The Pillars of the Earth (Deluxe Edition) (Oprah's Book Club)
by Ken Follett
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ken FollettEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11-14
ISBN: 0451225244
Number of pages: 973
Publisher: NAL Trade
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780451225245
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Pillars of the Earth (Deluxe Edition) (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Anachronisms, inaccurate depiction of culture and society, cardboard characters, illogical motivations, and no soul
Summary: 1 Stars
I've slogged through the first 582 pages of this monstrosity, and I'm yelling "uncle". I have lots of specific complaints and I'll list but a few, but the thing I find most off-putting is that Ken Follett has no respect or understanding of the people he writes about.
Amongst my questions/complaints:
Although this story is centered in a monastery and church officials are critical characters, there is not one spiritual person in the entire tale. Prior Philip was saved by a monk, raised in a monastery, acted out until around age 13 and then suddenly settled down and grew up to doggedly obey the outward observances of religion and the simple precepts of Christianity, and all without the tiniest bit of spirituality. Did he have an epiphany? If so, Follett doesn't explain or give any motive. In essence, the man was nothing more than a good 12th Century CEO.
Tom, supposedly a gentle man who loved his children, buried his wife, and without agony, left his newborn child to die on the grave. He shortly meets up with a woman he does not know and has hot sex. And, ladies, get this: the woman takes one look at this man who's filthy and starving and has two kids and declares she's been waiting for someone big and gentle all her life and jumps his bones. Righto, Follett! I'm a believer.
Ellen (the woman who jump's Tom's bones) begins the story as a sort of fey "witch" and turns into a 1960's feminist who is so charming, she urinates on a book to express outrage. The book begins with the execution of her lover; she curses his murderers and escapes to the forest and lives in a cave. She has a very decent life living on apples (!!!??) and game and raising her son (whom she birthed all by herself, Miss Scarlett!). Right. If poaching in the King's Forest were so very easy, why wasn't she joined by other poor folk? And during a time when even kings were illiterate, she reads and teaches her son to read. With what? And in what language? (And that's another thing. Why do the nobles in this story speak English instead of Norman French?)
And so Ellen and her son just join Tom and his kids to walk the roads of England in the middle of winter, looking for work (even though Follett later tells us that you can't lay stone in the winter or the mortar won't set properly). So why doesn't she take Tom and the starving kids back to the cave until spring so they too can enjoy the bounty of the King's Forest?
And Ellen's son, Jack, should have been an interesting character, but I came to the conclusion he was an idiot savant. Follett tells us this guy is a mathematical genius, a sculptor (and he learns a LOT faster than Michelangelo, folks), an inventor and curious about everything. Yet Jack spent his first 10 years in a forest, living close to nature, which includes animals, and he doesn't know about a female needing a male to produce offspring? Oh, yes, this genius also sees no difference between The Legend of Roland and the story of Jesus. That's a bit like seeing no difference between Beowulf and Plato. So how does all that communing with nature affect Ellen and Jack? One usually expects someone who is not a modern scientist to arrive at some sort of mythical connection to the natural rhythms of nature and the circle of life. Well, not in Follett's mythical Medieval Britain, because Jack and Ellen are cynical atheists. Right.
Finally, about Aliena and her brother and her father. They are perfect idiots, the whole lot of them and which century and what country were they transported from? The father, who was so stiff necked about his word, he joins a plot against the king, but so affectionate of his daughter that he allows her to withdraw from a marriage contract? That, dear Ken F, would have been sufficient reason for an attack from the jilted grooms family. No need to bring the king into it.
And what's with a girl, a boy and a steward just hanging out in the deserted castle after the defeat? Even if Aliena had the brains of a pissant, surely the steward knew they were living like sitting ducks. And where was Aliena's waiting women? Who cooked for them? Who dressed her? Why didn't she seek her father's allies or know about the dangers of rapine? And what happened to everyone? And why was an Earl's son being taught by his sister? He should have had tutors and begun training as a page. Hamleigh didn't leave any staff at the castle they just won? Who buried the bodies? The whole thing was stupid, stupid, stupid.
Follett was waaaaay out of his depth on this one. I suspect if he'd ever read Seton or Dunnett or even Peter Elliott, he would have understood.
My favorite line in this one? When Prior Philip's brother came to visit, he exclaims, "This place was a dump..." (and I expected him to next rave about the 50" flat screen TV.)
If you have the time to read a thousand pages and an urge to take a trip to Medieval England, try Anya Seton's "Katherine". Fully satisfying with years of research and a good lesson in how an author can give you the flavor of the language and what actually drove the people's beliefs and lives.
Summary of The Pillars of the Earth (Deluxe Edition) (Oprah's Book Club)
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The spellbinding epic set in twelfth-century England, The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of the lives entwined in the building of the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known?and a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state, and brother against brother.Historical Books
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