[.ca] Pillars Of The Earth Abridged Compact Discs (ISBN 0143142380)

This was just tragic:
A friend recommended this, and then an aunt did, so I picked it up. What a mistake! I wanted to like this based on the great reviews from people I know, but this book just couldn't live up to it. Many of the points that drove me crazy have been mentioned, but I'll sum it up again. -ALL of the characters are completely one-dimensional. The "good" ones are completely virtuous, and are always at the mercy of the "bad" ones. The "bad" characters are completely chiched- horrible in every facet of their being and their physical appearance is supposed to mirror that (Waleran is skinny and "spidery" like a Disney villain.) -There is completely unnecessary detail about mundane events that do not advance the plot or give you any insight into anyones motivations. There is a scene that is about 3 pages long solely about a fight between a bear and some greyhounds that I ended up skipping. And the "detail" about cathedral building is tiresome and insanely boring. -Every chapter the "suspense" builds by either the "good" or the "bad" guys being in charge. But by the next chapter, someone else will be ahead and the chapter after that the other side will have won. -And I GET IT: Aliena has a mass of unruly dark curls. This book, for all of it's magnificent reviews, is such a disappointment. The writing is really shallow and the characters never get to be anything but superficially good or evil. I really couldn't recommend that anyone read this unless you want to waste your time.

Excellent characters!:
I've found some of Ken Follet's WW II novels a bit formulaic, but always a great suspense read. So when I saw this on sale at the bookstore, I picked it up - and am certainly glad I did! The one thing that Pillars of the Earth has in common with other Follet novels I've read is the richness of his characters. Just when a character seems like a great guy, his flaws pop up to frustrate the plot. Similarly, characters who enjoy inflicting pain suddenly reveal some redeemable quality - a tenderness, say, for another character. While all the main characters fall far enough towards the extremes of the good/evil spectrum that one is frustrated by their failures or successes (without being caricatures), many characters fall squarely in the middle, leaving judgment to the reader. And all are well-developed. While the exhaustive details about architecture and the mathematics thereof sometimes got a bit boring, I found the historical details exciting and delicious. And on the subject of detail, one other thing I love about Ken Follet's writing is that he describes heroines in sexy, tantalizing detail, making them sound like sex goddesses and supermodels while still giving them realistic physical traits.

A highly readable and engrossing novel:
When a novel is as thick as "Pillars of the Earth", I am usually skeptical whether it will keep me interested throughout. And, the start was slow, but only for a couple of pages. And then, it really started. I had a tough time putting the book down before I reached the ending. The depiction of medieval times was so vivid that I could picture the villages, the buildings and the people quite clearly in my mind, almost as if I were watching a movie instead of reading a novel. The storyline is very good and kept me on my toes as if the book were a modern day suspense thriller. If you want to spend a couple of days reading a good novel, you cannot go wrong with this one.

A MUST READ!!!:
I LOVED this book!! It actually took me awhile to get into it (about pg 138) but I don't know why...I mean there were exciting events and suspense and I was very into it during those parts but then it was like he lost me until the next suspenseful part. I think it might be because he goes into such lengthy explanations but in the end I was grateful for them. Sometimes I think he did go a bit too far into explaining how EXACTLY every little detail was done in building the cathedral but the Characters totally make up for it. Like I said I LOVED this book and it is one of the top books on my must read list.

A Great Read:
I liked this novel, and I can see why it has lasted on the best seller list for close to 20 years now. For those not in the know, the book is about the building of a cathedral and the trials and tribulations that confront the abbot prior as he goes about his decision to have the cathedral built. Like any 1,000 page novel there are plots and sub-plots, all of which Follett manages to bring to a nice conclusion at the end. If you are in to historical fiction and like stories where the background of the characters is flushed out in vivid colour, then this book should definitely be on your summer reading list.