The Pillars of the Earth

The Pillars of the Earth

By Ken Follett

973 Pages (Realistic Fiction)

The book was actually discovered through a boardgame. My wife had read the book and saw a boardgame with the same title. The game is loosely based on the book. Having a background in art history I thought reading about the building of a cathedral would be quite interesting.

The book starts in the mid 1100’s by following a mason named Tom Builder. Tom has aspirations to become a master builder of a cathedral. His means of livelihood soon are lost and his family becomes homeless and destitute in the wild. Terrible things continue to happen as the family travels across southern England looking for work. Eventually this leads them to Kingsbridge. The night they stay there the current church burns. God has sent them to fulfill Tom’s dream of building a Cathedral.

I expected this to be all about the building. The book isn’t so much about the cathedral, but more about the people that surround it. The king needs to verify that it be built. The political maneuverings of the local lords and bishops play in how money is supplied. The fighting for the leadership of the land makes work hard to continue. The small village grows and the cathedral needs more workers. The town is attacked and the building has to stop, as there is no money. So many people lives become entangled with the building that its success is necessary for so many lives. Although the actual building doesn’t exist it is based on similar cathedrals from real life. You get a real look into the lives from that era and that is what makes the book enjoyable.

When I first started reading the book I was a little disappointed in Follett’s writing. It seemed overly simple. As the book went on I was either sucked into the story enough to not care or Follett improved. I did get very involved and would not want to put the book down. That said, I don’t feel that Follett ever impressed me with his writing style.

Intellectual: 5 – The intellectual side of the book is what makes it interesting. You see all sides of the building process and get to experience the lives of the people first hand.

Emotional: 2 – The characters really aren’t that deep. Most of them are fairly one sided and I personally never became really attached to any of them. There is a human side to the characters but it is more of a means to an end.

Long Term: 3 – The book has the potential to have lasting impact. It is about an interesting time of history. It takes something historical and brings it to life and is very readable.

10 out of 13. My interest in art history made this book very compelling to me. I think people interested in this era or cathedrals would be entertained. As I mentioned I don’t feel that Follett is the greatest writer, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t an enjoyable book. Sometimes simple writing allows the reader to get lost in the story and in this case Follett succeeds.

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