Show full review. I did not hate this book hate would be too strong a word, and I can't hate it because I applaud the fact that Ken Follett attempted to write an epic novel.
But I did not like it. I didn't like it from the start; his writing style hit me like a brick, but Jim thoroughly enjoyed the book that I kept trying to convince myself that I ought to give it a chance, hoping it would get better.
When I was about pages in, he saw how miserable I was and asked why I didn't just stop reading it, but at that point, I was invested in it; I had spent all that time getting that far, that I needed to finish it, and I couldn't wait to come to the end. I kept counting down: "Only pages left; only to go; last pages By the time I was at the end, I thought it was a wasted effort - both on his part and mine.
It's so much easier to explicate on what I did not like because there were so many things: - I loathed the writing style he vacillated between pages and pages of highly complex architectural discourses to third-grade level simple sentences grouped into short paragraphs.
Sometimes it was bearable. Other times, I wanted to pull my hair out. There were times when I felt the only time he came alive as an author was when he was discussing architecture, but these parts were so didactic in nature that it couldn't hold my interest for long periods of time.
He had to tie everything together causality was so prevalent throughout the text that I wondered how he didn't work in how the killing of a fly affected events 60 years later. Every single storyline was wrapped up - too neatly for my liking, in some cases. Everyone was tied to someone else it was like playing Six Degrees ; every single character had to have a denouement; every little plot twist had to be explained; closure had to be achieved, no matter how preposterous the circumstances, over time and space.
In fact, it was appalling how two-dimensional these characters were. Good people were good. Bad people were loathsome. As time went on, the good were always suffering one thing or another; they were put upon; they were harrassed; they were constantly challenged and put to the test like Job something Follett actually used as a sermon!
The badfolk became more oppressive over time; they were not only detestable, but they had absolutely no redeeming qualities. And to go with a typical medieval stereotype, the good were always excessively beautiful, honorable, intelligent geniuses or savants, even! Nevertheless, the bad became uglier, became more despotic, scheming throughout life to get the better of their enemies the goodfolk.
But in the end, good always triumphed over evil; those who could, repented and were forgiven. Those who couldn't, were killed off somehow, because apparently, death is the only way an evil person gets his or her dues. And then everyone had a happy ending. I hate happy endings when they're so obviously contrived. And this work was so elaborately, exhaustively, thoroughly contrived. Maybe it's not too late for me to change my mind and say I hated it.
Granted, this novel was written two decades ago, and there have been new discoveries about the medieval period since Follett started his research. But he got it all wrong anyhow. His idea of medieval life was so I could go on and on, but I won't. And the historical part of the novel I just found lacking. There are enough histories and chronicles, contemporaneously written, of the time, that he did not have to deviate much from history.
There is so much written about the period between the death of Henry I through the civil wars between the Empress Matilda and King Stephen, to the time that Henry II ascended the throne including the martyrdom of Thomas a Beckett , that I don't quite understand how he couldn't have mined the chronicles for better material.
I understand that this is why it's called historical fiction , and that there will always be some element of fiction interspersed with historical fact. But the fictional aspects usually have to do with surrounding characters and situations that bolster the history. The fiction is not necessarily to the history itself.
Many times, when writing historical fiction, the author has to beware the pitfalls of creating a revisionist retelling, interspersing his or her own ideals or beliefs of what should have been to what was. If this novel had been marketed as a revisionary narrative, it would have been okay.
But it wasn't. I'm just glad that the historical aspect of the novel just served as the background and not the real story. Because then, I probably would've stopped reading.
The premise was a good one and held a lot of promise. It could've been a great historical epic had it been handled by a more assured writer. By someone who was more of a visionary, someone who had the patience to do exhaustive research or who knew how to craft richly developed characters.
It needed an author who understood the epic genre, who knew how to mold the epic, who knew how to keep the narrative going, seemlessly binding time with narration and the human condition, without resorting to stereotypes and grating drama. And most importantly, it needed someone who understood when the story had been told; that while there will always be other stories to tell, that each book has its own natural end, and that these stories may not belong in this book.
Ken Follett may be a bestselling author of suspense novels and even historical fiction such as Pillars of the Earth and World without End , but he is no writer of epics. Did I just read one of the most amazing books I have ever read? Yes, yes I did! I cannot say enough about this book, the story, the writing, the characters, etc. Everything is perfect! But, do not judge a book by its description — it is a page book about the building of a cathedral, but Follett does an amazing job of crafting a historical fiction story around it that will keep you engaged from page one until the very end.
With pages, there has to be filler, right? There is not! Every sentence, every word — all of it adds to the story. And, events on page 25 may have ramifications on the events of page How the author kept the storyline together, intertwined, and fully applicable throughout is amazing. I picture him referencing a very complicated flowchart covering his entire wall while writing this book. Sounds confusing — it is not!
Despite the intricacies, it was very easy to follow. Do you love to hate evil characters and feel passionate emotions for the ones you love? Then, I found myself audibly cheering and groaning as the relationships of my favorite characters developed, succeeded, and sometimes failed. I was emotionally spent loving and hating these characters — and it might be the most I have ever been emotionally invested in characters in a long time if ever.
I cannot say that this book will be for everyone, but it is worth giving it a try. If that is a problem for you, either go into this story being aware that you will be uncomfortable, or steer away from it completely.
This is seriously one of the worst books I've ever read. The only reason I finished the book is because I cannot put a book down once I start. The writing is terrible. The plotting may be dramatic, but I had almost zero interest in any of the characters; they seem to exist merely for events to happen to them, like actors in a disaster movie. Beyond that there seemed to be three characters in the book: Bad guy, good guy, and good victimized-yet-able-to -overcome girl.
There were other oft repeated throughout the novel as well. This seemed like an attempt to fool the audience into thinking they're immersed in the middle ages, when the rest of the book could have taken place anywhere in time.
One fact does not a novel make unless it's a really clever fact. The bad characters keeping the amazing building from completion felt like a fountainhead rip-off, but that might just be me. On the positive? Violent sex too if that sort of thing titillates you.
Thank you "Wait Wait" for warning me of Oprah's evil plan, if I can save one person from reading this book my work will done. Jeffrey Keeten. Author 2 books k followers. 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. 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. Tom can build anything, but his dream, his most fervent desire, is to build a cathedral. 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. Customer reviews. Overall Reviews:. Review Type. All 4, Positive 4, Negative All 4, Steam Purchasers 3, Other 1, All Languages 4, Your Languages 1, Customize. Date Range. To view reviews within a date range, please click and drag a selection on a graph above or click on a specific bar. Show graph. Brought to you by Steam Labs. Filter reviews by the user's playtime when the review was written:.
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It recreates, quite vividly, the entire life of the village and the people who live there. You feel you know the place and the people as intimately as if you yourself were living there in the middle ages. A highly enjoyable tale. See for yourself. This is truly a novel to get lost in. A historical saga of such breadth and density.
Follett succeeds brilliantly in combining hugeness and detail to create a novel imbued with the rawness, violence and blind faith of the era. About Books Adaptations Events Contact. The Pillars of the Earth.
A Mason with a Dream. With his family on the verge of starvation, mason Tom Builder dreams of the day that he can use his talents to create and build a cathedral like no other. A Monk with a Burning Mission.
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