"Pillars" is a difficult book to start, but it's impossible to put down. Give it 4 pages and you, too, will donate "Pillars" to the thrift store. But give it 100 pages and you'll stay up all night with this novel and sneak it into work with you, even if you're an air traffic controller.
I've read all of Ken Follett's novels, even the early ones. I've enjoyed each one, but if he can do better than "Pillars", I'll eat a bug. The bug of my choosing.
"The Pillars of the Earth" is one of the 5 books I'd take with me if I were stranded for life on a desert island. The others are (in no particular order):
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Life With Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse
The Book of Common Prayer (1979) - US Episcopal Church
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
writes,
This author (if he can call himself that) writes for kindergartners. I was so appalled at his writing style -- I flipped through the book and sampled 4 pages and then gave it to the Salvation Army. If I could get my money back, that would be great. What a charlatan -- I saw an interview with Ken Follett and he looked and sounded intelligent. I was sorely mistaken.
writes,
This was a huge disappointment to me. Given that Follet can write a decent book and my interest in the subject matter, it was very much a let down to slog my way through this soap opera of 20th Century characters stuck in mideviel times. Given that I had taken this 700 page tome to Costa Rica and wanted it to sustain the bulk of my beach reading I had little alternative but to read it, although every 100 pages I would flog it across the sand. Maybe if I had hit the surf it would have been ruined such that I would have avoided wasting further time on it. For those that want real adventure of this time period I would recommend you read The Archer's Tale (and follow on books) from Bernard Cornwell. Most of all I wish Follet would have read The Archer's Tale and seen what his book should look like. I won't go near Follet's own sequel.
