Second Ken Follett, second Ken Follett audiobook, second Ken Follett audiobook listened to in car, first time I have ever wished to be caught in a really humungous traffic jam.This was an enthralling sort of sequel to the The Pillars of the Earth. I say sort of because it is set some 200 years after the end of that wondrous story. Just as the previous novel looked at the building of the Cathedral and the growth of the fictional city of Kingsbridge* through the disastrous 19 year reign of King Stephen and beyond, this novel covers the forty years or so of the middle part of the 14th Century embracing most especially the horrendous catastrophe of the Bubonic Plague's arrival in Europe in which perhaps a third or more of Europe died a horrible death.The story centres around the lives of four young children who witness the killing of two men at arms who themselves had come to kill the young knight who turned the tables on them. From those deaths unfurl the long, long journey of the story which cleverly comes full circle right at the end of this huge work. A mysterious letter, buried by this young man, is pivotal to the story and, though it does not reappear fully until the end, punctuates the plot's every twist and turn like a hinted shadow or a glimpsed figure of menace.The four children grow from pre-adolescent exploring and friendship to middle age and all the accrued experiences. Caris, a young rich girl who is beautiful as well as wealthy but who is a natural leader, strikingly independant in thought, vision and action and is, if I may be so bold, a tad anachronistic. This does seem to be a theme for Follett. Certainly in the two novels which I have read and loved, the main female character is brilliant and strong and intelligent and insightful and therefore, whether people like it or not, not a very accurate outline of how a woman would have been able to be in the 14th Century. We might 100% agree with everything she says and does, or at least a good deal of it, but she speaks and reacts and behaves as a woman might well speak and react and behave in 2012 but most certainly not how she would in 1312. She is a great character but not of her time.Then we have Merthin, the great love of her life. Of lower gentry fallen on hard times. Should be of rich stock but incompetence by his father results in a lower standing. He becomes an Architect and Trailblazer and courageous man of honour and decency. Another visionary. His brother, Ralph, an unbelievably squalid shit. Cruel and vengeful and vicious and murderous and irredeemably awful and then we have Gwenda. She is the token peasant not quite the tart with the heart but every soap opera has to have the poor girl whose role is to be the best friend of the rich girl thus enabling aforesaid rich girl to take on another mantel, that of democratic liberal. This is to belittle Gwenda really as she is a brilliantly drawn and brave character and her struggles serve to mark momentous moments in the story and the ebb and flow of her life is one which really holds the reader's sympathy.Re-reading this it might sound as if i did not like the book. I did. It is excellent. A fantastically exciting story, enormously expansive in its canvas and has enough willthey/won't they moments and gasp-i-can't-believe-he/she/they/said/did/achieved that opportunities for plot development that you are swept along. However this volume, more than the first one I think, is a total Middle Ages Soap opera. I am not sneering at that; it is ridiculously addictive, hence my desire for a big traffic jam but this time the historical awkwardness jarred more. The language used, the opinions expressed...always by Caris and Merthin and sometimes by others of their allies....were not believable for people of the 14th century. Their middle class sensitivities and liberal attitudes are wonderful for middle class and liberal people living and working and falling in love in the 21st Century but though Caris may well have struggled with all sorts of things I felt she was struggling as would a 21st century women transferred by magic back to the 14th century. Her struggles were of a woman going to bed in 2012 Surrey and waking up in 1348, the Bobby Ewing shower scene in reverse. Follett again keeps 'plates' spinning brilliantly and draws characters with sharp lines so that you do not need to think much but know exactly who you are to boo and who you are to cheer. There was an oddly convenient use of the Black Death where his scythe seemed always to cut down the right people to ease the plot along and enable the main characters to progress. Only one central character died of it and indeed that was massively convenient and came at just the right time. Once again i am not criticizing for the sake of it but it does reinforce the idea of Soap Opera. In Emmerdale or 'Corrie' we will have a plane crash or a train pile up. In the pre-machine, pre-Industrial age of Medieaval Kingsbridge we will use the mightily convenient pandemic making sure only minor characters or certainly those whose usefulness to the plot is past or maybe they want to move on to do a season in Pantomime at Blackpool for the Christmas season. Anyway they will be the ones who 'buy it'.Things i found briliant were the ways Follett easily explains the development of social structures and the growth of industry and the discovery of different ways of weaving or dyeing or construction. I felt I was learning as i read without even realizing it. The development of surnames and titles and the beginnings of the loosening of the serf structure was fascinating. The political and ecclesiastical battles were cleverly hinted at. The hopelessness of the poor before the tyranny of the powerful was well expressed and the stagnating grip of the status quo was well illustrated. I felt myself groan with frustration along with Caris and Merthin even as I knew this was another anachronism. By this stage i didn't care. That is the power of Mr Follett, I recognize that he is manipulating and twisting reality to suit his story and characters but he did it so well that i was totally Team Caris.Each time Ralph did something monstrous, each time Godwin was an underhand shite, every time Philemon...who obviously smelt, Follett did not spell this out but i knew this had to be......just breathed I let all these occasions collect in my memory knowing they would surely all be avenged in some way shape or form. Well, all i will say is......I was not massively disappointed....Follett does a good plate of comeuppance and here he parts company with Soap opera cos he, quite evidently, believes in happy endings.*though I would point out that for threee years I lived just 10 miles from the small town called Kingsbridge which nestles in the beautiful area of the South Hams in Devon
In all practical theory, this book should be on my 'Sucked' shelf. It's a tale of the Middle Ages, the gross injustices of the time, and it truly amounts to a thousand-page Medieval soap opera. It hasn't got much to do with it's predecessor The Pillars of the Earth, except that it's in the same location 200 years later, with characters that are "descendants" of the Pillars characters. There's none of the complex building and architectural aspects found in Pillars, the graphic sex and violence has been toned down, several aspects of the plot are predictable, and the dialogue seems strikingly modern for a novel set in the 14th century. So, why is this book not on my 'Sucked' shelf? ...Because it KICKED ASS. With all of the above-mentioned problems in the book, it takes on hell of an author to pull off this kind of novel. Kenn Follett just plain rules. The story goes at a breakneck pace, the descriptions of the feudal system are fascinating, and the characters are complex and multi-faceted. For every (small) predictable plot twist, there are a million little shockers, and at the end, there are a few questions about the truth lingering. Frickin great. I also found Follett's descriptions of the complete powerlessness of women and the ultimate authority of the nobles described with total intensity, and they are displayed over and over again through the stories of the characters. Equally interesting were the power struggles between the church, the people, and the nobility. Conflict everywhere! Love it! Another great aspect of this book was the concentration on Medieval ideas about health and medicine, especially during the time of the plague. Given that monks are the only physicians, the best cures are blood-letting and applying goat-shit to open wounds to form a "healthy" pus. If you sit closer to the altar in the church hospital, you'll heal faster. [Although slight scientific advances are made in the book, the lingering affects of the church's bogus medical ideas seem to have transcended the centuries to live on in modern Italy: cover your stomach to avoid catching a cold, wait 3 hours after eating before you swim or you'll drown, sunflower oil is good for the flu, humidity causes low blood pressure, and canker sores are caused by indigestion. A complete aversion to all forms of medicine are also fundamental in this society. (i.e. Yesterday my French friend Sandrine had a headache. Italians don't like to take Aspirin because it will "destroy your liver," but Sandrine is French and has no problem with taking meds, so I offered her an Aleve. "If you don't want medicine, be Italian and kiss this," I said to her, holding up my pocket-rosary.)] Anyway, great book, totally fascinating, very different from Pillars of the Earth, and written by a guy who truly is a master writer.KICKED ASS.
Do You like book World Without End (2007)?
This is the sequel to "Pillars of the Earth." It's set 200 years after that original book but is very similar in terms of plot and especially character. Every main character from "Pillars" has their parallel in this book: the intelligent, noble builder; the feisty, born-before-her-time love interest; the evil, corrupt nobleman who rapes and pillages his way into power. It gets to the point where you start to wonder why you're bothering reading it. There's absolutely nothing new here.Like "Pillars," this one starts with a "mystery" that goes nowhere. When the big revelation comes, I was left thinking, "That's it?"I enjoyed the parts about the Plague but could have done without the lesbian nuns and the numerous rape scenes (especially the scenes where the woman being raped starts to enjoy it. Talk about offensive!).And once again, an aggressive editor would have done wonders. 1,000 pages is just a bit much, especially when the entire thing is a retread of the original anyway.
—Mary Catherine
This novel is Follett's follow up to The Pillars of the Earth which is one of my favorite novels and probably never had a chance of living up to my expectations. It follows the lives of four people beginning with a disturbing childhood encounter. Four very different people: two brothers, one brilliant, but not physically imposing and one one strong and ruthless; and two women, both resourceful, but one from a wealthy family and one for whom life was one struggle after the next. Seeing how each played out the hand that medieval life dealt them was the driving force for me.It served to me as a poignant reminder that, especially in the Middle Age, the path of our lives can often be more impacted by sometimes arbitrary laws of Nature, God, and Man than by our own actions. We find that often justice turns a blind eye on our little corner of the world and all we can control is how we respond to the obstacles thrown in our path.Perhaps this same theme is why I was so taken with the first book. And perhaps it's not a difference between the two books that I'm feeling, but a difference in myself over the eighteen years between readings. The idealistic 20 something who read Pillars and felt the unfairness of life in the Middle Ages has been replaced by a 40 something widower who reads of injustice and thinks, "Eh, sometimes life throws you a parade and sometimes it pisses in your corn flakes. That's just the way that it goes."All that being said I found World Without End to be a pleasant journey - and at 1,000+ pages it is a journey, as I was reading it I jokingly referred to the book as "Novel Without End". I enjoyed being transported back to a different time and although I didn't care about the characters the way I did reading Pillars of the Earth, I'm glad for the time spent with them.
—Chris
"...epic, historic novel"??!Good Lord, I must be reading a different book than everyone else.This seems formulaic and forced. Characters are more like caricatures; and what's the deal with everyone fornicating all the time??! Not that there's anything wrong with fornicating per se, I just don't care for books that use it as a major plot device time after time after time.I actually checked the cover to make sure it wasn't "Clan of the Cave Bear" 2.0...I'm going to finish this book (I think) 'cause I'm feeling a little masochistic. I may have to make my own book cover though, with Fabio as the builder replete with heaving chest and flowing locks on the cover. ;PUpdate:I've finished. Unless you are on the beach and looking to read but not think, and feel that a book cover emblazoned with 'Harlequin' is benath you-I really can't recommend this book.
—Leah
