|
 The Pillars of the Earth :: 0451207149
Description
| Product Description |
|
Ken Follett had long been a staple of the bestseller lists for his novels of intrigue and espionage. Then came The Pillars of the Earth, a grand novel of epic storytelling that readers and critics quickly hailed as his crowning achievement. Now, The Pillars of the Earth is available for the first time to a new audience of readers, in this attractive new trade paperback edition.
In 12th-century England, the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral signals the dawn of a new age. This majestic creation will bond clergy and kings, knights and peasants together in a story of toil, faith, ambition and rivalry. A sweeping tale of the turbulent middle ages, The Pillars of the Earth is a masterpiece from one of the world's most popular authors.
"A novel of majesty and power...Will hold you, fascinate you, surround you." --Chicago Sun-Times
"A towering tale...There's murder, arson, treachery, torture, love, and lust...A good time can be had by all." --New York Daily News
"Touches all human emotions...truly a novel to get lost in." --CosmopolitanEditorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
Reviews
Customer feedback
|
|
Voting |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Author: Guest
I haven't read all of Follet's works, so I guess I can't decidedly say this is his best, but it's by far the best I've read. Before getting into The Pillars ..., my general opinion of Follet is as follows:
I've read 6 of Follet's novels, and I've enjoyed all but one (Paper Money). However, this is the only one I'd award a 5 star rating (the others, aside from the previous exception, would probably all get a solid 4 stars). In general, Follet's novels are a highly reliable form of entertainment - they're great when all I want is a bit of light, entertaining reading (like if I have a long flight ahead of me). They're generally very fast paced and suspenseful with very good character development. In general, I wouldn't consider Follet's writing itself to be great (that's not to say his writing is poor, it just doesn't qualify as great literature or anything), but he is a very good storyteller, though he does use a somewhat formulaic approach.
The Pillars of The Earth goes beyond Follet's typical work in that it's not only very entertaining, it's a great book as well. It's long (>1,000 pages) and covers a long period of time - multiple generations for some of the families in the novel. It takes place in the Middle Ages and follows the exploits of multiple protagonists. The Pillars has two standout strengths - 1) excellent character development, and 2) a story that very successfully ties multiple plotlines together into one over-arching story. These two characteristics are hallmarks in all the Follet novels I've read, but they're best executed in The Pillars of the Earth. Despite it's length, The Pillars is a reasonably easy read. It's reasonably fast paced and full of action and suspense, in fact it's quite a page turner.
So does The Pillars transend the "good, entertaining light reading but not much else" category in which I'd place the rest of Follet's work? Well, sort of, but not quite. It still lacks the quality of writing or unique style I'd like to see in order to consider it good literature. But I think given the memorable characters and excellent plotline, I would call it a great story, and undoubtedly worth the read.
If you're at all a fan of Ken Follet and haven't already read The Pillars of the Earth, I'd definately recommend it - like I said it's by far his best work. If you haven't been exposed to Follet, I'd still recommend The Pillars of the Earth, but would understand if you wanted to first try his writing with something a bit shorter (in which case I'd recommend Eye of the Needle or The Key to Rebecca, both of which were very solid and use Follet's familiar storytelling style/formula in a very different setting, WWII).
|
Author: Guest
I finally got around to reading this book after a friend recommended it several years ago, and I wish I'd taken it up sooner!
This is the colossal story of how the fictitious, 12th-century Kingsbridge Cathedral in England was dreamed of, designed, built, rebuilt and finally achieved its ultimate glory. The entire cast of characters, down to the very mundane aspects of their lives, is painted realistically and in great detail. I really appreciated that the author poured his heart and soul into telling the entire story, despite it resulting in a quite lengthy and intimidating book. I reveled in the amount of detail offered -- it only served to fascinate me further about this time period. The only thing that could have improved the story is if Kingsbridge Cathedral had been real.
|
Author: Guest
This book has been on my reading list for years by strong recommendation, and I just finished it. I was at the train station reading this when somebody told me it was his favorite book of all time, and how he shared it with his family. He wasn't the first person to tell me this was the greatest book he'd ever read. I was late for work 2 days in a row because I missed my bus stops and couldn't get my head out of it.
This is a gripping adventure, filled with believable characters that make you feel like you're with them. Each character has their own strength and weakness. This book does have very revolting moments, and very beautiful moments. DISCLAIMER: this book has very crude scenes, which are very detailed, but sadly seem only a little more gruesome than the news because the cruel acts are seen through the eyes of the victims and their perpetrators instead of camera/microphone-wielding maggots.
Ken Follett has created something beautiful, the cathedral built in this story represents the beauty of this story. I look forward to the sequel coming out in October.
|
Author: Guest
I really liked the book, I read it in one go, over a day and the night (then again, I tend to do that with books :-) ).
The only (and that major) flaw I can find, is that while the setting is historical, and the events and technology is definitely 12th century, the psychology and behaviour of characters is distinctly modern.
Throughout reading the book I constantly had a feeling that I read about 20th century protagonists magically transported into 12th century England.
I don't mean the "sex and violence" that others complain about. Contrast that to e.g. Mika Waltari - his books also contain serious violence, and some very graphic sex, but the *mindset* of the characters is contemporary, believable.
Lovers of historical novels, and especially diggers into European history will understand what I mean :-).
Still, 4 and not less stars, because the book, as such, is quite good, and the story gripping.
|
Author: Guest
The story is gripping, alright... if you're a man in heat. Every major character ends up either being raped, murdered or has major moral flaws. If it was a movie, it would easily have an R rating.
My first impression of the literature by the way of creative language and sentence structure is that it's not impressive. Of course, with an editor, the grammar is right, but the analogies are weak, and the literary skills of the author are average at best.
I kept trying to finish it, but (spoiler warning!!!) after about the half-way mark - after the pillaging of the town just outside the cathedral that was being built, and the death of the main character up to that point, I just couldn't bring myself to read the rest. I figured that I paid for the stupid thing, I should get its worth, but after a weekend's reflection, I've decided to put this one on the bottom of the pile.
|
Send to Friend
Send to friend
|
|
