as if I've been desensitised (maybe). At some point there was no anxiety left, just the occasional eye roll.



It was certainly nice to see the characters grow over the years. Like the rape scenes though, I felt so many of the schemes and plots to be overdone. It shocks you and enrages you the first few times, but after awhile you can't find it in you to care.



Aside from all of this circumlocutory nonsense, the plot is decent enough. Still, I'm a picky eater reader.



As I experience new things, I'm beginning to notice that I don't care much for plots where a group of people are good and a group of people are bad. It just doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps it's because I want something more complex where the characters aren't so one-dimensional. The best way to explain this is in the differences that lie between Disney and Studio Ghibli films. Studio Ghibli takes its time, whereas Disney is a bit more fast-paced because it's geared to a specific age range. Disney has characters that you root for and characters you hate. Ghibli on the other hand doesn't have that. Its characters are a mixed bunch and it's oftentimes hard to decipher whether they are good or bad because they're usually a bit of both.



Up until now I thought otherwise, but after a closer look, I realise that the characters in this book are complex in many ways. There are horrible people and good people, but they are still mixed to an extent. Perhaps not as much as I prefer, but mixed all the same.

My overall feelings on this are somewhat mixed too, but in the end this book was just okay for me. I have nothing against large books. I quite enjoy them to be fair. There is a risk though that you're wasting your time more than you could be, but I don't mind too much if I think I'll have a good time. Still, this drains your time far too much for what its worth. It's by no means dull or bad as books go, but those standards are too low to keep me interested. I'll be rewarding myself with something a bit more stable and a bit more familiar...



Additionally, GR really needs to allow you to mention more than one friend in the recommendations box. This is frustrating.

5.0 out of 5.0 Stars "It Was Amazing"
The Pillars of the Earth (Audio CD) by Ken Follett

When I first visited the famous cathedral at Cologne, in then 'West' Germany, in the late 1990s, I was literally over-awed by the details and immensity of its construction. Saint Patrick's, my local cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, seemed more like a small chapel compared to the size and magnificence of the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, in Cologne. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne...)

With the help of my German colleague, I was fortunate enough to discuss the ongoing maintenance of the cathedral with several members a family of tilers who were restoring the mosaic tiles on the floor of the cathedral near the rear of the building. They were cutting and installing new, individually cut pieces of tile, to replace the worn mosaic tiles on the floor of a cathedral which was built between the years of 1248–1560. The tilers told me that they and their families had been doing this work for over 300 years and expected to be doing it in 300 years time.

I read "Pillars of the Earth" as a paperback many years ago, probably not long after it was published in 1989. When I joined Goodreads in 2011, I entered my prior reading list into the GR system. I have since listened to Pillars as an audiobook in 2019.

Each time I read/listened to the book, I rated it as 5-Stars.
I think it is an outstanding epic describing the design, construction, politics, and a thousand other matters related to the building of a great cathedral. The research that Ken Follett undertook beggars belief, despite his acknowledged love of all and everything about cathedrals.

I recommend this book as one of the best novels I have ever read or heard.

I read this out of order as once I read "World Without End," I was so captivated that I had to go back to read this one. It was good, but I much preferred "World Without End."

Follett creates such a remarkable world full of characters you love and you hate. And to think it takes place over 500 years ago... so many historical adventures, realities... I love the relationship people had with the church -- not so much from a religious perspective, but in how it defined every action and thought in their day. It was a powerful time period.

And when I think about what I would have done if I lived in that time period... not sure I would have survived very long.

The detail woven into these stories is exemplary. That's what makes his novels feel so magical and inviting.

n  n    About Men  n
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.

This is definitely not your usual Ken Follett spy thriller. I was pleasantly surprised to discover a well-written historical fiction novel which centers around one man's desire to build the greatest cathedral in England in the early medieval period. It's a great story which strikes a nice balance between history and fiction. My only complaint-- it's nearly 1,000 pages long. But well worth the time invested!

(Reviewed 8/1/08)

*** 3.44 ***

n  "...“Knotty theological questions are the least worrying of problems to me. Why? Because they will be resolved in the hereafter, and meanwhile they can be safely shelved...."n

I wanted to love this book! It is right up my alley on all levels, genre, its epicness, the amazing research that has gone into it, the time period, everything should have been what I most want in a book, yet .... somehow it felt so flat! It wasn't the obsession with the building of the cathedral that bothered me, the opposite, I thought that was a great focal point for a huge saga to be build around. It wasn't even the almost full cast of only unlikable characters, with just couple of exceptions. It was the way the story was told. I have been reading quite a bit of Guy Gavriel Kay lately and since he works on similar themes in his books, I can totally see this subject pop and become magical in his hands, but as much as I respect all the work that has gone into "The Pillars of the Earth", Mister Follett is just not a natural storyteller. I have had the opportunity to read some traveling logs of the 1800's which were much more lively than the monotone doom filled narrative we get while following the lives of the family of Tom Builder and the monks in the priory of Father Philip. The book is full of individual happenings which reflect the difficult life in 12th century England, all of them presenting the gloom of the age, but the reader ends up feeling beaten down by hopelessness and despair, while there is no light at the end of the tunnel. You keep on reading with the hope that something good will end up happening, and time and again your hopes are dashed by the bad guys winning the day once again.

n  "...“You never know," Jack said speculatively. "There may come a time when savages like William Hamleigh aren't in power; when the laws protect the ordinary people instead of enslaving them; when the king makes peace instead of war. Think of that - a time when towns in England don't need walls!”..."n

Speaking of bad guys, I liked the attempt at complexity of character, but the bad guys tended to be really bad, while the good guys were not that good and did some very unforgivable things... The expectation of humanity, according to what I came out with after reading this, is that yes, not only are we not perfect, but most of us are complete failures as human beings and we should just be glad with the little good we get to scrub from the bottom of the barrel from time to time, and may we all be glad of it... As a massage, me being the "the glass is half full" type of person, I was not happy with it... It was a very difficult book for me to finish, not because it wasn't interesting, but because it was so depressing. Maybe this is the case of "it is not you, it is me" kind of thing, and I am just in a mood in which I am overreacting to the darkness in the subject, but I will need a big break before deciding to read the follow-up books... After all, there are authors working on the same themes who are ca[able to make the narrative a bit more palatable, even if this raw monotone was the point of the whole exercise... I just might not be as strong as I thought to shake off the depressing from a book...

n  "...“What you’re doing is wrong,” he said. “I mean evil. To give up happiness like this is like throwing jewels into the ocean. It’s far worse than any sin.”..."n

Otherwise, the love story is very unusual and kept me from giving up on the book all together. I was pleased with how things were wrapped-up at the end and only wish it all was just.... better! I will think on starting the next one eventually, when life seems too cheerful and I need something to bring me down a notch:):):)

Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may you always find what you Need in the pages of a Good Book!!!

5 stars for being a un-put-downable page-turner, full of interesting and engaging characters I empathized with, and for teaching me about the politics and religion of the middle ages. Follet is a thriller writer, and it shows.

Fascinating that in medieval times, most villages were surrounded by walls (or were inside a castle) - because you couldn't count on the law to marauding rival lords from raping and pillaging your village. And the largest buildings other than the local lords castle, were cathedrals. Why did people spend so much time an energy building these huge monuments to God that took 10-20 years to build? The book explains that bit, with the importance of the Church in society and it's relation to the crown.

I am having trouble putting my finger on what I liked about the book. To friends who asked, I can't sell it every well. But it was a epic saga of love and power, and I loved every second. I think in the end, the lesson was that creating enemies leads you to get what you deserve. This might be a good summary of the book:

"The duck swallows the worm, the fox kills the duck, the men shoot the fox, and the devil hunts the men."


For the record, I hate William Hamleigh. I love Jack - he reminds me a bit of Howard Roark. And Aliena was inspirational. Philip was a prude but a good dude - I still can't believe he forgave Remigius. Interestingly, Waleran is once described as good person who just misunderstood his priorities - but I don't buy that.

I know I'm going to be in the minority here, but this is truly one of the worst books I have ever read. I came so close to throwing the book across the room on several occasions, and ended up skipping through many pages just to get to the final and not too surprising finish.

The characters were flat and lifeless and seemed to have been transplanted from the 20th century into medieval England. The book was rife with unnecessary profanity that in no way enhanced the storyline and obscene gratuitous sex (I mean how many times did William have to rape someone to prove that he was a really really bad guy?). I noticed that at least one other reviewer commented that this book was required reading in his child's school, which if you are a parent I would recommend you take a good look at this book and perhaps take issue with your school district. As an adult I was shocked at the language and violence in this book, and find it totally inappropriate for a child and/or young adult.

I also noticed comments about the historical accuracy and research that must have been involved in writing this book. If that is so, it must only be in regards to the building of the cathedral and the civil war between Stephen and Maud. As for the rest, I must disagree, I have read many well written and researched books of medieval times (thank you Sharon Kay Penman and Elizabeth Chadwick for such awesome reads), and I was infuriated on numerous discrepancies in this book. Examples and anyone may correct me if I'm mistaken as I am not a history major:

* Aliena is frequently described as having long, curling loose flowing hair. Women in those days wore their hair braided and covered, it being quite scandalous for any man other than her husband or lover to see it loose.

* After the attack on the castle, and the imprisonment of their father Aliena and Richard are allowed to live alone in the castle with only the steward? I doubt that the king would punish the children so for the sins of their fathers, and most likely would have been made wards of the king until they reached their majority. This was most desirable as the king could then skim the proceeds off the estates and funnel them to the crown's use. Sometimes a king would give ward ship to another party as a reward for service, etc.

* Young boys of the noble class were typically sent to another noble household to be raised and educated, first as squires and then trained in that household as a knight. What on earth was a teenaged Richard doing living at home?

* Much was made of William's warhorse. These were formidable beasts that were not easily handled by strangers. Yet Aliena and Richard were able to not only saddle the warhorse, but to get right on and ride it? I don't think so.

* The English nobility of that period were Norman French and did not speak the language of the peasant class. So how did Aliena manage to not only communicate with them, but could set up a successful business in that atmosphere?

I could go on with more examples if I had remembered to take notes, but there were many similar instances to this throughout the book. All I can say is that if you want to read a very well written and researched book on this period, please see Sharon Kay Penman's When Christ and His Saints Slept and Time and Chance (Ballantine Reader's Circle). JMO.

Well, as someone who completely rejects the idea of a 'God' and Religion, I certainly did not expect this book, which is ultimately about building a stone cathedral, would enthrall and capture me the way it did.

It has taken me weeks to finish this mammoth novel, only reading in the short minutes I have between school runs and work commutes... and it's been a workout hurling these pages around in my handbag for so long, but the fulfilment and pleasure along the way has been beautiful to feel.

You never know," Jack said speculatively. "There may come a time when savages like William Hamleigh aren't in power; when the laws protect the ordinary people instead of enslaving them; when the king makes peace instead of war. Think of that - a time when towns in England don't need walls!

By far, one of my top reads. Ever.


The duck swallows the worm, the fox kills the duck, the men shoot the fox, and the devil hunts the men.


There is a continuous theme of power struggle, a desire for peace and joy, constant threat of ruination, war, disruption, politics, court politics, religious politics and this bleeding into the masons and master builders and the ordinary Town folks. The journey is long, exhausting, perilous, tragic, disgusting, morally corrupt and yet there is beauty, poetic justice, love, passion, tenderness, emotional intelligence and really is a book that makes you stop and think.

There are unpleasant themes throughout this book, rape and murder, and some may consider the wording crass or uncomfortable, but I think it added to the overall feel that this book makes you feel. It's an unfortunate reality in a very cruel and dangerous time, whilst this is fictional, it is steeped in our familiar history and blended to create a very realistic and heart warming read, one that makes you look at your English Country Village very very differently and takes you back to its time of creation in such an intimate way. I live in a Hamlet, nestled deep into a stone village/church and old farming... it was not hard to use my imagination when reading.

And Jack, our little Village no longer have walls for protection.

I highly recommend this book, and Ken Follett has become a staple on my shelf, even though this is my only novel I have read of his, I know I will enjoy his other works of art. And these are meaty books...


She loved him because he had brought her back to life. She had been like a caterpillar in a cocoon, and he had drawn her out and shown her that she was a butterfly.

I'm conflicted about 'The Pillars of the Earth' by Ken Follett. On one hand, the novel is well researched and entertaining. On the other, it is overly long. It could have used an editor to reduce repetitive descriptions and to polish up parts of the plot. Also, everything had a feel of boilerplate about it, but I suspect that is due more to the requirements of writing a bestseller epic instead of a literary work. Nothing wrong with any of that for an entertainment read, of course!

I noticed how utterly futile religious faith was throughout the book's plot of building a cathedral, which is ironic considering much of what motivated characters was their religious beliefs. Being a good person or being bad simply had no effect on outcomes. People palaver a lot as they do about God bringing justice, rewards or blessings, but the story clearly shows if you are a Duke or a King or a rich merchant the power and authority that comes with position and money has more to do with how justice or blessings are distributed.

In any case, being female was a 'damnation' curse in the Middle Ages. No matter how beloved or adored a woman was, an enslavement is all that is expected or wanted from women in this medieval society. Ken Follett certainly got this history right. The one female character who has masculine freedoms has to live alone in a forest to be herself. The other strong female character, who pulls herself up into some wealth and respectability through hard work and taking risks, ends up losing everything again and again because she must support the men in her life rather than taking complete charge of her destiny due to the religious strictures and the structure of family life in the Middle Ages.

The men have a hard time of it too, to be sure, but some of them can afford to be hopeful dreamers by staying single or becoming monks. In Follett's world, being unmarried means being safe a bit longer. Marriage seems to bring on only hardships for both sexes in the novel. Fearful poverty is always on the horizon either due to weather or wars between the nobility or mentally ill parents or irresponsible husbands. Endless labor with no guaranteed future or reward is all there is for most folks until it's time to die. Hard-earned ownership of a straw house, or one of wood or one of stone for the matter, does not guarantee living without starvation and misery at some point in 'The Pillars of the Earth' no matter how much one might save or live sensibly. Even the mighty and amazing cathedral, a symbol of human perseverance and permanence, falls several times in the book. Follett doesn't allow anyone Grace. Winning is not an option in this soap opera.

Despite the chaos, and the failures of human justice and insight, and the uncertainty of living another 24 hours by the end of each chapter in the book, characters appear to overcome harsh reality with communal delusions and hope, no matter how unfulfilled, because of religious faith and class pride. True to life, come to think of it.

I think the author sometimes overwhelms his story with sadism, suffering and rape, while dramatically emphasizing the huge achievement it truly was to build cathedrals in the middle Middle Ages. Given the usual obstructive cantankerousness people exhibit in actual real life when building structures, maybe these piled-on traumas were true to life in the Middle Ages. However, in the end, the writing, to me, felt more like a soap opera mash-up of Candide and Gone With The Wind. I read on often with hilarity instead of concern, gentle reader. Regardless, I liked the story.

Nunca leí 'La Biblia', pero siento como si lo hubiera hecho.

No me culpen, es decir, un gran contenido religioso y un gran -gran- número de páginas, ¿no cumple con todos los requisitos para ser mi nuevo libro sagrado?

➤ "Si todo resultara fácil el hombre no necesitaría la guía de Dios."

OK, comencemos diciendo que este libro es sorprendentemente adictivo, y hago especial hincapié en el "sorprendente" porque ¿¿¿un libro histórico sobre la Edad Media que gira en torno a una catedral??? No suena a algo que a la mayoría le gustaría, ni siquiera puedo decir que tenga una trama específica en sí, es solo una ambientación de época que va desarrollándose con los sucesos que van desencadenandose y así PERO, de alguna forma, todo esto funciona.

Y creo que uno de los pilares (no de la tierra, sino del libro :) mal chiste?? Definitivamente), para que todo esto funcione de tal forma, son, definitivamente, los personajes. Existen novelas que leí cuyos personajes me nombran y digo ¿quién?, es decir, olvidables, y otras donde me pasa todo lo contrario: son memorables. El libro pertenece a esta última categoría. Contamos con Philip, un monje con el cual se empatiza al instante, por su resiliencia, pasión y fé verdadera (¿¿un ateo simpatizando con un monje?? esto no se puede dejar pasar así como así...); William y Waleran cuyos roles de antagonistas son logrados a la perfección, porque los desprecio con mucha intensidad (-pausa para vomitar-); y hasta iconos femeninos dignos de destacar: Aliena y Ellen. Las mejores, más en un contexto donde "mujeres" e "independencia" parecen conceptos antagónicos.

Básicamente nos sumergimos en el medioevo, un contexto histórico plagado de reinos y monarquías, fuerte presencia e influencia eclesiástica y bastante oscuridad, se es poco suave sobre este último punto, hay muchas escenas de violencia física y sexual. Mientras corremos en círculos en una aparente construcción de una catedral, nos entretenemos con los dramas de la época: corrupción en la Corona e Iglesia, alianzas y traiciones, amor y desamor, justicia e injusticia, rebelión, etc. Y todo es un entretenimiento satisfactorio, también, debido a la narrativa del autor, suspensiva, ligera y clara, las páginas simplemente corren sin sentirse un verdadero peso. Por último, es de destacar la presencia de cierto contenido ¿arquitectónico? Muchas escenas son dedicadas para describir la arquitectura y características de ciertas edificaciones (y sí, muchos conceptos los tuve que googlear), además del contenido ligado a la Iglesia, sus costumbres, comportamientos y, sobre todo, sus fallas como institución (también me gustó que el cristianismo no es un hecho absoluto, sino que también existieron personajes que lo rechazaron).

➤ “Jack tuvo que contenerse para no echarse a reír. ¿De qué servía arrojar dinero a un pedazo de madera? Pero la gente había sido adoctrinada por la Iglesia hasta tal punto que su reacción automática ante algo sagrado era la de dar dinero.”

Comentario random en medio de la nada: hacia el final me dio una fuerte sensación de nostalgia, a medida que se avanza a través de las páginas, también se lo hace a través del tiempo, vemos la evolución de todos los personajes y crecimiento. Adjunto cita:

➤ “Los años parecen pasar con más rapidez a medida que te vas haciendo mayor."

Ahora bien, siempre es una especie de desafío leer libros tan largos de hojas como este, pero, por sorpresa, acabó convirtiéndose en uno de mis lecturas favoritas y curiosamente aumentó más mi gusto por las novelas históricas, que comenzó a aparecer desde "Medio Sol Amarillo". Por mi parte, procedo a stalkear al autor y tirar algunas de sus obras a 'quiero leer'; vi que esta novela tiene una especie de continuación no directa… ¿debería...? Eso creo.

This book was okay. It started out in an engaging manner, pulling me into the characters of Tom, his wife, Ellen and Jack. The strength of the book is clearly characterization. It's the struggles of the people within, their hopes, loves and pain that makes this story work. The villain is well developed and incredibly hateful, which is what villains should be.
The problem for me was that after 400 pages or so the tendency to drift into narrative detail about architecture became overwhelmingly boring. I had long since passed the point of no return to dnf a book, and I did want to see what happened to the characters, but eventually I just wanted it to end. Three stars is a bit generous considering the struggles I had and the skimming that eventually got me through it. There are definitely moments that shine in this book- they're simply too few and far between for my taste.
Two and a half stars.

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

n  n

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.

n  n

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.

n  n

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)