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The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)

Ken Follett

Discussion: . Week 1: More Than 500 Pages

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. Week 1: More Than 500 Pages

* Week 1: Introduction
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* Week 1: Progress Post
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Jul 15, 2016 Heather Godwin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-book-riot-challenge, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This whole story could be summed up as one woman's refusal of a man who's obsessively in love/desire/creepy fascination of her leads to a lot of bad stuff happening to a few bystanders.

But seriously, this was incredible historical fiction.
I love the detail into the lives of the priory and the science in the building of the cathedral.

We have curses from a medieval times witch:
I curse you with sickness and sorrow, with hunger and pain; your house shall be consumed by fire, and your children sha This whole story could be summed up as one woman's refusal of a man who's obsessively in love/desire/creepy fascination of her leads to a lot of bad stuff happening to a few bystanders.

But seriously, this was incredible historical fiction.
I love the detail into the lives of the priory and the science in the building of the cathedral.

We have curses from a medieval times witch:
I curse you with sickness and sorrow, with hunger and pain; your house shall be consumed by fire, and your children shall die on the gallows; your enemies shall prosper, and you shall grow old in sadness and regret, and die in foulness and agony...

Radical innovations:
Tom had only ever seen one house with a chimney, but it had struck him as such a good idea that he was determined to copy it.

All about Cathedrals:
...the walls of a cathedral had to be not just good, but perfect. This was because the cathedral was for God, and also because the building was so big that the slightest lean in the walls, the merest variation from the absolutely true and level, could weaken the structure fatally.
A cathedral was a church like any other, in principle: it was simply the church where the bishop had his throne. But in practice cathedral churches were the biggest, richest, grandest and most elaborate.
And when things are simple, fewer mistakes are made. The most expensive part of a building is the mistakes.

How to mess up your life:
Perhaps it was irresponsible, Tom thought, to turn down that dull job in Exeter and go looking for a cathedral to build; but I’ve always been able to feed them all, despite my recklessness.

How to stop getting pregnant in your 30s:
But how would she make certain that she would not conceive again? He wondered. Then he realized how, and a cloud shadowed his sunny mood.

Profanity in 1130s:
She knew that all men who were not part of her father’s band were called cocksuckers and all women who would not go with them were called pigfuckers.

Socialism:
..careful to store enough apples and nuts and salted or smoked venison for the winter months. Ellen often thought that if there were no kings and lords and bishops and sheriffs, then everyone could live like this and be perfectly happy.

Angels & their bodies:
Then she opened her cloak. Underneath is she was naked. She had the body of an earthly woman in her middle twenties, with pale skin and pink nipples. Tom had always assumed angels’ bodies to be immaculately hairless, but this one was not.

The Crown & Church:
The Church had to crown kings but until now it had not had the right to lay down conditions. The time might come when no king could come to power without first striking a deal with the Church.

The death of Thomas had shown that, in a conflict between the Church and the Crown, the monarch could always prevail by the use of brute force. But the cult of Saint Thomas proved that such a victory would always be a hollow one. The power of a king was not absolute, after all: it could be restrained by the will of the people.

Monks Vs Priests:
Chasity had always been an essential part of the monastic way of life, but it had never been enforced for priests. If God could not forgive lascivious priests, there would be very few clergy in heaven.

Money in the 1130s:
“Well, how to people get money?” Richard said. The question had obviously never occurred to him before. Aliena said: “The king gets money from taxes. Lords have rents. Priests have tithes. Shopkeepers have something to sell. Craftsmen get wages. Peasants don’t need money because they have fields. “Apprentices get wages.” “So do laborers. We could work.” Richard still hesitated. “I can’t work like a common man,” he said. “I’m the son of an earl.”

Highborns:
“Oh, I know you’re willing. But all your life others have served you, and even now you feel in your heart of hearts that things should be arranged to please you. High-born people make poor servants. They are disobedient, resentful, thoughtless, touchy, and they think they’re working hard even though they do less then everyone else.”

Faith:
Having faith in God did not mean sitting back and doing nothing. It meant believing that you would find success if you did your best honestly and energetically.

Salvation:
Waleran seemed to think he was entitled to use people any way he chose in the service of God. Philip believed that caring for people was the service of God. That was what salvation was about.

Woman & books:
A woman? Reading a book? In the open air? The only people who read books were monks, and not many of them read anything except the services. It was an unusual book, too - much smaller than the tomes in the priory library, as if it had been made specially for a woman, or for someone who wanted to carry it around.

Love:
Aliena loves me! She had stroked his back and put her tongue into his mouth and pressed her breasts against him.

18-year-old-view of marriage:
“I don’t care. I don’t want your vows. I just want us to be together all the time and make love whenever we feel like it.” It was an eighteen-year-old view of marriage, she thought, but she did not say so.

Fortification:
“I suppose Kingsbridge will now be a fortified town forevermore.”
“Not forever, but certainly until Jesus comes again.”

Christmas food:
The special Christmas food was mostly sweet: gingerbread dolls; frumenty, made with wheat and eggs and honey; perry, the sweet pear wine…

Laws:
“There’s a difference between God’s laws and men’s law, But we must live by them both.”

Life long Vendettas:
The sight of her brewed hatred like bile in William's belly. He had ruined her father, raped her, taken her castle, burned her wool and exiled her brother, but every time he thought he had crushed her she came back again, rising from defeat to new heights or power and wealth. Now William was aging and gouty and fat and he realized that he had spent his life in the power of terrible enchantment.

In a war that had raged over three decades, Waleran had done everything he could to destroy Philip, but int he end Philip had triumphed. They were a bit like William and Aliena. In both cases, weakness and scruples had defeated strength and ruthlessness. William felt he would never understand it.

Christianity:
Archdeaon Peter’s face was like stone. He was the worst kind of Christian, Philip realized: he embraced all of the negatives, enforced every proscription, insisted on all forms of denial, and demanded strict punishment for every offense; yet he ignored all the compassion of Christianity, denied its mercy, flagrantly disobeyed its ethic love, and openly flouted the gentle laws of Jesus. That’s what the Pharisees were like, Philip thought; no wonder the Lord preferred to eat the publicans and sinners.

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Jan 11, 2014 Antonio rated it it was amazing

Really an amazing story! I've always read on the internet that The Pillars of Earth was a incredible book, but I never imagined that was that big!.. When I bought it immediately that I'll couldn't finish it, but trust me, I devoured the book, it was a amazing journey and a sentimental journey. ...more

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