My sister
Linda (see picture on right) has proclaimed The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (originally published in 1989 and now resurging in popularity due to the recent publication of its sequel, World Without End) to be her favorite book of all time. As her younger sister who counts Follett's Lie Down With Lions as one of her all-time favorites, who am I to question her selection?
I would like to reiterate that I ordered this book from Quail Ridge Books (via BookSense, of course) BEFORE the big "O" selected it as a recommended book. I have a history of doing this, including The Book of Ruth, She's Come Undone, Midwives, A Map of the World and The Poisonwood Bible. Come to think of it, I think it should be renamed Di's Book Club, as purloined by Oprah!
Don't let the size of The Pillars of the Earth scare you...try to look at it like a multipurpose book...973 pages of entertainment and an attractive doorstop.
When I say 973 pages of entertainment, I'm pretty sure I've lost a large contingent of readers. Some people don't want to make that level of commitment to a spouse, let alone a book! So humor me here and let me make an argument in favor of reading The Pillars of the Earth.
Ken Follett has a brilliant way with a story (I am using "brilliant" a lot these days since I saw Once the other night...but that is a topic for another blog). If I told you that the main plot line of this book was the building of a cathedral in twelfth century England, many of you would hightail it to read Perez Hilton or TMZ because the latest on Britney, Justin and K-Fed is far more intriguing than ancient church-building. The true center of Follett's masterpiece is the cast of characters which is peopled with human beings with complexity and foibles that make them multi-faceted and believable. The characters of Ellen, Tom, Philip, William, Aliena, Richard, Jack and the rest transcend the cardboard cutouts of good and evil that, in less masterful hands, they could have easily become.
The characters are so well-drawn that their images are etched in my brain in a way that no movie character could be. They act in ways that are expected and then in ways that are unexpected, giving the reader insights into complex, HUMAN beings rather than flat, one-dimensional characters. The story is filled with lust, violence, love, loyalty, treachery, kinship and the diabolical nature of ambition.
Providing the backdrop and motivation to the novel is the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge. While the dull recounting of cross-beams and flying buttresses would grind even the most well-written novel to a halt, Follett succeeds in conveying the wonder and grandeur one feels when standing in the middle of Notre Dame, amazed that a structure of such size and grandeur was constructed without the aid of modern machinery and stands today as a testament to the power of the humans who designed it and the humans who built it.
I strongly recommend this book. It is a classic as much as a book that was written a mere 20 years ago can be. Its timelessness destines it for greatness and its characters and plot provide readability for generations to come.
Di's Book Rating: 
Di
I read this excellent book ten years ago, devouring it in about ten days, and when i had finished it I felt deprived. Follet usually sticks to the twentieth century for his novels, all of which I have enjoyed a lot, but this departure into medieval history was a tour de force! No wonder it has such a huge following. And I couldn't care less if Oprah likes it! Her opinion means nothing to me.
Posted by: Nicholas | February 12, 2008 at 07:27 PM