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The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)

Ken Follett

Start date: January 1, 2019

Finish date: March 31, 2019

Discussion: New School Classics- 1915-2005

Why we're reading this: 2019 1st Quarter Long Read
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New School Classics- 1915-2005

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What Members Thought

Jan 10, 2011 Franky rated it it was ok

Shelves: to-sell-back

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I wanted to give this novel a fair try, so I stuck it out into the end. However, in the end, I was a bit mystified and perplexed about the praise and glowing reviews this book gets. I give Follet credit for writing a lengthy book with a historical angle to it about 12th century England, but, as others who didn’t like this book have noted, I think he was not the right author for it. I can’t attest to other Follett novels, as I have not read any others, but this just felt like a generic, trashy ty I wanted to give this novel a fair try, so I stuck it out into the end. However, in the end, I was a bit mystified and perplexed about the praise and glowing reviews this book gets. I give Follet credit for writing a lengthy book with a historical angle to it about 12th century England, but, as others who didn’t like this book have noted, I think he was not the right author for it. I can’t attest to other Follett novels, as I have not read any others, but this just felt like a generic, trashy type of novel that winds up on the bestseller lists. In short, the problems overwhelmed any positives. While the plot did have some sporadic intrigue, it quickly became diminished by repetitive over-the-top violence, gratuitous and ridiculously detailed sex scenes, inanely dumbed down dialogue on par with a modern reality show, and superficial and painstaking melodrama between Jack and Aliena, which encompasses a good two hundred pages of the later part of the novel.

The novel tries to have you believe that the core of its plot centers around the building of a cathedral, but this comes across as more of a guise for “depth.” Other than Phillip, very few characters have any spiritual sense to them, or even care what the cathedral really means or symbolizes.

Characterization was one of the weakest points. Most of these characters are so dimwitted, superficial or so shallow that it’s hard to care one way or another about them, as they are driven by their own gains, egos or wants. For one, the main villain, William, is so blatantly and cartoonishly evil that he seems more caricature than character. His thirst for sadism knows no bounds, but Follett wants to drive that home to the infinite degree. Also, William cannot see a lass without going all gaga about her, and we have to read a three or four page description about what he imagines he might do with her. Can this guy be more insecure or inconsistent? He is terrified of Hell, yet his is repetitively doing mayhem (killing, raping, pillaging, etc). However, even the “good” characters are fairly artificial. We have that wonderful character Ellen, who is like a Medieval version of Hester Prynne with a dash of 60s rebellion thrown in. Part witch and part feminist, she lives in a forest, has a rendezvous with main character Tom Builder (great name, huh) and soon after Tom’s wife dies, makes a bold (and blasphemous) statement by urinating on a sacred book (to which Tom witnesses and can’t help thinking “What a woman!”…honestly!). Her atheist son, Jack, who despises the thought of being a monk and is indifferent to religion, of course takes up a cause to build a cathedral, even though he seems to be only building it because it will look neat. Richard and Aliena have this quest of fulfilling their papa’s dying wish, which is to have Richard achieve earldom. We go through pages of this quest attempting to be accomplished—epic battles, politics, difficult journeys, people dying, more politics, building falling, then being rebuilt, then falling again, then they achieve it …and then Aliena says “eh, I’ll do what I want. I’m old enough.” What? Unfortunate for the reader, we have the final parts of the novel shift to Jack and Aliena’s story and their silly and head-scratching love affair. Perhaps Jack’s motivation for life is stated best when he is speaking to his mom about his love, “I’m going to spend my life building Kingsbridge Cathedral and making babies with Aliena.” Pretty much says it all. Aliena has to be the stupidest character of them all. She takes her child in tow from city to city looking for Jack, who she decided to reject in order to marry scumbag Alfred for no other reason than to give Richard his precious earldom. Able to overcome any odds, she sees Jack magically after years of journey, and they reunite. Her motivations and logic are off the charts when it comes to dimwittedness. We are “entertained” with the spats between the quarrelling lovers as Phillip, a much more interesting and important character, seems to disappear from the plot for awhile. In all, the characters, other than Phillip or Jonathan, had little to no redeeming value to the book, and are more like pawns or pieces in a board game, really, archetypes that fit into a nice little box, and without any soul or depth.

Another issue was the hokey 20th century dialogue. In some settings or times, it might work and be a creative way to write a book. Here, it just gives a flimsy quality to the story, and lessens any “epic” feel and replaces it with “beach read” feel. Follett seems to insult his readers by dumbing-down the dialogue.

Also, the book has too many repetitive plot elements. I mean, how many times is the cathedral going to be destroyed, only to be repaired? How many times is William going to consult with Waleran about his revenge plans? How many times is William going to come in and sack the town only to have it rebuilt? How many times do we have to read a two or three page play-by-play of William torturing, raping or killing someone? How many detailed descriptions of sex, body parts, etc do we have to have? Do these really add anything? Why couldn’t the author spend as much time giving some context to the essential plot moments rather than focusing on the trivial?

Over all, Pillars might be a bestseller because the masses eat it up, but that doesn’t mean it is memorable nor worthy of a second read. The only epic feel to this novel is its length, not its content or writing style. I saw the miniseries (last year) before reading the book, and thought that the miniseries treated the subject of the story a bit more seriously, which seems to go against the common maxim “the book is better than the movie.” As far as Pillars goes, is has some moments, but wasn’t worth the time slogging though.

I say, read it, and then wash your hands of it. Literally.

...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2017 Lekeshua rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2016-tbr, historical-fiction, read-2017

What a pleasure!!!!

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 09, 2010 Barbara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

Thought long and hard whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars. I went for 4, because I wanted to know what happened till the end, but was ultimately very disappointed in the end. Ken Follett says in his preface that for a long time he was unsure how to end this book and it shows. The end with THomas Beckett feels fake and in the end it all feels rushed. My vote is to rewrite the last 100 pages of this book.
Having said that there were some villains in this book that were so evil I wanted to smack ...more

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