Goodreads | The Pillars of the Earth (Deluxe Edition)

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Possible dry spell?	20	22 hours, 29 min ago
There's going to be a sequel!	13	03/29/2008 02:05PM

Troy rated it:

(review of isbn 0451207149)

05/10/08

Read in March, 2008

Ahem.
"Pillars of the Earth" is a very long book. It's got a lot of soap-opera-like twists and turns - no amnesia, but just about everything else, including mistaken identities, illicit marriages, illicit lack of marriage, illegitimate children, questionable parentage, love triangles, revenge, greed, power, a few murders, rape, witches, politics, knights, swords and horsies. OK, that last bit is not so soap-opera-like. There's also lots and lots of architecture. And it's a very lo...more Ahem.
"Pillars of the Earth" is a very long book. It's got a lot of soap-opera-like twists and turns - no amnesia, but just about everything else, including mistaken identities, illicit marriages, illicit lack of marriage, illegitimate children, questionable parentage, love triangles, revenge, greed, power, a few murders, rape, witches, politics, knights, swords and horsies. OK, that last bit is not so soap-opera-like. There's also lots and lots of architecture. And it's a very long book.

Main story follows a single family of stone masons for (roughly) three generations, and the extended families associated with re-marrying, etc. Around this family revolves an aspiring monk/prior, a powerful but morally questionable bishop, a ruthless Earl (title, not name), and several kings. The thing is, even with all the re-marrying and such, there are so many evolving inter-relationships between these main characters as the struggle for political power unfolds, and of course everybody grows up, has children, etc - that EVERYTHING seems to happen to this small group of people. And just when you think things have settled down for a while, something else happens, or attempts to happen. And these things keep happening for approximately 980 pages.

Along the way, you learn a lot about medieval culture - particularly the role of religion, the political power of a monestary, priory, or diocese - how life is funded, and just how much it sucks to be a serf. There's also quite a bit of focus on the reason for, and the means to, building cathedrals - Follett muses in his Foreward that one of the things he never could understand is why people in such destitute times would have put so much energy into buildings of such scale, and this book addresses that. You also learn a lot about architecture and the evolution of cathedral-building. I can also now tell you the difference between a nave, chancel, transept, cloister, and clerestory. Oh, and probably 7 different words for "horse".

Really though, I very much enjoyed it, despite its very lengthy nature. Very full of words. Long. Not a day went by I didn't read at least 50 pages (note - at that rate, it will still take about 3 weeks to finish).
The building is a constant, its a reason to keep the central family of masons from wandering off and having more illicit marriages, and its a reason for the ongoing political power struggles. It's essential, but it's not distracting, and the cathedral is not the focus. The people are. They're engaging, you feel for them, you assign labels (good, evil) you change labels several times (he's pretty self-serving and conniving for a "good" guy), and you constantly wonder just what more can possibly happen to these people. There's also an underlying mystery that keeps you wondering... right up until 100 pages too soon.

My only complaint is this - the big climax occurs, the mystery is revealed, it all comes together - and there are still 100 pages to go. The last part of the wrap-up, the rise and fall, takes a while, has an interesting but probably unnecessary historically accurate reference to English church vs. king to give the whole novel an air of "this could have really happened in some obscure English medieval village somewhere, I wonder which cathedral this is supposed to be? Can I go see the real thing?" But it loses momentum right at the very end. Loose ends nicely tied up, but it wasn't the gripping page turner it had been in the first 900 pages. By that time, though, you've got so few pages in your right hand you just keep going because the end is in sight.
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Xysea rated it:

(review of isbn 0451166892)

01/09/08

bookshelves: book-on-home-shelf

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: people who like epic novels

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This one started out with an interesting hook. The prologue was promising, and necessary to the plot.

However, it took a long time to get it to reconcile with his plot and I grew restless waiting for that to happen. Eventually, enough action started to happen and the lulls disappeared. It flowed pretty smoothly after that, and I'm glad I stuck it out.

It's a huge book, around 1000 pages. Wow. I haven't read a book this long in a while. So, it was good that it engaged me, right up un...more This one started out with an interesting hook. The prologue was promising, and necessary to the plot.

However, it took a long time to get it to reconcile with his plot and I grew restless waiting for that to happen. Eventually, enough action started to happen and the lulls disappeared. It flowed pretty smoothly after that, and I'm glad I stuck it out.

It's a huge book, around 1000 pages. Wow. I haven't read a book this long in a while. So, it was good that it engaged me, right up until the end.

A couple of commments: The bad guys seemed almost cartoonishly bad, and predictable. They rape, torture, murder - all for pleasure, even sexual arousal. It's an over-used plot device. It's supposed to make you hate the bad guy so much you want him to have a grisly demise. However, in this case, with the baddest baddy of them all, the conclusion isn't particularly gruesome or satisfying. It's rather a let-down, especially since he was built up to be so bad.

There were a lot of storylines competing for your attention: I can see how they were interwoven, but I could equally see how one or more of them removed would have made for a tighter story, an easier flowing writing style. The book was ambitious, I'll give it that, and it largely worked.

I felt it didn't do enough to inspire you as to why the cathedral was being built; too much was hung on the dreams of the men (and few women) involved in the building. However, those aspirations didn't necessary seem lofty enough, or perhaps they weren't adequately described?

The most compelling are the undercurrents that show through; the love stories, the families, the lives affected by the building of the cathedral and the town of Knightsbridge.

I thought, for the most part, that the characters were a bit better than two dimensional, and in some particular cases particularly well drawn. Ellen, in my opinion, seemed to come to life more than others. Prior Phillip, too. But many of them were rather flat and seemed to only serve to move the plot along - cardboard cut-outs could have done the same.

All in all, it was worth the read. It was quite the epic novel, and while I don't feel I learned anything particularly new, I also felt mostly entertained.

****SPOILER ALERT****

NOTE TO AUTHOR: It's likely one raid would have succeeded on the town, but I find it unfathomable that they would wait to fortify the town only under the shadow of another raid. Wouldn't they more likely have fortified the town immediately after the first raid, therefore nullifying the second? Perhaps it's a small point, but I noticed....less

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Danny rated it:

(review of isbn 0451207149)

02/24/08

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: readers of very long/unending series

(one minor spoiler ahead, reader beware...)

I started this book without too much expectation but between the introduction that the author gave to his own book and learning part way through that it had become an Oprah pick I must admit that I mentally raised the bar a bit.

Unfortunately, I found the book fell short...

I was very interested through about the first half of the book, it is clear that Follet writes thrillers in his other life and some of the initial action scenes were fairly...more (one minor spoiler ahead, reader beware...)

I started this book without too much expectation but between the introduction that the author gave to his own book and learning part way through that it had become an Oprah pick I must admit that I mentally raised the bar a bit.

Unfortunately, I found the book fell short...

I was very interested through about the first half of the book, it is clear that Follet writes thrillers in his other life and some of the initial action scenes were fairly exciting. The plot started out a tad slow, but began to build and I was hopeful of a great climax. But found myself becoming more and more sour with the book as I continued. It may be that I was just holding my breath waiting for the end of the book, but the last 100 pages of the book felt tacked on and even more forced. I did not find the book to be terribly enlightening about the period as others have, though some of the architectural information was interesting - I'll admit that I never really thought much before about what it would take to make such a huge building stay together. The characters developed up to a point, and then never really matured, remaining fairly unrealistic. Though the pure malevolent nature of a few of the “bad guys” did have me rooting for the protagonists in the beginning, the repetitive nature of the plot lines and twists eventually just became annoying and I wasn’t really attached to any character.

This book falls prey to far too many of the classic blunders of very long novels or series. I was reminded of the Clan of the Cave Bear series (which initially was quite a fun read too) in that the main characters try to be too much. For example, Jack is not only intelligent, good with stone, handsome and charming, but he is superhumanly inventive and lucky. Like Ayla (from the Clan series) he makes ludicrous mental leaps to revolutionize technology and develops overnight insight into city planning and tactical defense when it is convenient for the plot line (by the way… a city wall in a day? please… wasn’t one of the selling points of this book supposed to be its architectural realism?). On the other end of the spectrum, the antagonists are constantly attempting to one-up their last act of moral depravity and it becomes difficult to believe that anyone would really let them remain in power, regardless of their political tricks or bribes.

This would have made a great yarn if it was about half the size and toned down on the sensationalism a bit. As it is, I am really surprised at the positive outpouring for this book… Maybe I’m missing something…
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Kanawinkie rated it:

(review of isbn 0451207149)

01/10/08

Read in January, 2008

Admittedly, I haven’t read any of Follett’s other works. In fact, I can’t say I’ve heard of him as an author before this. And really, I only decided to read this book because my mum practically pushed it into my lap and said “YOU NEED TO READ THIS!”
I do love myself a good piece of historical fiction though, so really, it wasn’t very difficult to convince me to read.

Also unusual for me, I read the forward by the artist that was in the beginning of the book. Usually I’ll skip th...more Admittedly, I haven’t read any of Follett’s other works. In fact, I can’t say I’ve heard of him as an author before this. And really, I only decided to read this book because my mum practically pushed it into my lap and said “YOU NEED TO READ THIS!”
I do love myself a good piece of historical fiction though, so really, it wasn’t very difficult to convince me to read.

Also unusual for me, I read the forward by the artist that was in the beginning of the book. Usually I’ll skip things like that and go back and read it after I’m done with the book, but since I knew very little about the writer himself, I decided to read it first. I’m glad I did! The story surrounding how and why the book was written I found quite interesting; he’s known for his thriller fictions, and he just so happens to have a passion for cathedrals and wanted to write about them. For some reason this greatly increased my interest in the book. Probably from personal experience with paper writing, I know that when you’re writing about a topic that really interests you, it tends to be better.

And boy was it! Follett is a master story-teller. This is a long read and there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but Follett handles it effortlessly. They all interweave with each other nicely and their development makes for some very touching and memorable characters. I’m a sucker for strong, capable females and Ellen, for example, is just that.
I even found myself quite fond of Philip and Tom Builder, and Jack and so many of the other major characters.

Aside from the gripping storyline, Follett’s description of medieval life is rich, and he manages to touch on the lives of many different levels of society and illustrates just how much they relied and affected each other. I have no idea how much research he put into the writing of this book, so I don’t know how historically accurate it is, but boy – if life was as volatile as Follett describes, it’s a wonder any cathedrals managed to get built at all!

The whole novel flowed very smoothly, and it was a joy to read. It picked up in pace gradually as stories began to intersect with each other, and I found I had a difficult time putting the book down. In fact, the only places where he began to lose my interest were the moments when he would go off on extensive tangents describing and glorifying the cathedrals themselves. These were hardly anything I could hold him against doing since it clearly was his passion, and they were easily skipped over if I felt they began to drag on.

I’d definitely recommend this book to be read. Luckily my Dad picked up the sequel to this book as well (World Without End) so I’ve got plans to read that in the near future!...less

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Sajitha rated it:

(review of isbn 0451207149)

04/30/08

bookshelves: have-read

Read in September, 2005

The Pillars of The Earth is unlike any other book Ken Follett has written. So don’t judge it by the other books you have read. The book has more than 1000 pages (1335 to be exact) and as you start reading you shall understand why! It is an epic tale of love, hatred, friendship, passion, revenge, and human achievement.

There are wonderful characters with outstanding bravery, commitment, and passion. It makes you weep at misfortune and injustice. Sometimes you smile at the happy times and also...more The Pillars of The Earth is unlike any other book Ken Follett has written. So don’t judge it by the other books you have read. The book has more than 1000 pages (1335 to be exact) and as you start reading you shall understand why! It is an epic tale of love, hatred, friendship, passion, revenge, and human achievement.

There are wonderful characters with outstanding bravery, commitment, and passion. It makes you weep at misfortune and injustice. Sometimes you smile at the happy times and also become nervous of the villains and cheer the victories of the folks you like.

It is a story of a British family that built Cathedrals in England. The story starts with the events that create the political and personal ambitions which lead to the construction of the Cathedrals. It describes the life of Tom who is a builder and his family. As you read this book, you get to know his family and the lives of each member just as you would when you meet a new family. The story deals with all the details (practical as well as the personal), including from where the stone come from, how it is carried, what is medieval mortar etc. So you actually learn history in this story (but unknowingly). You can feel the smell of the woods and towns of olden times. You can feel their feelings, fear their dangers, and respect the heroes.

You also learn about that period of life. Ken Follett has done a lot of research for this novel. A very few authors are able to interlink historical fact in a ripping yarn, romance, mystery or a thriller without loosing the essence and the facts! The book centers on the building of a cathedral and how this mighty achievement rises out of the ambitions of men.

A Word of Caution: It contains details of violent sexual actions. But these blend well into the plot and as a reader you feel that they are integral to the plot. It brings out the brutality of relevant characters. There are a couple of references of animal cruelty which may be disturbing. But when you think of the time the book is set, the scenes described seem to be acceptable. These descriptions (if necessary) can be skimmed without affecting the storyline.

Warning: This is not a book to be picked up for light bedtime reading. You will probably be turning the pages when dawn breaks! You will feel compelled to read the next chapter and the next and the next (at least I did). Thankfully I read it during a lengthy travel (at the airport and during the flight).

According to Ken Follett, it took him three years and three months to complete this book.
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ScottK rated it:

(review of isbn 0451207149)

05/07/08

Read in May, 2008

So, I was feeling really good the other day when I finally broke down and bought this. I started reading it as soon as I got home and so far it has been really good,granted I am only just starting section 2. I am on page 308 or something like that. With over 600 pages to go until it ends I have no idea what else is going to happen to stop the freaking building of the Cathedral. I guess we shall see.........so far though I am loving it,despite it's being on the Oprah list. :)

UPDATE : ...more So, I was feeling really good the other day when I finally broke down and bought this. I started reading it as soon as I got home and so far it has been really good,granted I am only just starting section 2. I am on page 308 or something like that. With over 600 pages to go until it ends I have no idea what else is going to happen to stop the freaking building of the Cathedral. I guess we shall see.........so far though I am loving it,despite it's being on the Oprah list. :)

UPDATE : Alright I have almost made it...there is a light at the end of the tunnel,I am on page 814, only a little over 100 pages from the end. This book has taught me alot about masonry and perseverance. I mean really come on who can read 814 pages and not learn something about perseverance,or Masonry for that matter.But seriously folks ..<*** SPOILERS ***>...I mean really how many times is your cathedral going to get burned,torched smashed,wrecked and how many times are you going to let the people of your village be trampled,torched and starved, before you say enough is enough. I am truly enjoying the book though, not sure if I will read the sequel or not but this book really is a great one with epic scope. The one thing that I still have not gotten over completely is the way Tom Builder's death was handled. He got kicked in the head by a horse and that's about the extent of the coverage.Oh yea and Jack finds the body. Ellen grieves for the rest of the book, but he is hardly given story time in his death that he was when he was usefully building the whole Cathedral and all. The very least that could have been done would have been a huge funeral with alot of crying and swearing of vengence and all , but that's just me.

LAST UPDATE I am done!!!! I actually finished a few days ago but I wanted to ruminate on it a bit. I gave this book 4 stars might have been more but 4 I think is good enough, I just was not happy with the way they just brushed off Tom Builder, I mean c'mon, he was the one that started the freakin' Cathedral for goodness sake. Overall it was an awesome book, my intrest in all of the characters stayed fresh, which I can imagine it is hard, to keep someone interested in others for almost 1000 pages.I am glad that Jonathan did get to find out about his parents and knew that they did love him. Bottom Line : Glad I read it. Still not sure if I will have the fortitude to read the sequel or not but that remains to be seen....less

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Atrebs rated it:

(review of isbn 0451207149)

03/09/08

Read in January, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

**SPOILER ALERT**

My mother read this book years ago and when Oprah picked it, she was raving about it and how it was one of her favorite books ever; even endorsed it with a "favorite book" quote from my uncle. I think I went into it thus with too high an expectation.

I never could get interested in the story of Prior Phillip... I just didn't care enough about the architecture and construction/design of a great cathedral. I cared much more about the story of Tom Builder and h...more **SPOILER ALERT**

My mother read this book years ago and when Oprah picked it, she was raving about it and how it was one of her favorite books ever; even endorsed it with a "favorite book" quote from my uncle. I think I went into it thus with too high an expectation.

I never could get interested in the story of Prior Phillip... I just didn't care enough about the architecture and construction/design of a great cathedral. I cared much more about the story of Tom Builder and his family, and frankly, once Follett killed him off, I hardly cared at all. I found myself just wanting the story to be over. William Hamleigh's continual evildoing was far over the top; he should have 'gotten his' about ten chapters before he finally did. The last four chapters or so about Prior Phillip were a bore... the whole "secret that could save him" I saw coming from chapter three. At this point, I said aloud, "oh just get it over already!!".

I'm happy others have enjoyed it, but the writing was far less creative than I thought would be so. [I think, however, I may have found out why my parents often used the term "apoplectic", as I believe Follett used it twice or three times at major plot points.] His description was mediocre, and perhaps if I could actually have imagined standing inside the cathedral, I would have felt more a part of the story. And seriously, I realize the middle ages were vile, but do we have to emphasize the villagers' and enemies' crassness by use of the C word and F word so much to distinguish them from the righteous and more educated people? I don't know that the F word in its present form was in existence as such in that period anyway. I sometimes felt like this was a Harlequin romance trying to be a legitimate literary piece.

Above all, why did Oprah choose this book? Was she so shell-shocked by "Million Little Pieces" that she wanted to pick a long-time well-established author? Did she get advised to appeal to a white European-centered audience? Strange choice in my book. What do you think?

That said, I enjoyed the reading of this book and the triumph of Aliena and Jack Jackson; just wish it had ended with them....less

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Patricia rated it:

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11/16/07

bookshelves: historical-fiction

Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: no one

Hmmm... a family relation lent me this book. I was mostly interested in what kind of books my particular relation was into. I think you can learn a lot about a person by reading their favorite books. I am actually a little disturbed. Yes you may call me a prude, but there was sex in it. I know what your thinking... thats not a shocker. But its not just sex... it is violent sex. It has several graphic rape scenes. And I have to admit violence to women frightens me.
I don't need that graphic of...more

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Lauren1113 rated it:

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04/07/08

Read in April, 2008

This epic novel of building a church in twelfth century England was entertaining and exciting. It was a real page turner and I found myself looking forward to moments of quiet when I could read the book. As a work of historical fiction, much of the story was accurate - particularly the storyline related to Maude (Empress Matilda), King Stephen, King Henry II and Thomas Beckett. I found this work particularly interesting, however, because it covered various social classes and the impact of a d...more This epic novel of building a church in twelfth century England was entertaining and exciting. It was a real page turner and I found myself looking forward to moments of quiet when I could read the book. As a work of historical fiction, much of the story was accurate - particularly the storyline related to Maude (Empress Matilda), King Stephen, King Henry II and Thomas Beckett. I found this work particularly interesting, however, because it covered various social classes and the impact of a destabilizing civil war on their livelihoods. This book brings out the fragility and tenuousness of the well-being and survival of the peasant classes, their dependence on the good will of their feudal lords, the church, and mother nature. Furthermore, the novel brought out what a massive undertaking it was to build a cathedral, both in terms of marshalling resources to build it and in procuring political support.

There are several weaknesses in this novel. First, some of the language is anachronistic. For instance, no medieval person would use the word "celebrity." Furthermore, Aliena, one of the main characters is described as wearing her hair in loose curls, which is also anachronistic. While she may have worn her hair loose as a child, a medieval woman would not. While these were not major problems, it was a bit distracting at times to see these anachronisms.

Second, the character of William Hamleigh is not well developed. He is a major character in the novel and he is very flat. William reminded me of an R-rated version of Gaston in Beauty and the Beast - a cartoon villain. While I realize that the middle ages were brutal times and William's brutality would have existed at those times, his obsession with Aliena and his single-minded desire for vengeance against her lack tempering with real human characteristics. The author does try to humanize him by giving him a fear of hell, but that humanization is insufficient to create a more developed character.

Despite these weaknesses, this is a fascinating novel. I am looking forward to reading the sequel. For people who enjoyed this novel, I also recommend The Physician by Noah Gordon and Katherine by Anya Seton. Both of those novels are excellent epics of medieval England with stronger character development....less

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amelia rated it:

(review of isbn 0451207149)

11/18/07

Read in January, 2004

recommends it for: no one! apparently oprah fans

This is seriously one of the worst books I've ever read. The only reason I finished the book is because I cannot put a book down once I start.

The writing is terrible. The plotting may be dramatic, but I had almost zero interest in any of the characters; they seem to exist merely for events to happen to them, like actors in a disaster movie. Beyond that there seemed to be three characters in the book: Bad guy, good guy, and good victimized-yet-able-to -overcome girl.

What got me most was: ...more

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Kira added it (review of isbn 0451207149)

03/15/08

bookshelves: booksthatwerentgood

Read in March, 2008

i can't stress enough how not good this book was. (everett says he likes it that i pan books, so he will be pleased with this review.)

where does one start when explaining what makes a piece of shit unpleasant? is it the smell? is it the origins? is it its inherent turdness?

this book is inherently a turd.

mr follett's preface says that people have told him it is the best book they have ever read, and i have to seriously question what they're comparing it to. sweet valley high? maybe, but not...more

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Ashley rated it:

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08/05/07

bookshelves: own

Read in July, 2007

I loved this book for many reasons.

First, I loved the love stories in it. I loved Tom and Ellen's story most of all. It was sad that it happened so quickly after Agnes but it became so like as if they were meant to be together and it just so happened to fit all at the right time.

I loved Aliena's story too. I didn't like her at first cause she seemed so arrogant and all but after she and Richard lost everything, you started to get to know the real her and she was beautiful, clearly.
...more

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Susan rated it:

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02/22/08

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: anyone who loves architecture or European history

I bought this book for Per for Christmas since we've both loved other Follett books and heard this was a great one although quite a departure to his usual style. And it is on the Oprah list, but she also has said its quite a departure from the books she usually chooses...so I was intrigued!

A Medieval historical fiction set in England/Normandy. It primarily follows a stone mason who has put his life and that of his family's at risk in search of a cathedral on which to work, a monestary pr...more

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Penny rated it:

(review of isbn 0451207149)

10/20/07

Read in March, 2001

A novel set in England in the 12th century, spanning several decades while rival monarchs Stephen and Maud battle for the throne. There were things I really disliked about the book, other things I liked. To start with the negative -- I found the characters not particularly well developed (they tend to be either Good or Bad, little shading) and I just can't believe that society was quite so fluid as Follett would claim. The daughter of an Earl, even one in disrepute, is just not going to find her...more

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Kayzee rated it:

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02/03/08

I am halfway through the book and it's honestly getting tiring.. Who knew building a cathedral involved so much wheeling and dealing.. Why don't they get on with it already..
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Maybe epic novels just aren't for me but I started out intrigued and ended up annoyed. I found myself constantly skipping parts of the book just to get to the parts of the story I was interested in.

In the beginning, Ellen curses the 3 men responsible for hang...more

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Edallia rated it:

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03/05/08

Read in January, 2008

recommended to Edallia by: family

This was a pretty enjoyable book. It held my attention for the four or five days it took me to read it. Simply put, it's the story of the construction of a (fictional) cathedral in medieval England.

It's not as simple as that, really, since the story spans the forty or so years that it would require for such an undertaking. It's not a dry account of "this stone goes there," either, and I enjoyed the way Follett approached the building from the economic angle, the political angle,...more

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Caroline rated it:

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11/29/07

bookshelves: historical-fiction, read-in-2007

Read in November, 2007

This is a huge book (almost 1000 pages!) centered around the building of a cathedral in 12th century England. Luckily, it's a addictively good book, so despite the intimidating size it reads decently quickly.

The characters are really what drove this novel for me, especially Prior Philip. While some of the characters seem pretty flag and one-dimensional, namely the two major villains of the novel, most of them felt realistic and like they could have actually been real people. It's always refr...more

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Mister Jones rated it:

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03/29/08

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Mister Jones by: It was on sale and I had a gift card, so what the hell?
recommends it for: Wannabe Marathon readers

I liked it; I mean, to read a book of this many pages and still keep my interest--it must have something of value. The positives: Follet's prose is easy to read, the historical descriptions, the details about the construction of the cathedrals, and the interesting stories of the characters. The negatives: what's with the gang banging? What's with the sexual services in the cathedral? I think the sex was a little too much--hope I don't sound like a prude. This aspect didn't particularly strike m...more

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Jessica rated it:

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03/29/08

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in March, 2008

I soooooo loved this book. It didn't even feel like 900+ pages after I got into it (which was about two pages in...). So many different lives individually explored yet they were all connected in the grand scheme of the novel. Ken Follet is amazing. I was interested the entire way through. I found myself feeling for the characters when they fell in love, encountered heartache, and experienced the foul taste of injustice. I have to admit that some of the scenes described in the book I would have l...more

The Pillars of the Earth (Deluxe Edition)

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