It was a little overlong and could have done with another careful edit, but this story was generally gripping and very cleverly put together.

This was incredible. After reading this for weeks, I'll need a bit to sort out my thoughts on this one. Review to come.

Also, how great is the feeling when you're the first person to check out a brand new replacement copy via the library?

DESCRIPTION:
This is a book of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Tragedy followed by triumph, followed by tragedy, followed by triumph. Set in southern England between the years 1123 – 1174, this is a piece of historical fiction that nestles itself nicely into the fabric of real-life events. It is a period of anarchy between the reign of King Henry I and King Henry II, and if you are knowledgeable about this period, some of the story might be spoiled, particularly at the end where the story dovetails with famous historical events.
The story is about a handful of people: A destitute mason who seeks to build a cathedral, a kindly monk struggling to make the world a better place, a woman believed to be a witch, a young brother and sister—once privileged nobles—now destitute, a cruel and vindictive earl, an odd, but brilliant boy and a power-hungry bishop. The novel follows the course of these lives through success and failure revealing how they intermingle with surprising effects.

OPINION:
Pro:
Pillars of the Earth is an extremely enjoyable read. It begins with a likable character and instant action that provides firm footing. The story is quite believable and well devised with one character leading to the next and back again in a wonderful weave that is masterful. Plot changes are not easily anticipated providing moments of surprise. Antagonists are well developed and presented so well you want to see them dead. Protagonists are so poignant, and their trials so terrible, they can tug at a reader’s emotions. The vicissitudes of the events keep it interesting throughout and the end is satisfying as each lingering plot point is neatly tied up in eloquent and often unexpected ways.

The sweeping drama, the anguish and joys of simple people, remind me of the works of Victor Hugo, only much lighter and easier to read.
Con:
It is too long. While length is not a detriment in general, it is here, as the novel feels artificially drawn out. It is not that it has too many words, Ken Follett writes in a simple, curt, non-poetic manner—given the length of the story he is telling in one book, he had little choice. Rather, the story itself is too long. Characters (and readers) endure catastrophes and yet succeed in overcoming them only to suffer another, and another and another. Climax follows anti-climax over and over. After a while, it can become repetitive and even annoying. The book has the feel of two, three or four books jammed together and rushed through with a thin narrative style.
In addition, Mr. Follett has an irritating habit of explaining events after they have occurred. Many pages are devoted to rehashing past events, as if readers might have not understood or may have forgotten what happened. He also has a tendency to speak to the reader, thinly veiling this as a character’s thoughts that always feel out of place. In one instance, when a woman is about to be raped she reflects philosophically on the rapist’s motivations.

CONCLUSION:
I can’t help but feel that if the novel’s plot had been pruned, or extended over more than one book it would have proven more powerful. It might also have allowed the author to spend more time enriching scenes that might have brought the events and character’s to life more vividly. As it is, the story has an odd distance, as if it is a tale being told to you rather than a story you are witnessing first hand. This, I suspect, might put off impatient readers. Nevertheless, the book is wonderful. The plot is so strong and well conceived, it more than makes up for these small annoyances and readers who stick with it will be swept up.

I would suggest The Pillars of the Earth to anyone who reads. It has enough historical fact to appeal to non-fiction readers, and an outstanding story filled with romance, sex, warfare, religion, kindness, hatred, mystery and betrayal. Few will be disappointed with this novel.

--
Fantasy author: Michael J. Sullivan
The Crown Conspiracy (Oct 2008) | Avempartha (April 2009)
Reviews: Fantasy Book Critic | Odysssey | Amazon | MidWest Book Review | Huntress Reviews

This is one of my top 10 favourite books of all time.
I had written a review a long time ago but it got lost.
This is a masterpiece. Don’t be overwhelmed by its size. Believe me when I say it’s a fast read. Is that engaging. I did not care for the adaptation for the TV.

Anyways, the ebook is currently on sale for $1.99 (Canadian), today, February 8, 2022.

Ich habe es geschafft!

”He was mesmerized by the challenge of making soft, round shapes out of hard rock. The stone had a will of its own, and if he tried to make it do something it did not want to do, it would fight him, and his chisel would slip, or dig in too deeply, spoiling the shapes. But once he had got to know the lump of rock in front of him he could transform it.”

n  n

There are so many memorable characters populating this epic novel that I would be hard pressed to even say who is the main character of this novel, but my favorite character is undisputed. His name is Jack, and later as he discovers the name of his father, he begins calling himself Jack Jackson. His mother, Ellen, falls in love with a man named Tom Builder. Jack finds himself nearly starving to death along with Tom’s kids, Alfred and Martha, as they trudge across England in search of someone who needs something built. Tom can build anything, but his dream, his most fervent desire, is to build a cathedral.

Jack is bright, unnaturally intelligent in fact, and it isn’t Alfred who turns out to be best suited to achieve Tom’s dreams (although Alfred is really good at beating the crap out of Jack on a daily basis). It is Jack who travels the world and discovers that cathedrals can soar high into the clouds beyond anything that Tom would have ever believed possible.

The backdrop for all these trials and tribulations that you will experience while reading this novel is the turbulent 12th century England. Henry Ist dies and leaves his daughter Empress Maude on the throne. This is extremely controversial because the nobles do not want a queen. If truth be known, they want a king, but a weak king they can control. Since Maude was born without a penis, this leaves the castle door open for her cousin Stephen, whom fortune has favored with a penis, to snatch the crown from her head and place it on his own. The nobles certainly do not want to work for a woman, but I think the issue that is even bigger is that Maude is very sure of herself, even one might say imperial. As her husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, would quickly find out, she is a handful.

Civil war breaks out, and the people who suffer the most, of course, are the peasants, who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The destabilization of the civil structure of law also allows men like William of Hamleigh to do whatever they want to do and take whatever they want to take. He is an opportunist who switches sides several times in the dispute between Maude and Stephen, depending upon which of the cousins has the wind behind them at the time. William is but a brutish thug, a tool of his demented, greedy mother and then later a weapon of evil for an archbishop named Waleran Bigod (great name, eh?), who wishes to obtain more and more power at the cost of everyone else.

William and Jack become mortal enemies as Jack tries to build a cathedral at Kingsbridge and William tries to destroy the economy of Kingsbridge to bring more wealth to his neighboring town of Shiring. William also has an unnatural lust for Aliena that is one part desire and one part pain. See, unless a woman is crying, bleeding, and feeling anguish, William’s wee willie won’t work. Here is a typical list of topics with which William and his henchmen like to entertain themselves:

”In the evening they would drink beer and sharpen their blades and tell one another grisly stories about previous triumphs, young men mutilated, old men trampled beneath the hooves of warhorses, girls raped and women sodomized, children beheaded and babies spitted on the points of swords while their mothers screamed in anguish. Then they would attack tomorrow morning, Jack shuddered with fear. But this time we’re going to stop them, he thought.”

Jack is Aliena, and Aliena is Jack. They are soulmates, and though many disastrous things happen to them to try and keep them apart, I kept hoping that love will conquer all. I may like Jack the best, but I admire Aliena the most. She recovers from a horrendous attack at the hands of William of Hamleigh to become the largest wool merchant in the area. This is remarkable for anyone, but for a woman, a woman who has never had to work a day in her life, and a penniless one at that, to raise herself up to such heights is remarkable. She survives every disaster, even the ones she makes for herself, and finds a way to achieve some semblance of security for herself despite the overwhelming odds.

There is one more character I want to discuss, and that is Prior Philip of Gwynedd. The man who shared the same dream as Tom Builder to have a cathedral rise up from the ashes of the old church at Kingsbridge. ”Jack did not like Philip but he liked working with him. Jack did not warm to professional men of God any more than his mother did. He was embarrassed by Philip’s piety; he disliked his single-minded sinlessness; and he mistrusted his tendency to believe that God would take care of anything that he, Philip, could not cope with.”

There are times when I want to give Philip a good shake, but at no time do I question the sincerity of his beliefs. Even when those intent on evil ends are conspiring, even cheating, to obtain an advantage over Philip, he always stays on the high road. He makes enemies in lofty places, including the aforementioned Archbishop Waleran Bigod, who at every turn tries his level best to destroy Philip and his dreams of a cathedral. The church politics are so fascinating and create an extra level of intrigue in the novel that at times overshadow the quest for the throne.

There are a 1000 pages of juicy historical fiction awaiting you if you choose to accept this quest. This is not War and Peace, so do not be as afraid of that page count as reason would dictate, as the pages will fly by. I really needed some escapism into a different time and place, and this book served that purpose perfectly. As I was reading it, I kept thinking that this would have been a great choice for that long plane flight to Scotland last year. There are some graphic rape scenes, but they are purposeful to the plot and certainly are a part of a destabilized England at that time. Unfortunately, the very topics that William Hamleigh and his thugs find so amusing are a part of human history going back to the days when we were battering each other with sticks and stones. I would have to use another 1000 words to discuss all the other worthwhile aspects of this book, but I will leave the rest to you to discover on your own.

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
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—Espero que construyas tu catedral —susurró.
—Creí que no querías que lo hiciera —dijo él, sorprendido.
—Sí, pero estaba equivocada. Te mereces algo hermoso.
Tom no comprendía el significado de aquellas palabras.
—Construye una hermosa catedral para mí —prosiguió Agnes.n

Entre los edificios más majestuosos de la antigüedad tenemos a las catedrales, esta es la historia de cómo se construyo una de ellas y de todos los contratiempos, esfuerzos y planes que hay detrás de ella.



Esta historia tiene de todo, ambición, guerra, amor, odio, desgracias, vaya que si las tiene, sabiduría, clemencia, misterio, arquitectura mucha arquitectura, luchas de poder, entre reyes, y aspirantes a reyes, entre señores terratenientes, entre el clero, vaya juego de tronos de poder que se da en la iglesia, incluso entre los constructores de la catedral.

Personajes ¡wau! un sinfín de personajes, que me llevaría muchos párrafos describir a todos detalladamente, en el espectro masculino vemos casi todas las personalidades, y en los femeninos, quizá no haya muchos pero las que hay son geniales

Este libro me llevo por una montaña rusa emocional, odie infinitamente al que se ha convertido en el villano más despreciable del que leído William Hamleigh maldito desgraciado como disfrute con la justicia de su muerte,  sufrí con las desgracias de los personajes, que son bastantes, pero sentía admiración de cómo incluso después de cada golpe, de cada caída se levantaban de nuevo y continuaban con sus vidas de la mejor forma en que podían ¿no es ese el quid del espíritu humano?
Ame la sabiduría de Philip, la decisión de Aliena, la bondad de Tom, la fuerza de voluntad de Ellen y las pasiones de Jack.

Lo bueno: Mas de 1400 páginas damas y caballeros, casi 40 años de historia transcurren en el libro y sobretodo quería, no, necesitaba continuar leyendo y así saber que iba a suceder.

Lo malo: solo un par de cosas no me gustaron tanto, ARQUITECTURA, cuanta arquitectura hay en este libro, había momentos en que quería decirle a Tom, hombre amo tu pasión pero ¡te podrías callar!



Y aunque los personajes femeninos que hay son, como dije, geniales, me parecieron escasos, vamos Follet que la edad media sea machista no significa que había menos mujeres.

En fin, no le tengan miedo al grosor de este libro, como lo tuve yo por bastante tiempo antes de comenzarlo, denle una oportunidad a los Pilares de la tierra, les aseguro que se encontraran con una historia impresionante de la humanidad y sus proyectos colosales.

P.D. Tambien pueden ver mi reseña de n  Un mundo sin finn aquí

Read this 1987 beloved beast by Ken Follett if you:

- Light up at books described as tomes, sagas, or epics. This is a long-ass story! The audiobook is 41 hours. FORTY ONE HOURS!!!

- Have an interest in 12th century architecture. But I mean really, who doesn’t?

- Want a reminder of what true villains look like. There are some super-evil mustache-twirling baddies here, like grade-a a-holes.

- Do anything Ms. Winfrey tells you to do. Shout out to Oprah’s Book Club 2007, y’all!

Don’t read it if you:

- Try to avoid reading about women being ravaged, both with their consent and without. Seriously, just way too many gang rape scenes here. We get it dude, dial it back a notch okay?

- Are triggered by animal cruelty. Hmm, let’s see, there’s a horse that gets its head whacked off with an axe, an extended scene about the stoning of a cat, and a dogs vs. bear fight for entertainment. And that’s just for starters.

- Don’t have the time to then go on and read two more long-ass sequels plus a long-ass prequel. Given all the raping and animal killing in this one I probably won’t move on to the next book, but Follett’s storytelling is so compelling I can certainly understand why millions of readers have.

Blog: https://www.confettibookshelf.com/

2, 73 steluțe.

Constructori de catedrale, cavaleri, cerșetori, tîlhari, sex neîngrădit, pelerinaje în Europa, la Compostela, la Saint-Denis, război, dueluri, trădări, personaje cu suflete noroioase, posedate de diavol: cam așa aș rezuma, prin cîteva „cuvinte-cheie”, Stâlpii pământului...

Ken Follett a mutat cîteva personaje din secolul XX în secolul al XII-lea și le-a pus pe toate să vorbească aceeași limbă: engleza. E simplu, dar greșit. Pe la 1130, nobilii (elita, adică) se înțelegeau în normandă, un dialect francez (langue d'oïl), iar poporul de rînd vorbea așa-zisa old english. Sigur, mulți erau deja bilingvi. Dar acastă realitate nu transpare cîtuși de puțin din romanul lui Follett. Indivizii nu au nici o problemă de înțelegere, pricep instantaneu tot ce rostesc ceilalți.

Nu e suficient să menționezi naufragiul Corabiei albe, the White ship (în care a pierit William Adelin, urmașul regelui Henric I), moartea la 1 decembrie 1135 a numitului rege și perioada de „anarhie” care a urmat (lupta dintre adepții reginei Maud / Mathilda și adepții regelui Stephen) pentru a avea un roman cu adevărat istoric. E necesară o acuratețe pe care prozatorul britanic nu o respectă. Voi aminti un singur amănunt. Lordul William Hamleigh, un smintit și un sangvinar, aflat în catedrala Kingsbridge (vechea catedrală, nu cea nouă, proiectată și construită de Jack), privește cu jind spre Aliena (femeia care l-a respins ca soț) și observă răpit „coama ei din păr negru, cîrlionțat”. În Evul Mediu, nici o femeie nu ieșea din casă cu părul descoperit, purta o glugă sau un acoperămînt, o bonetă. Faptul e cu atît mai puțin probabil cu cît Aliena se afla într-o biserică.

Infinit mai multă atenție la amănunte găsim, de pildă, în Ivanhoe, romanul lui Walter Scott, a cărui acțiune se petrece cu 50 de ani mai tîrziu. Să acceptăm că toate astea sînt „licențe poetice” și că pe autor l-a interesat în primul rînd acțiunea. Și, har Domnului, acțiune găsim din belșug, chiar mai multă decît era nevoie. Violuri, sex sălbatic în pădure (și în timpul iernii), intrigi, conspirații, iubiri neîmpărtășite, brutalitate, trădări, sfîrtecări nemiloase, intestine revărsate pe podea etc.

Din păcate, pe Ken Follett credibilitatea acțiunilor nu-l prea interesează. Și nici psihologia personajelor. E după Crăciun. Agnes, soția lui Tom Constructorul, tocmai a murit la naștere, a născut un băiat. Bărbatul ei a săpat o groapă cu „o lopată de lemn uzată” (în pămîntul înghețat), a pus-o în mormînt. Bănuim că are sufletul distrus, inima zdrobită și că nu mai gîndește limpede, dar oboseala și emoțiile îl răpun. Ațipește. Exact în acest moment, o pădureancă, îmbrăcată doar într-o pelerină, îl supune unui viol sistematic. Tom Constructorul gîndește că e vorba de un înger (depravat) și, cum îngerii nu pot fi refuzați, „cedează”. Pădureanca nu poartă nimic pe dedesubt, își ridică pur și simplu pelerina, încît Tom îi poate pipăi „sînii moi și dornici cu sfîrcurile deja întărite”. Firește, puterea de combustie a lui Ellen, mama lui Jack, înfrînge frigul iernii și durerea lui Tom.

Indivizii din Stîlpii pămîntului sînt fie excesiv de buni (ca abatele Philip din Gwynedd, de exemplu, care e și excesiv de naiv), fie excesiv de răi (precum William Hamleigh sau diabolicul Waleran Bigod). Într-un cuvînt, nici un personaj nu e normal.

Dar cei care doresc acțiune trepidantă, răsturnări de situație și pedepsirea exemplară a celor răi nu se vor împiedica de aceste nevinovate observații...

I DID IT
I FINISHED

“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.

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.

**************

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.