Customer Reviews

The Pillars of the Earth

5 star:		(1,270)
4 star:		(240)
3 star:		(132)
2 star:		(84)
1 star:		(168)

 

 

I've never been a fan of Follett, and picked this book up with some misgivings - anyone these days can try to do an "historical" novel with some quick sex, some fake archaic new-speak, and a TV-movie-miniseries concept of history. While there are some minor flaws in this book, its sweep, characterization, tensions, and love of its subject are simply riveting. I could not put the darned thing down and have lost sleep for a week compulsively page-turning. Follett, unbelievably, seems to have made little splash with this book when it first came out - more shame to the critics who missed a "Gone With the Wind" from a conventional thriller author.

His primary strength in the book is his magnificent characters. By the end, Prior Phillip, Aliena, Jack, Richard, "Witch" Ellen, William of Hamleigh, Waleran Bigod, and a host of supporting characters are as real as people you know. Their strengths and weaknesses feel as sound as earth. I've just reached the part where the Cathedral is finished, and its magnificent image, built in love, hardship, and devotion, colors the whole book like light through stained glass. And I suspect the ending will be as immensely "right" as the entire rest of the book in its proportion in spinning out complicated human lives and emotions.

Follett manages to write of an age of religious devotion without tumbling into the two pits - making fun of medieval Christian faith, or uncritically adopting it. An IMMENSELY satisfying read.

I could quibble with what I feel is some gratuitous sex, some slightly contrived plot twists, but that's like complaining about some flotsam in the river as you're going over Niagara.

DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK if you love wonderful story-spinning and history.

Well done, Mr. Follett!

I actually listened to this book on tape, while my wife read the paperback. Both of us loved it. I not only recommend the book, but also urge people to rent the Book on Tape version, narrated by David Case, whose acting and narrative talents shine through, bringing the various characters to life. (But still purchase the book from Amazon!) I came to Pillars of the Earth after spending about two solid years reading, in my spare time, nothing but medieval histories, with a focus on fourteenth century England and the Plantagenet kings. I had never before read a book by Follett, who I had assumed mass-produced pulp spy fiction. I only chose the book because of of my interest in medieval history. To my delight and surprise, I discovered the book to be a true work of literature, which might well still be read in 100 years. I found myself amazed by Follett's ability to create an extremely complex and compelling plot, with compelling characters, against a backdrop that seemed true to the histories I had been reading. The early twelfth century is a period neglected by us moderns; but it's one that's inherently interesting. Who, today, has even heard of King Stephen (who preceded the famous Henry II, immortalized twice by Peter O'Toole in the 1960s movies Beckett and Lion in Winter)? Because, in England at least, Stephen's reign was a time of virtual anarchy, Follett was able to use the period to create characters who demonstrate the brutal lengths to which people can go when unconstrained by law and an effective legal order. At the same time, though, he has created religious and other well-meaning characters who, if alien to us because of their belief in Hell and a God intervening almost minute-by-minute in human afairs, display courage and the best of intentions in the harsh face of barbarism. This juxtaposition of the brutal and the well-meaning makes for an interesting meditation on human nature and on the hope for the gradual further civilization of our species. His ultimate message is encouraging, though he certainly doesn't shrink from depicting the nastiness of which humans are capable. In short, the book is a marvelous piece of fiction, in which Follet has done an excellent job capturing the feeling of a distant and neglected period of history.

Personally, I don't place a lot of stock in Oprah's book club lottery. The instant stardom that placement on this reading list bestows authors isn't always, in my opinion, justified. That being said, this is a wonderful book.

Pillars is complex, moving and informative. The research was excellent, the characters are engaging and the story moves at a surprisingly quick pace for a novel of this length. The descriptions of the scenes, the completeness of the political interplay and the twists of the plot make this one of my favorite books of all time. Normally, I have little patience for historical fiction unless it brings something new or truly engaging to the table. Pillars certainly does that and more.

In other words, while there is no such thing as the perfect book, this one comes very close. My advice is simple...READ THIS BOOK -- YOU'LL LOVE IT!

But do yourself a small favor, go to the used bookstore or the library, this is not a new release and you can enjoy Follett's favorite work for a fraction of the cost. A quick search of Amazon shows dozens of options that don't have the Oprah name or any other bells and whistles that I'm sure are unneeded to enjoy this spectacular piece of fiction

This book was highly recommended by the owner of the bookstore I frequent. Another customer noticed I was holding it in my hand indecisively and declared it was the best book she'd ever read. On the strength of these recommendations, I bought it for my vacation reading. It was a good read, but I had higher expectations of it than it delivered. I must disagree with those who have reviewed this book and called it "an epic". It's not an epic--it's just a long book. It has more similarities to a t.v. mini-series than to the epic tradition. I will forgive any number of transgressions in your average 300-page murder mystery, but given that "Pillars" is 983 pages long,I expected "more bang for my book", to pervert the idiom. I wanted to learn things that I didn't know before.

The first few hundred pages are quite well written. Follett's writing flags toward the middle (but by then, I was two days into the book, and it was raining at the cottage, so I continued reading). The problem, I think, is that we are to believe that this is a mostly historically accurate portrayal of daily life in the Middle Ages. Follett even thanks several people at the end of the book for assisting him with their "encyclopedic knowledge of the Middle Ages". In my opinion, if an author is going to go to that much effort for historical accuracy, he can't marry it up with sentences such as: "They looked fascinated: they had probably never seen a woman done by two men at the same time". There are parts of the book where the reader is brought up short by Follett's lapse into lurid prose and it is all of a sudden unclear whether one is reading a historical novel or a Harlequin romance. And that makes us suspicious of the historical aspect of the novel and ruins the suspension of disbelief.

Follett's writing style is uneven--he devotes an inordinate number of paragraphs to a description of a bear-baiting contest at a fair, yet resolves the dispute between the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury in only a few pages. There are too many disembowelments and heaving bosoms used to--pardon me--"flesh out" the middle of the book. All in all, a decent vacation read, but not the best book I've ever read

I borrowed this book from my voice teacher after she recommended it to me, and soon after I did so everybody at my high school was talking about this book: my Shakespeare teacher, my friends in madrigals, my fellow English students . . . somehow everyone had come upon this book at once and I had to know what the big deal was.

_The Pillars of the Earth_ opens with a prologue that vaguely introduces future characters and a mystery that will gradually tie the numerous characters together. It is exciting and bizarre and sets the expectations high. It is apparent by this prologue alone that Ken Follett has done his research in terms of twelfth-century culture, a theme that is consistent throughout the novel.

After this, the book was disappointing at first. It was hard to get into, with the story following Tom Builder and his family in his struggle to find work in order to survive. At this point the writing seems pedantic - it is too simple, sometimes as if Follett is speaking to a child. It reflects the education level of the characters in focus, which is an interesting narrative tool but grew quite tiresome. The first part of the book took me three months to read because of this. However, I either got used to it or it lessened as the book went on - something that was most fortuitous.

Once the narration leaves Tom Builder, Follett begins to bring us into the major part of the story involving Brother Philip of St.-John-In-The-Forest. Philip is an incredibly engaging character, whose strong Christian conviction is honest without being preachy or comedic. This young, nobly ambitious monk is only one of the fine characters that make this novel worthwhile. Also of special note are Jack Jackson, the sharply intelligent and rebellious bastard son of a witch; Archdeacon Waleran Bigod, the self-serving and double-dealing priest who is just too slick for words; and Aliena, the beautiful daughter of a fallen earl who, though at great risk for becoming a dull and vapid Mary Sue, remains a fascinatingly admirable and sometimes unsympathetic character. None of the heroes are perfect - all of the protagonists have their flaws that make them undeniably human, something that most novelists don't do with their characters because it risks the character's likeability.

The story is long. It has to be - it's about the building of a Gothic cathedral, which takes twenty, thirty years to build .. and so the story spans some thirty years. Everything that could go wrong does go wrong, as is to be expected with a project of such expanse. At times it can be tedious but those points are rare. When the plot is not racing along to the point where one can't help thinking "Good Lord, what _else_ could happen?", one is learning about the culture of the twelfth century, which never reads like a textbook and always adds color and context to the story.

The unexpected thing about _The Pillars of the Earth_ is its political intrigue. It is not generally thought that such games of power would have to be played for the building of a cathedral, but this book proves it wrong. Such maneuverings are seen through the eyes of naive Philip, who must learn to move in this world if he wishes to see his cathedral built. We learn along with him what people must do for the king and just how far some are willing to go.

All in all, it is an incredible story. However, there is some gratuitous sexuality and violence that is not necessary for the plot. It seemed that all love was based around physical attraction and lust, even the most innocent of loves (never mind the constant rape scenes involving Lord William Hamleigh). This is, perhaps, to show a marked contrast between 'normal people' and the celibate monks, and also because the twelfth-century English culture did not blush at sexuality. Only a few scenes of Lord William's sexual abuse are integral to the plot; the rest are to enhance one's hatred of him and understanding of his mind. Don't read this, certainly, if you are squeamish - everything is put into its most vulgar terms (making it a historically accurate narration, and I was most impressed with that fact) and the violence is not flowery and romantic.

My other complaint was some words were used that were definitely not in the twelfth century, having been invented by either Shakespeare (such as "puke" and "weird") or someone long after his time. This will not stick out to most readers and ought not to affect the enjoyment of the novel unless one is a history buff or lover of word-lore - it might jar that sort of reader for a moment before one can move on. There are not enough instances of this for it to be distracting, and although the novel feels contemporary and the characters seem modern, it all fits ideally into the time period it was set in, making it a historical novel that is accessible to contemporary readers. Brilliant.

My recommendation? READ THIS BOOK. It is something that will stay with you for a very long time. The characters are bound to follow you at school, at work, anywhere you're not supposed to be reading. You will probably be disappointed when it finally ends. For me, it was a struggle to get through the beginning but once Philip was introduced it was quite a ride. Loved it. Read it. :)

****SPOILER ALERT*** (Tiny little spoiler of something that happens early in the book but you never know what people will get miffed about.)

In 1989 I bought this book because I had read other Follett books and loved them so was excited by a new one. It turned out to be a radical departure from any of his previous books but, oh, what wonderful one. I read the book, all 1,000 pages of it, in a matter of days and was utterly mesmerized by every page. I passed the book on to my Dad who read it in less time than I did and he passed it on to my brother Jack who could not put it down. For a long time after we had all finished it we talked about it. What must it have been like to have lived in those terrible, wonderful times? What must it have been like to build a cathedral?

Some years later when the audio book became available I borrowed it from the library and listened to it again. It was read by one of my favorite actors, Richard E. Grant, who did and amazing job and, as I sat knitting and listening to the story, I lived the whole thing again. It amazes me that even now, 2 decades beyond the time I read it and at least one since I listened to it, I can still remember sections of it with perfect clarity. I can't imagine what could make any writer happier than knowing his story is remembered in such brilliant detail!

Of course to me the story was all about Tom Builder, the carpenter whose dream was to build a cathedral. I was completely in love with Tom and I still recall how bad I felt for him when his wife died --- and how furious I was with him when he boinked the first available woman! But he was a man of consuming passions and I guess they are like that.

Of course there are other memorable characters like the Lady Aliena who starts a business buying and selling wool (I dreamed of living then and doing that) and Tom's amazing step-son Jack who loves her.

The greatest character in the story is, of course, the Cathedral. In writing the book Follett did endless research on cathedral building and it comes alive so fully it is like a living entity. This is a beautifully crafted, historically rich book.

My parents recommended this book years ago. But after reading the jacket, I really had no interest in it. I took it home with me with an empty promise of reading it when I had time. It sat there for years, unread, until late one night when I couldn't sleep and was desperate for something to read, I picked it up with no small amount of reservation.

I re-read the jacket and realized that it was the same Ken Follet that wrote "Key to Rebecca" and a couple of other novels I'd enjoyed. I thought I'd give it a chance, and man was I in for a treat. It was one of those "great reads" that I'll always remember. Not quite up there with the first read of "The Lord of the Rings", but close.

The scope of the book is immense. It covers a wide geographical area and spans 50 years during a tumultuous time in England's history. You will learn to love (or hate) the memorable characters, and you will find yourself thinking about the book long after you've finished it.

I strongly disagree with the reviewers who say the character development is terrible. For example, some reviewers have said the women are too much of a one dimensional "damsel in distress", while others have said they were too 20th century. Some have said that the characters are to neatly cast into either good or evil, but I don't buy that either. Philip struggles with pride, Tom pursues his dream at the cost of his wife, and he basically kills his newborn son at the start of the book - only luck keeps his son alive. I could go on, but my point is that many of the one star reviews are just not accurate. Someone just didn't like the book and came here to throw a tantrum and impress us all with their insight. When one negative reviewer gives exactly the opposite critique of the next, I know the author was right on the mark.

Others drop names of "real" classic authors like Dickens, etc. while crying "THIS IS NOT AN EPIC" as loud as they can. It's almost as if calling this book an "epic" might somehow tarnish the "classics". I have suffered through more than one of the "classics", and you know what? I don't want to read archaic English, horrible sentence structure, and unresolved plot lines. It's like saying you love Shakespeare above all modern fiction. I don't know about you, but I don't find myself dying to get back to reading Othello. Search for your favorite book - I guarantee that, unless it's obscure and relatively un-reviewed, you'll find a small vocal group of people who hate it.

Follet imbibes the characters with very plausible attitudes and feelings for the time, keeping them progressive enough for me to relate to. And then he weaves it all together within a historical context that is both interesting and exciting.

Don't let this one sit on the shelf. I finally talked my wife into reading it - it took years - and it's now one of her all time favorites as well.

This masterful saga of life in twelfth century England is epic storytelling at its best. The author weaves a rich and colorful tapestry of people, places, and events surrounding the building of a magnificent cathedral in the medieval town of Kingsbridge.

Early twelfth century England was a country in a state of flux. King Henry I had died without a male heir. His daughter Maude was to be queen. The English barons, for the most part, however, refused to swear fealty to her. Maude's first cousin, Stephen of Blois, then usurped her rights and proclaimed himself king. This was to plunge England into a civil war that was to last for many, many years, turning England into a virtually lawless and tumultuous land, until Maude's son became King Henry II of England.

For most people, however, life would go on with every day concerns being paramount. The book tells the story of a number of these lives. One story is that of Tom, a master builder, whose life long dream was to build a cathedral. The lives of Tom and his family would intersect that of a humble and intelligent monk named Phillip who would become the prior at Kingsbridge Priory. The fates would intervene and provide Tom with an opportunity to pursue his dream.

Their lives would intersect with a number of other individuals, some good, some evil, who would have a great impact on their lives and their goals. Tom would lose his first wife, Agnes, by whom he already had two children, brutish Alfred and sweet Martha, due to complications sustained during the birth of another son. This son was to provide a connection between Tom and Phillip of which Phillip would long be unaware.

Tom would ultimately marry Ellen, a strong willed independent woman of the forest, perceived by many to be a witch. Her son Jack, a sensitive, highly intelligent lad, whose father was deceased, would grow to manhood. His dream would begin where Tom's had left off. In Jack's background, however, was a mystery surrounding his deceased father, a French jongleur. That mystery in some way involved Sir Percy Hamleigh, Waleran Bigod, and Prior James, the old prior of Kingsbridge before Phillip.

When Earl Bartholomew of Shiring makes the treasonous mistake of siding with Maude in the conflict with Stephen, he ends up on the losing side. Sir Percy Hamleigh and his son William, siding with Stephen, attack the Earl's castle, and take Earl Bartholomew captive. Imprisoned for treason, he loses his earldom to the Hamleighs. His young son and heir, Richard, and his daughter, the beautiful Lady Aliena, are left to fend for themselves, but not until William Hamleigh has slaked his thirst for revenge upon them. You see, William had been engaged at one time to marry the Lady Aliena, only to be spurned by her to his vast public humiliation. This was the moment for which he had been waiting. Aliena and Richard would ultimately migrate to Kingsbridge to begin a new life.

Meanwhile, the church itself was having its own political intrigues. Phillip was tricked by Waleran Bigod, an ambitious arch-deacon, into supporting him for the post of bishop. Phillip would later best Waleran and incur his enmity for a lifetime. Remigius, a spy for Waleran Bigod, was a monk at Kingsbridge Priory who saw his dream of becoming prior at Kingsbridge dissipate with the advent of Phillip. He would spend a lifetime undermining Phillip and plotting against him. Moreover, the fate of Kingsbridge and the building of its cathedral would always seem to hinge upon the political vagaries of the time. Its fortunes would ebb and flow with the political winds.

Ever present throughout the destinies of all these characters is the age old battle between good and evil. Complicating it further were those who sought to do good but did evil, believing that the end justified the means. Spanning over fifty turbulent years, this is a spellbinding story of love, hate, faith, betrayal, revenge, and triumph. Against a backdrop of civil war, the sharply drawn characters grasp the imagination of the reader. Twelfth century England is laid out in painstaking detail, providing an unforgettable backdrop for the lives lived within the pages of this memorable work of historical fiction.

I loved this book so much that, having read it a number of years ago, I decided that it would be worth listening to an unabridged audio book version. Well, this book was made to be read aloud. The narrator, George Ralph, does a masterful job reading this spellbinding story. For thirty hours of pure listening pleasure, he holds the listener totally in his thrall, bringing to life all within its pages. This book is simply riveting. Bravo!

This book, which is obviously highly recommended, begins auspiciously enough. The opening scene paints a picture of the medieval ages and employs sophisticated syntax and turns of phrase which are sadly not repeated in the latter two thirds of the book. The conflicts faced by the main characters, though they devolve into archetypal good vs. evil battles later, are interesting enough for the first three or four hundred pages.

The thing is that by the time you have read that far, you are compelled to finish the book. At least I was. Yes, there was the anachronistic diction, the predictable see-saw as the good and evil characters won and lost again the upper hand, the endless recaps of what had already happened, and the embarrassingly descriptive and enthusiastic sex scenes. But what was most irritating, at least to me, was the dialogue engaged in by the characters as they attempted to outdo their nemeses once and for all, time and time again. The way they would use group-think to come up with yet another plan to deflect yet another attack, and the way a character (who was supposed to be cunning and intelligent, as the characterization repeated every few chapters would reiterate) would be "shocked" by such a "cunning" suggestion was almost too much to bear. And then somebody else would always be "outraged," and then later "impressed." And then the plan would work, but the villains would regroup and try to thwart them again! But wait, there would be more sex, more drama, more sallies to deflect, more rapes to deplore, and more opportunities to gloat that the good guys had gotten the bad guys' goats just when all seemed lost! So shocking, outrageous, and impressive!

I gave this book two stars rather than one because I appreciated that this was a work of love, and had I not been forced to skim the lengthy descriptions of exactly how the cathedral was built because I was just trying to finish the darn thing, I think I would have been "shocked" and "impressed" at how "cunning" Follett's working of his knowledge of cathedral building was. But instead I found myself saying, OK, we're burning down a church now, when will this end, skip, skip, skip, begin reading again. Instances where I said, OK, we're breaching the wall, we're defending the wall, we're executing the bad guy, etc. etc. etc., skip, skip, skip became more and more common as the book wore on.

As I said, the book had a promising start. It seems as though Follett reverted to his old mindless-fodder-for-the-masses techniques after the novelty of writing a different type of novel wore off. He admits in the introduction that he didn't know how the novel would end originally, and this is another flaw. There is no reason to follow the characters for a lifetime without something to reveal about the fate of humanity or the nature of humans, and while I'm sure Follett would argue that his lengthy, pedantic insights into economics, politics, and the need for walls and laws address these concerns, the reality is that the platitudes expressed by the "good" characters are rather elementary and laughable.

I wish Follett had not bitten off more than he could chew because I read the first bit of the book thinking I had found a great novel to read during a week at the beach. Once I finished the novel, I was embarrassed that I had said as much to people before I got to the middle and the end.

If you're interested in a novel that traces the ups and downs of more than one generation of folk in the middle ages, I recommend Jane Smiley's The Greenlanders.

If you're interested in a novel that combines insights into human nature with mysticism and the middle ages, I'd recommend T. H. White's The Once and Future King.

If Follett had just stuck with what he had going on in the first few hundred pages, this could have been worthy of the accolades heaped upon it.

I looked for this book on the recommendation of a friend, and on the strength of the glowing reviews, bought it. I read it on a ten-day vacation in Florida. Based on Follett's extensive credits for those who helped him with research, I assume that the history is at least sort of close, and for that reason I'm glad I read it. But the plot itself and the character development are quite disappointing. My guess is that if this were Follett's first work, he'd have trouble selling a second.

You can read a detailed summary of the main plot points elswhere, but really here's the really quick version:

An aspiring master stone mason, who's a really, really good guy, wants to build a cathedral very badly. He leads his family around the countryside, looking for work and almost starves everyone to death. On the way he runs into a really, really bad guy, who ends up haunting him and his family for the rest of his life. Finally he finds some token work at a wannabe cathedral run by another really, really good guy, the prior, who has his own arch enemy, another really, really bad guy who happens to be his boss. Through a bunch of contrived events the mason ends up rebuilding the wannabe cathedral and turning it into an almost-top-notch cathedral. His son and step-son end up finishing it off. His son is an almost really, really bad guy and pretty much screws it up when he takes over from his father, but the step son (another really, really good guy) finishes it off in grand form, and even makes some Amazing Leaps Of Logic, advancing the technology (was that a word back then? Follett thinks so) of stone masonry by Leaps And Bounds (!)

Other reviewers of this book praise Follett for the complex characterizations. Look folks, I don't want to insult anyone, but for complex characterizations of realistic characters you're going to have to go somewhere else. The main characters here are as two-dimensional (make that one-dimensional) and as cardboard as they come. They are either really good people, or really bad people. There are some attempts and giving the good guys some faults and the bad guys some virtues, but they come off as contrived, and not even that well written. In very good novels, you see the plot not as something contrived by a writer, but as something that naturally grows out of the aspirations and desires of the characters interacting with each other. You perceive real people living out their lives and doing real things for real reasons. In this story I got the distinct impression that if Follett decided something good should happen, miraculously the bad guys couldn't stop it; then when he wanted something bad to happen the bad guys did something outrageous that the good guys couldn't stop. And back and forth, and back and forth.

As well, everyone seemed to have some amazingly twentieth century ideas about the role of women in the world. Even the bad guys, when they treated women poorly, came off more as modern day bikers having their way with some hapless victim than people rooted in the "truth" (as they would have thought about it at the time) that God made women subservient to men.

All-in-all, I thought the plot and characterizations were more like something aimed at junior-high readers.

Having said all that, I still found the history interesting. There is one section where the master builder has to draw some plans for the new cathedral, and as a professional draftsman myself, I was quite interested in the manner he made his "drawing paper", and in some of the geometric relationships on which he based the cathedral.

In summary: An interesting read on the beach on vacation, but don't imagine you will be getting a really great work of art.