Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

I’ve been remiss about posting book reviews, so I’ll try to do a little catching up.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

This was one of my book club’s picks. It’s a LONG book. It looks daunting, but it is extremely well written and worth the time commitment.

The story is set in 12th century England and follows the lives of a couple of different families over a period of many years.

One of the main characters dreams of building a beautiful cathedral and spends his whole life chasing that dream. He and his children experience tragedy along the way, but somehow they manage to keep chasing the dream.

Another of the main characters is Aliena. Her dying father made her promise that she would not rest until she helped her brother become an important lord, so she spends her life bound to this promise and feeling guilt anytime something sets her brother back.

I cannot write a review of this book that will do it justice without giving away spoilers. It is action packed…every page reveals a new twist in the story. Give it a try!

4 comments:

Mo said...

I've had this book - along with his "Lie Down with Loins" & "The Hammer of Eden" - on my TBR shelf (the real, physical one!) for YEARS, and have *still* not read one book by this author!! It IS the daunting size of it, I'm sure, but everybody says the same...give it a go, and its worth the effort...maybe this year! LoL....

(Happy Reading, friend)

Mo said...

Lie down with Loins?! Um...that would be LIONS.

Mercy's Maid said...

LOL. Lie Down with Loins would be a totally different type of book, wouldn't it? :) Thanks for the laugh.

hopeinbrazil said...

I keep hearing great things about this book and hope to get my hands on it someday. =)