Book Review: Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

I had this book checked out from the library for about 4 months. It took me that long to read it. I read the first 300 pages in about a week, and then left it for 3 months. The book was interesting, but I just couldn't convince myself to get back into it. The only reason I did was because of a friend who insisted that I had to read it with her. I am really glad I picked it back up though. I'm also really happy to be done with it. It's really long! Like, forever long. But worth it, I think.

This book cover is stupid.

 

The book isn't what I normally read, which I think is why I had such a hard time getting into it. But once I started it again, I was hooked. The characters were just so well developed and appealing. I wanted to know what happened in their life and how their story ended. After going through so many struggles, the story ended up being beautiful. I will say that one of the reasons that I had such a hard time reading it was because of the character of William. He was just so repugnant, and I had such a hard time reading about how he enjoyed raping Aliena. That was difficult for me to get over, and was so repulsive to me. It was at first hard for me to grasp that he never got nicer, and never really grew up. But I realized that would be incredibly true to his character and that there really are people like that in the world.

The architectural and historical aspects were incredibly interesting to me, and I greatly enjoyed reading about them. I do like a good historical fiction, which I think is why I may have liked this book. Overall, I would recommend this book to someone who would be dedicated enough to finish it. The story spans over so many different characters and generations that a reader really has to get into the story and relate to the ideas in order to enjoy it. I'm glad that I read it, but I don't think it will be one that I read again.