The Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett (Review)

“God’s plan? If God has a plan, it’s not working out very well, is it?”

About the Book

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is an acclaimed historical fiction novel published in 1989. Follett tells an intriguing tale of a twelfth-century monk. It is a humongous 1076-page book, which took five long days to finish. Although, I found myself wanting to know what happens next, which makes it very difficult to put the book down.

 

Plot-wise, something is always happening here, for better or for worse. The natural flow of triumphs and misfortunes makes it a great read. Just like in real life, good things happened to bad people and bad things happened to good people.

Although the main plot is about the building of the fictional Kings bridge cathedral, there are love stories in here, as well as tales of ambition and betrayal. With over 1000 pages, you’d think there have to be fillers, but there isn’t a single one! Every sentence, every word you read adds to the story, all the events you read about will have some of the other connection to an event that happened earlier or later in the book.
This is how Follett has kept the storyline intertwined. It really delves into the corruption of both the church and the rulers of the time.

Summary

Follett has a way of making you love and care for every character he creates, even if you don’t particularly agree with their actions. He makes them human, and in this particular book, the characters are really unforgettable. Although I didn’t always like or agree with Prior Phillip’s choices, I respected him as a character for the most part, whereas I hated William Hamleigh so much and was very desperate for his downfall. I also loved the fact that things didn’t just wrap up neatly. The church politics are so fascinating and create another level of intrigue, making it a compelling read. So, if you tend to like historical fiction, character studies, or just stories about the church vs the government, it’s totally worth giving this mammoth of a book a read.

Take away

Although, this comes with a warning: If the violent depiction of sex is a problem, you might want to steer away from it.
As for me, The Pillars of the Earth will be one of the books on my favorite books pile.

P.S: If my house was on fire, I would take this book for sure.

If you want to have your own copy then grab it from Amazon.

Our guest Author Pooja Jabde, follow her on /PoojaJabde