“Pillars” is perfect for anyone!
Looking for the “perfect book” for someone that you love? Do they have a pulse? Do they like to read? Then you’re almost guaranteed that they’ll love “The Pillars of the Earth
It’s got sex, religion, politics, history, evil villains, down to earth heroes and miracles all tied up into a fantastic package. Is it always happy? No, and I applaud Ken Follet for that. Who wants to only read books where everything ends up happily ever after? Don’t get me wrong, this is no dirge. ”The Pillars of the Earth
The story is set in the dark ages in England. You’ve got two great protagonists to choose from: Tom Builder, an everyman who dreams of building a cathedral (he’s a mason by trade, devoted husband and father); and Phillip the monk, if you didn’t think a monk could be lovable and heroic, you need to read this book! Follet is a master at weaving in a various cast of characters to keep things interesting and lively.
The only criticism I can come up with (and it took me a while) is that there’s a lot of details about cathedrals. Even if you hated cathedrals, I think you could still enjoy this book, you would just be skipping over some paragraphs here and there.
One caution, this is an unusual genre for Follet. Most of his other books do NOT follow this formula. I like some of his other books, but if you’re looking for a spy novel, “Pillars” is not going to fit that bill (though there is plenty of action, betrayal and intrigue).
Posted in Historical Fiction
January 20th, 2008 at 12:26 am
I have to agree…this is a GREAT book. I just finished off the unabridged audio book (all 40 hours of it!), and really, really enjoyed it. The characters were very well-developed and the story was entertaining all the way through. You can check out my full thoughts on it here:
http://audiobooksinreview.com/reviews/the-pillars-of-the-earth/
Thanks for recommending it!
February 8th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
[...] of Thrones” will also like: any other book in the Ice and Fire series (as it’s called), “Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follet, “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova or (for a good non-fiction great [...]
May 27th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I’ll be very interested to hear what you think of World Without End when you get to it. It’s very much in the same spirit as Pillars. Even longer, too.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
[...] “Pillars of the Earth” is one of my favorite books ever! Many of Ken Follet’s other books don’t really appeal to me (I’m not a big ’spy novel’ fan). But “A Dangerous Fortune” is an exception. While banking is not an industry that holds a lot of interest for me, neither is cathedral building, so you just never know. “Fortune” is set in England in the 1890’s and about the Pilaster family of bankers. The characters range from the rich and the rich hangers-on to the poorest of poor. Follet begins with a mini-mystery at a boarding school and then fast forwards to those same boys in adulthood. [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
[...] any American man will enjoy either “Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follet (historical fiction), “Game of Thrones” by George RR Martin (fantasy) or “Fatal [...]
May 11th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
[...] or make him smile.Any father will love ”The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follet (my review). This book has something for any Dad- intrigue, politics, swordplay and sex. [...]