The Pillars of the Earth ⭑⭑⭑⭑
Genre: Historical Fiction
US Publication: 1989
Print: 976 pages
Audio: 40 hours 56 minutes
Confetti Rating: 4 stars
REVIEW:
Read this 1987 beloved beast by Ken Follett if you:
Light up at books described as tomes, sagas, or epics. This is a long-ass story! The audiobook is 41 hours. FORTY ONE HOURS!!!
Have an interest in 12th century architecture. But I mean really, who doesn’t?
Want a reminder of what true villains look like. There are some super-evil mustache-twirling baddies here, like grade-a a-holes.
Do anything Ms. Winfrey tells you to do. Shout out to Oprah’s Book Club 2007, y’all!
Don’t read it if you:
Try to avoid reading about women being ravaged, both with their consent and without. Seriously, just way too many gang rape scenes here. We get it dude, dial it back a notch okay?
Are triggered by animal cruelty. Hmm, let’s see, there’s a horse that gets its head whacked off with an axe, an extended scene about the stoning of a cat, and a bear vs. dogs fight for entertainment. And that’s just for starters.
Don’t have the time to then go on and read two more long-ass sequels plus a long-ass prequel. Given all the raping and animal killing in this one I probably won’t move on to the next book, but Follett’s storytelling is so compelling I can certainly understand why millions of readers have.
PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:
Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense, but his most beloved and bestselling book tells the magnificent tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known.
Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time the twelfth century; the place feudal England; and the subject the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape.
Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life.
The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.