Ken Follett nunca desilude ;)
Adorei!

This was the first book I ever read by this author, and I ended up enjoying it. It was surprising to hear about white people being held as slaves (or practically slaves) in a time where it was usually the black person in that situation, so I found this book to be rather educational. I certainly am glad I wasn't a coal-miner back then, these white 'slaves' were really not much better off (and sometimes worse-off) than the blacks because they had to work in caves all day and deal with black lung and all that other stuff that comes from mining without proper safety equipment.

This coal stuff happens in Scotland, but a good part of the story also happens in America (hence the title of this book) with several good main characters and a convincing story.

4,5 sterren- Nederlandse hardcover

I think it has been so long sine I read "Pillars of the Earth" and loved that with the naïveté of an 11 year old that I expected so much more from this book. What started out as a promising enough story turned into a disaster filled with the most stupid and annoying characters ever. Honestly, the only person in this story who had half a brain cell had to be Mack. The other half a brain cell went to the dogs. I was promised a feisty, social-norms-be-damned heroine and got an air-head who ended up following those damn societal norms every time her life could have been saved by going against them. But then, I suppose if that had been the case, Follett could not have continued his mind-numbingly plodding story, full of every expected twist and turn and recycled plot. Blah blah blah. All of it carried out in painful, passive voice prose. Who the hell was the editor? WAS there an editor?

Such great potential, could have been so much more with some more brain cells in there. And excuse me, but you give us that prologue and then no epilogue to tie the story to it? So wrong.  I was thinking towards the end it would have been a fabulous twist if Lizzie had been caught by Jay, forced back to the estate and give birth so Jay could inherit, but have that child actually be Mack's. The foundation of a new empire (after Lizzie finally gets rid of Jay when he dies of syphilis from banging all the slaves), raising up at Lizzie's hand (okay, so she would have to get a brain, but she was starting to show signs of some nerve synapses firing when she thought she could run the plantation), and all honoring her true love and real founding father Mack (whose body she would have insisted they bring home and she buried secretly in her garden with his sack of treasures...) That would have been a stock ending I could have enjoyed.

The anticlimactic note things actually end on have me itching to hire monkeys to write what could clearly be a better book. And to steer clear of Follet in the future, as he apparently has a reputation based on pillars of clay....

Recomendo este livro a quem gosta de romance histórico e de Ken Follett. A genialidade deste escritor está bem patente neste livro em cada página lida.
Nos finais do século XVIII, na Escócia, existia um forma peculiar de escravidão, os proprietários das minas de carvão eram também “donos” dos trabalhadores e suas famílias.
As crianças assim que nasciam estavam condenadas a trabalhar durante 21 anos e um dia para recuperar a liberdade.
Mack McAsh vai lutar contra este poder instituído pagando caro por esta ousadia.

Ken Follett has created another great book, filled with strong characters and an engaging plot. We travel to Scotland and learn how cruel the coal workers and their families were treated. Follett introduces his strong, independent characters, especially the main female! Freedom is briefly attained in London, England. An ocean crossing on the Rosebud brings the characters to Virginia. The search for freedom is the main theme.

"I'll go anywhere that's not Scotland - anywhere a man can be free......to be your own man, and nobody's slave."

4 stars for this page turner.

Non leggevo un romanzo così bello da un sacco di tempo, o forse non l’ho mai letto prima.
Un libro completo e avvincente, romantico e storico.
Poi, impossibile non innamorarsi di Mack ahahah.
È il primo di Follett che leggo e di sicuro non finirà qui.

When I want to read a well-researched historical novel, author Ken Follett never disappoints. This riveting tale follows Scottish coal miner Mack and high-born Lizzie as they negotiate very different but intersecting lives in mid-18th century Scotland and England and follows them to new lives in the Virginia colony. There is hope and despair, love and cruelty as these two question their purpose in life and whether they should pursue the love that brings them together to live their lives on the frontier.

Come sempre Follett mi affascina con un mix di avventura, storia e amore. Un romanzo ambientato alla fine del settecento tra Scozia, Inghilterra e Virginia; epoca che segnerà grandi cambiamenti politici e sociali. Rilevanti le tematiche trattate in questo libro: i diritti dei lavoratori, la schiavitù, la pena di morte, la deportazione. Con una scrittura semplice e molto descrittiva si riesce ad entrare dentro la storia e a lottare insieme ai protagonisti per superare i diversi ostacoli e per trovare alla fine.... un luogo chiamato libertà. Unico neo il finale, mi è sembrato scontato e un po’ sbrigativo.

I think the phrase is "gratuitious sex"... The topic of freedom doesn't need it.

O carte extrem de draguta ,mi-a placut mult ,merita mai mult de 4 stele dar totusi nu a stralucit pentru ai da 5...prima mea carte citita de Follett si ma declar indragostita de scriitura lui..personajele foarte frumos creionate doar ca parca personajele negative le voiam mai rele ,chiar daca faceau lucruri rele parca nu mi au transmis rautatea lor...in schimb povestea superba ,extrem de vie ..este la un moment dat in carte o perioada care se petrece in mina ..pur si simplu am devorat partea aceea ,parca simteam ca eram acolo ,cu personajele...si in finalul micii mele recenzii urmeaza un spoiler despre finalul cartii asa ca cine nu vrea sa stie ce se intampla in final sa nu mai citeasca)))).....voiam finalul altfel...este happy end si sincer nu ma asteptam ...in final toate treburile s-au aranjat asa ca inchidem coperta cartii fericiti ca totul s-a terminat cu bine...nimic dramatic...voiam putin dramatism pentru a simti mai bine perioada aceea grea a anilor 1800 ...deci o carte frumoasa care merita citita !

Genial. Me ha gustado mucho la historia. Bien contada y te atrapa enseguida.