The Pillars of the Earth
by Ken Follett

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Book Summary Information

• ISBN13: 9780451166890
• Condition: New
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Book Reviews of The Pillars of the Earth

Book Review: The next best thing to being there!
Summary: 4 Stars

In the opening scene, there is to be a public hanging. Describing the boys waiting for the big event, the author says they "despised everything their elders valued. They scorned beauty and mocked goodness. They would hoot with laughter at the sight of a cripple, and if they saw a wounded animal they would stone it to death. They boasted of injuries and wore their scars with pride, and they reserved their special admiration for mutilation: a boy with a finger missing could be their king. They loved violence; they would run miles to see bloodshed; and they never missed a hanging."

This scene illustrates the fact that civilized behavior is by no means inborn among humans and must be painstakingly taught to each individual. It is also a fortaste of some of the adult behavior we'll encounter during the course of the story. The message seems to be that civil society is a thin veneer over our brutish natures and we're never too far removed from it.

We later join the family of a builder (Tom) in 1135 as they wander in search of work. A primary theme throughout the book is the process of building cathedrals, by far the greatest architectural accomplishments of the age. We are offered lots of detail as to the techniques used to build such monuments. We meet some very good characters, such as Philip the monk (a main character) and Meg of Winchester (a bit player who is kind to Aliena at a difficult time), some very nasty ones such as William Hamleigh, son of an earl, and Waleran Bigod, a corrupt church official and finally some mostly good (if not always perfectly noble) ones like Tom, Jack, Ellen, Aliena and Richard.

Tom's son Alfred has the potential to go either way, but he has chosen badly. As he is dying after being stabbed by her brother Richard while trying to rape her, Aliena reflects "he had never been compassionate himself, nor forgiving, nor generous. He had nursed his resentments and hatreds all his life, and had taken his pleasure from acts of malice and revenge. Your life COULD have been different, she thought. You could have been kind to your sister, and forgiven your stepbrother [Jack] for being cleverer than you. You could have married for love instead of for revenge. You could have been loyal to Prior Philip. You could have been happy."

Aliena's father (and her son Tommy) are described as "having a very strong will and a somewhat inflexible sense of right and wrong." Jack (and his daughter Sally) had "easygoing natures and contempt for man-made rules." The latter were likely to sympathize with underdogs while the former to pronounce judgement on them.

A touching story is when Remigius, the corrupt and power-hungry monk is brought low by his disloyalty to Prior Philip. When the good Prior finds him rooting around in a garbage dump for food, he offers Remigius to come back as an ordinary monk, confessing
his sins and spending the rest of his days in prayer and preparing to meet God. He is shocked that Philip would have such goodness, but after thinking it through, he accepts and later testifies to past wrongs in court, helping Philip's cause. He has been broken, but finds redemption.

William and Waleran are bad from the beginning. We are happy when William finally receives his due toward the end for his part in the murder of Thomas Beckett. Waleran is a curious character, since he sincerely believes in God and in the rightness of his own cruel actions in God's eyes. His mistake is in justifying the means by the ends. He is brought low toward the end, living out his last days as an ordinary, humble monk.

Toward the end we intersect the life of the real-life character Archbishop Thomas Beckett, who is martyred in his own cathedral by over-ambitious associates of King Henry. The parting thought is how events have secured limits on the power of kings, in no small part due to the influence of the church (despite its corruption). The implication is that God uses (past, present and future) his very imperfect church and people within it to bring about His good plans for the world.

A persistent theme of the book is that situations that appear totally bleak can turn out OK. Not always, but sometimes. This is true for Philip as well as Tom, Jack and Aliena. In a number of cases, events surrounding Prior Philip appear so bad that the cause of God and the church appears to be lost. Evil, violence and brutality appear to have won the day and we are sorry for it. But out of the blue comes some event or twist that rescues the situation, or at least some good result of the bad event. This rings true to life and also illustrates God's ongoing providential guidance of His creation, His church and also of the individual lives of those He loves.

One lasting impression of the book is how far we've progressed since these days of starvation, poverty and human degradation of every type. Although human nature still tends toward error and evil, we have managed through our Christian-inspired institutions of limited government and balance of powers to keep that nature at bay in a more effective manner than was employed during the 12th century. Still, its unfair to characterize them as the "dark ages," since the groundwork for later freedoms was clearly being laid in those days, as the end of the book makes clear.

Summary of The Pillars of the Earth

Historical Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical
• Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Suspense