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Message
The Pillars of the Earth is making me mad, I'm torn on if I want to finish it
Posted on 11/3/19 at 8:34 pm
Posted on 11/3/19 at 8:34 pm
I've heard so much about this book and have had multiple people tell me I would love it. I read a ton of historical fiction and just finished up the Century Trilogy about WWI, WWII, and Cold War (loved the first 2, 3rd one not so much...).
SPOILERS for Pillars of the Earth below!!!
Anyway, I decided to finally read Pillars of the Earth, I'm well into it, on part 4 right now (William just burned Kigsbridge, Tom just died, Aliena has realized she is going to marry Alfred).
I don't know if I want to continue, while the setting is great, the historical detail is fantastic, and some of the characters I really love, it's just too predictable and repetitive... How many times are the "good" guys going to overcome obstacles from everyone for no good reason, pull it together and be about to succeed, only to have William Hamleigh ruin it and get away with it?
As soon as Phillip said he was going to have a Fleece Fair I instantly knew that
A. William was going to attack them
B. He would ruin all of Aliena's success somehow
Now Tom is dead and I am supposed to rely on Aliena, Jack, and Phillip to carry the book? (I love Phillip btw).
Aliena marrying Alfred to make sure Richard is taken care of, realizing he is awful, and eventually getting together with Jack is too obvious, so I'm almost sure it will happen.
Alfred not being able to lead the construction of the cathedral, opening the way for Jack to somehow get out of his Monastic life to become the Master builder is just too obvious, so of course it will happen.
Am I just being negative for no reason? Should I keep reading this book or just give up? I don't know why I am having such a hard time with it, maybe I'm getting tired of Follett his stories can be very predictable
SPOILERS for Pillars of the Earth below!!!
Anyway, I decided to finally read Pillars of the Earth, I'm well into it, on part 4 right now (William just burned Kigsbridge, Tom just died, Aliena has realized she is going to marry Alfred).
I don't know if I want to continue, while the setting is great, the historical detail is fantastic, and some of the characters I really love, it's just too predictable and repetitive... How many times are the "good" guys going to overcome obstacles from everyone for no good reason, pull it together and be about to succeed, only to have William Hamleigh ruin it and get away with it?
As soon as Phillip said he was going to have a Fleece Fair I instantly knew that
A. William was going to attack them
B. He would ruin all of Aliena's success somehow
Now Tom is dead and I am supposed to rely on Aliena, Jack, and Phillip to carry the book? (I love Phillip btw).
Aliena marrying Alfred to make sure Richard is taken care of, realizing he is awful, and eventually getting together with Jack is too obvious, so I'm almost sure it will happen.
Alfred not being able to lead the construction of the cathedral, opening the way for Jack to somehow get out of his Monastic life to become the Master builder is just too obvious, so of course it will happen.
Am I just being negative for no reason? Should I keep reading this book or just give up? I don't know why I am having such a hard time with it, maybe I'm getting tired of Follett his stories can be very predictable
6
Posted on 11/3/19 at 9:03 pm to Tiger1242
I mean, you are like 2/3rds or more done with a pretty good book, no reason not to finish it, otherwise you are wasting a ton of pages of reading in a book that large.
I will agree on him becoming repetitive, he suffers from the same thing a lot of mainstream authors such as Grishham, Koontz, dick francis, jack Higgins, and Clive cussler in that they produced some really good books early on but had a hard time sustaining new ideas, resulting in boring reads after a while. They can still be mildly entertaining, but not going to have huge excitement with their works after a while.
I will agree on him becoming repetitive, he suffers from the same thing a lot of mainstream authors such as Grishham, Koontz, dick francis, jack Higgins, and Clive cussler in that they produced some really good books early on but had a hard time sustaining new ideas, resulting in boring reads after a while. They can still be mildly entertaining, but not going to have huge excitement with their works after a while.
Posted on 11/4/19 at 10:57 am to Tiger1242
This is one of those books that's been on my shelf for a while. Every time I look at it and think of reading it I think...Ah, too long.
And I've read long books over the years. Right now I have too many others to get to before I dig into a Follett 800-pager.
And I've read long books over the years. Right now I have too many others to get to before I dig into a Follett 800-pager.
Posted on 11/4/19 at 12:50 pm to Htowntiger90
I loved it and the world Without End.
The third in the series I could not finish and was not a fan of the Century trilogy they got progressively worse.
Night Over Water and a Dangerous Fortune are two of my favorites by Ken Follet.
The third in the series I could not finish and was not a fan of the Century trilogy they got progressively worse.
Night Over Water and a Dangerous Fortune are two of my favorites by Ken Follet.
Posted on 11/4/19 at 3:49 pm to Tiger1242
I just couldn't get into this book. I stopped reading pretty early on into it. I may revisit one day.
Posted on 11/4/19 at 6:43 pm to Tiger1242
Well worth finishing. It is a very emotion engaging book. I can remember being very pissed at William. It is one of my all time favorites because it invoked such emotions.
Posted on 11/5/19 at 12:06 pm to Prix560
quote:
It is a very emotion engaging book. I can remember being very pissed at William. It is one of my all time favorites because it invoked such emotions.
I think my problem with it is the big emotional stuff is just too obvious and pisses me off.
Why the hell would Aliena spend ALL of her money on wool? She’s already super rich, she would’ve kept some for safety that’s just common sense. As soon as it was mentioned she used all her money on wool and put all her wool in one location it was terribly obvious William would burn it all.
I’ll admit the death of Tom was surprising but I dk if I can get through the next part which is clearly going to focus on Aliena/Jack being apart and eventually getting together and not focus on the actual good stuff like building the cathedral and political turmoil
Posted on 11/8/19 at 10:57 pm to Tiger1242
Yes. Finish it. It is an entertaining book. SPOILER ALERT - As you say it is predictable, and as such it is easy to predict that the good guys will prevail in the end and the villains will get their comeuppance. Hang in there with it.
Posted on 11/25/19 at 9:49 pm to geauxpurple
Okay I stuck with it.
It pretty much went exactly as I thought, was entertained though.
I was a little disappointed in the book I guess because i was hoping for more actual historical fiction about the civil war esteem Stephen and Maud that leads the Henry becoming king, it’s a fascinating historical event.
The book is really not historical fiction, it’s total fiction, it just takes place in the past and occasionally references real events
It pretty much went exactly as I thought, was entertained though.
I was a little disappointed in the book I guess because i was hoping for more actual historical fiction about the civil war esteem Stephen and Maud that leads the Henry becoming king, it’s a fascinating historical event.
The book is really not historical fiction, it’s total fiction, it just takes place in the past and occasionally references real events
Posted on 11/30/19 at 4:06 pm to Tiger1242
I really liked it too. Learning the way stuff works in medieval times was really great, and the plot is tight.
The characters do sometimes think in modern ways, though.
The characters do sometimes think in modern ways, though.
Posted on 11/30/19 at 4:57 pm to Tiger1242
quote:
Why the hell would Aliena spend ALL of her money on wool? She’s already super rich, she would’ve kept some for safety that’s just common sense.
People do this sort of thing all the time and i think she was successful, not super rich. The fact that she did not foresee Williams murderous rage was not a big stretch either. It kind of underscored the theme of the need to constantly overcome tragedy in the middle ages and the resiliency of the people.
Posted on 12/1/19 at 10:12 pm to Tiger1242
It's just a really, really long book. Don't rush reading it. Let me see what i can remember without giving anything away.
Much, much more will be revealed about jack. Richard takes an interesting turn with alfred and aliena has a crisis real soon that changes the story almost entirely.
It's a sweeping book. The payoff is good. It's so long though, it just doesn't pay to rush it.
Much, much more will be revealed about jack. Richard takes an interesting turn with alfred and aliena has a crisis real soon that changes the story almost entirely.
It's a sweeping book. The payoff is good. It's so long though, it just doesn't pay to rush it.
This post was edited on 12/1/19 at 10:19 pm
Posted on 12/1/19 at 10:15 pm to Prix560
quote:
I can remember being very pissed at William.
He and phillip are written very well.
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