Pillars of the Earth

Pillars of the Earth is one of my favorite books. I love everything about it. I mean it has everything in it. Love, suspense, murder, and of course a look at medieval culture and the way they lived. This era amazes and scares me at the same time. How some people can have so much power when all they do with that power is wrong. How others are good people but can starve because they can't find work. Today, our government may be screwed up but at least there are programs for people who can't find work (not that they're perfect, i think welfare needs some serious rearranging) ok well anyway those are my thoughts, anyone else read it

No, I've never read it. I'm putting a touchstone in, partly to get to info. about it more lazily. Pillars of the Earth sounds like the kind of book I sometimes love - and sometimes hate. At any rate, you've stirred me to have a look at it.

"our government" ? Which government pray tell :) ?

Yes, it's a great book, and first got me into Ken Follett novels, though it's very untypical of his work.

John

I'm reading Pillars of the Earth now based upon this recommendation. I'm about halfway through and enjoying it tremendously.

It's one of my favorite books now! Everything's in it - drama, suspense, action, adventure, love, sex, politics, religion, history, society. There are memorable characters and riveting events. It is truly an epic novel.

I'm being tempted to re-read this now, a decade after first doing so.....

I bought it when it was first published in 1989 and thoroughly enjoyed it as well as many of his other books. But none of his others, even his first: "Eye of The Needle" begin to approach the erudition of this insightful novelistic history. I cant think of a better way to understand history.

After I "discovered" LT (somewhat akin, for me, to having discovered the wheel!) and began to think about what reading has done for me and identifying what I truly enjoy, I remembered how Pillars of the Earth affected me 17 years ago. I located it in one of my libraries and re-read it with far more enjoyment than I did all those years ago. Part of the reason why I started my favorite group; "The Scepter'd Isle: The Medieval History of England"

I read this in January, I never really read historical fiction, and it blew me away. An astounding book and I can't wait for the sequel coming out later this year! What a piece of luck it coming so soon after discovering this book.

Sequel?

This is one of my favorite books, as well. It was assigned during a Medieval England history course, and I absolutely loved it. I was disappointed to find out that other books by Ken Follett were nothing like Pillars of the Earth.

I didn't know there was to be a sequel. I can't wait!

According to Follett's web site the sequel is called World Without End, takes place some 200 years after Pillars of the Earth and is due out in October 2007.

I just ordered it because a workmate said I should and it only cost 5 Eur...I think that I will read it as the fiction it is meant to be. One man's 20th century vision of our ancestors?

By the by, why is this in Medieval? (written in 199...something?)

Emily

Aemilys, it was written about the medieval era, though fiction, it still pertains to this group :) and I just picked this up, I can't wait to start reading it..

But it "is" fiction written by someone who hones plots and isn't a historian.

I wouldn't accept it as anything more than a story. Just like any Romance novel.

I read World Without End over Christmas and enjoyed it thoroughly. Its main fault (imo) is that Follett assumes that people of the past are really just like people of the present, and are primarily motivated by sex and power. But he actually GETS the social history of the period, and does a wonderful job of observing the transformation of a medieval town through the building of infrastructure, the changes in institutions, and the changes wrought by the Black Death. I don't want to give away the big secret of the book, but I was amused by it, especially since I am probably one of the few people who has actually seen what amounts to "the letter" (which is in the archives in Montpellier). Anyway, I enjoyed it, and will probably be recommending it to students in my Medieval Cities class this spring.

Well, I'm inclined to think people of any era are largely motivated by sex and power and ambition for their children. However, while enjoying Follett's World Without End (which I'm not quite halfway through right now), I have to agree that his main characters are too modern. I think the main problem is they're just too nice - living in a world as brutal as the Middle Ages had an impact on people.

But the technical details are very well researched, even if his psychology leaves something to be desired, and he's wonderfully skillful at weaving explanations of funny little historical realities, like bread trenchers and guild rules, into the story line without bogging it down. I have to admire him for that!

Well, I'm creeping steadily towards the end of Pillars and I couldn't be more engrossed. I'd never read anything of Follett's before and this doesn't necessarily mean I will now (except for the sequel which is now due out over here in p/b and which I am longing for).

I think it's a great shame when people consider non-fiction to be somehow 'superior' to fiction for learning abut a period. It just depends on how much research has gone into it. Intelligently researched fiction can give us, in many cases, a far greater insight into the way things were than non-fiction alone (particularly if you are more interested in the social history side than the dates of the wars etc) by having the ability to speculate a little and fill in some of the gaps between the 'facts'. I'm all for checking out which bits are fact and which are speculation but I don't think I would ever had developed my love of history without the help of some of these wonderful writers of historical fiction. After, all - until it's put into a human context, who really cares?

Follett's Pillars and its sequel have fairly well researched backgrounds, but his characters are modern people in medieval clothing. If you've never read any good historical fiction, but only encountered bodice-rippers(aka "historical romance") this book will give you the feeling you're reading the real thing. It's OK for beginners. But if you want something with characters acting as they would in the medieval world, you need to investigate authors like Sharon Kay Penman, Sharon Newman, Edith Pargeter(who also wrote the Cadfael mysteries as Ellis Peters), and Margaret Frazer. Of course, that list includes a couple actual medieval historians who are terrific fiction writers. Follett is not a medieval historian 8-)

Don't get me wrong - I do like well researched and well written historical fiction, like the Cadfael mysteries. But I'm highly sceptical about making the distinction between "historical romance" and "good historical fiction".

We are all moderns and however well we do our research we will never be medievals. Remember: many Victorians thought Sir Walter Scott was pretty realistic, but today most of his characters are seen as victorians in drag.

I must have missed the bit where someone claimed Ken Follett was a medieval historian. He's (as far as I know) the author of a thumping good historical story that has been well researched and is in a class way beyond the popular Philippa Gregory types of book. As long as the reader is intelligent enough to know that they are reading a story and inquisitive enough to want to do their own research as to what bits are the gospel truth and which are part of the author's creative thinking I don't have any problem with that. Readers who are interested in factual history will then go on and read non-fiction on the subject. Those who aren't will still have enjoyed a good read. I think we all get a bit touchy about subjects or historical periods that we are particularly fond of and are fairly knowledgeable about (hence my dislike of Ms Gregory's books - or the one I have read anyway) but they aren't supposed to be text books and it's easy to forget that.

I just finished "The Tsar's Dwarf". It's a heavy duty bit of fiction --all philosophical and stuff. One of the parts I like about it is that I think Fogtdal's got the lice, prejudices, and smells right.

#23 Quite a good one for smells is The Great Stink. Most of the book takes place down a Victorian sewer! Maybe not everyone's idea of un but sufficiently different for me to have enjoyed it in a perverse way.

Revised for typos

Have read this book some years ago and found it fascinating -though I wonder if the author fell into the nasty trap of examining ancient societies with 21st century sensibilities

:-0

This is an interesting discussion. I've picked up the Follett book a few times, then put it down again, despite a recommendation from my brother-in-law years ago. I guess I'm of the opinion that it is impossible for anyone to really get into the mental space of anyone who lived centuries ago. Hell, I don't think I could conceivably get into the mindset of my own grandfather. I suppose this is the reason I shy away from historical fiction. I get more out of primary works, such as Blanquerna or The Canterbury Tales, although I would say that Ladurie's Montaillou is a good example of using documentary sources to give an feel for past lifeways.

I have read "Eye of the Needle" and found it a ripping good read but this is precisely why I didn't pick up Pillars but since reading this thread I have been convinced otherwise.

Well, if you don't care that the characters and much of the plot elements are far more 20th century than medieval, you might enjoy it. Phillipa Gregory is not an author I read any more anyway. I prefer those who not only do their factual background research, but have a much better feel for the culture and interpersonal relationships than Follett. There are such writers.

I remember reading Pillars of the Earth and liking it a lot back in the day when it came out, but World Without End recently was quite annoying...indeed there were some nice things there but I couldn't get past the characters, too modern and too good/bad...now I am kind of wary if I dare to reread Pillars, was it a better book or was I a different reader then?

I also enjoyed Pillars when it was new. I knew less about the period then, too. Since then i've not only learned more, but I've read historical novels by people who write really good ones and have a real feel for the times and how unlike our times they were. I started the new book and the way the characters acted and related to each other struck as so totally wrong that I barely struggled a hundred pages before giving up in disgust. I dare not reopen Pillars at this point 8-)

I am now reading Pillars of the Earth & it is a bit of a shock for me as I have been reading a lot of Medieval Mysteries as well as Historical non-fiction about the Middle Ages so the modern language & attitudes are more than a little jarring! I miss the language of the period which helps put me 'in the times' that I'm reading about. I want to read this before the movie comes out as some of the trailers & other visuals from the movie have me hooked, on the look of it at any rate. 8^)

I juszt purchased Pillars of the Earth and you lot have made me cautious about this. There is a niggling thought about donating to thr local public libary I may put it aside for later read some remote time in the future.

I'm more than halfway through it now & have adjusted to the language & viewpoint. I'm finding it a very intriguing read. 8^)

Depends on whether you're picky about your historical fiction. I enjoyed it when I first read it many long years ago, but I've learned too much about medieval history and been spoiled by writers who evoke the time more convincingly since then.

Another example of someone who I felt depicted the age relatively well is Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. It's science fiction, but centers on a trip back in time to the days of the Black Plague and spares none of the ugliness.

The miniseries of Pillars of the Earth starts tonite on STARZ! 8^)

it was lovely

I think 500 years from now Pillars will be required reading in school. I adored it.

Well, in 500 years they probably won't realize how 20th century all the characters are.

I took it to mean that she believes it will fit well in a discussion of conventions in literature authored in the 20th century and its similarities to other historical literature in characterizations of historical (or fictional/ahistorical) people.

For example, Geoffrey of Monmouth depicted King Arthur, either entirely or almost entirely a 5th/6th century fictional person, with characteristics of someone living in the 12th century. The anonymous author of The Song of Roland credited the Carolingians with 12th century chivalric behavior. The same holds true for art history. There are plenty of sculptures where the figure is shown wearing dress or armor characteristic of when the sculpture was made, not when the person lived.

Follett fits in very nicely with this theme of portraying characters with values, opinions, etc. typical of when the literature was written, not when the character lived, or would have lived.

41> Good point...like those texts, Pillars of the Earth might give interesting insight on the late 20th century more than on the era it claims to portray...a bit like scifi is rarely about the future but always about the time it was written in (and thus lots of scifi ends up aging really badly), same is true about a good deal of historical fiction...

Pillars of the Earth was on DISH yesterday Jul 3. I watched most of it again.

Haven't read the book nor seen the show, but I've been meaning to for a while now. Good thing the thread reminded me so I can go grab it.