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The Pillars of the Earth | 
 enlarge | Author: Ken Follett
Publisher: NAL Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
Buy New: $10.99
You Save: $9.01 (45%)
New (34) Used (29) Collectible (2) from $10.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  1187 reviews
Sales Rank: 61
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 976
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1.8
ISBN: 0451207149
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
UPC: 051855019006
EAN: 9780451207142
ASIN: 0451207149
Publication Date: February 4, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 5 star seller. Excellent customer service. All orders ship standard media mail unless expedited shipping is selected.
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Book Description
Ken Follett had long been a staple of the bestseller lists for his novels of intrigue and espionage. Then came The Pillars of the Earth, a grand novel of epic storytelling that readers and critics quickly hailed as his crowning achievement. Now, The Pillars of the Earth is available for the first time to a new audience of readers, in this attractive new trade paperback edition.
In 12th-century England, the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral signals the dawn of a new age. This majestic creation will bond clergy and kings, knights and peasants together in a story of toil, faith, ambition and rivalry. A sweeping tale of the turbulent middle ages, The Pillars of the Earth is a masterpiece from one of the world's most popular authors.
"A novel of majesty and power...Will hold you, fascinate you, surround you." --Chicago Sun-Times
"A towering tale...There's murder, arson, treachery, torture, love, and lust...A good time can be had by all." --New York Daily News
"Touches all human emotions...truly a novel to get lost in." --Cosmopolitan
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1182 more reviews...
 Warning about the Kindle edition! July 4, 2008
If you open the Kindle edition of the book by double-clicking on the title in your list of books the Kindle edition opens at Chapter 1. Don't do that. If you do you miss the Prologue. The Prologue sets up a conflict at the heart of the story. I liked the book without the Prologue but it would've been better with it. To access the Prologue you need to use the Menu to open the book. You can get there from the Title page and use Next Page to go forward or you can choose one of the other options that preceed Chapter 1.
Wonderful July 3, 2008
I started reading Ken Follett when I was in High school, which I had to for a project. I fell in love with the book - Flight over water. And I started reading more of his books. I got this one way before it was on Oprah's book club, and I loved it! He is such a great writer. I enjoy his eariler stuff, and more historical stuff. I read all his newer books (family gifts once they knew I liked him). But I have a love for this one! I sent it on to other members of the family to read, and my old copy is read well! I'm looking forward to the time to read it again!
 Can you give less than one star? June 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I don't know what people have seen in this tomb of a novel. I read this for a book group as someone said it was historical fiction and dealt with the creation of cathedrals. HMMMM well, fiction yes, historical possibly. Uninspiring writing, most definitey. I love historical fiction and love this time period as well as the time of the Tudors. I love to see amazing characters and that includes having the characters speaking in that time period's vernacular. That does not happen in this novel. Characters talk as if you would hear them on the streets of today. It was excessively long, and every sex scene ( including rapes which there are many) you can tell are written by a man. From when the main female character has aged he describes how here breasts hang but no mention of the aging of the male characters. Very graphic and disturbing. The characters were not realistic. They were good or evil. There was no middle ground. Building the cathedral was dull as dirt. Too many characters that weren't that interesting (to me). Descriptions were used almost verbatim in other sections of the book. I know it's a long book but please, we as readers do pick up on that rather quickly. Where was the editor? Granted I've only read one of Ken Follett's books( Eye of the Needle), which I enjoyed. I also was 18 years old so I'm not sure what I would think of it now. When it came to discuss this book only about 2 people out of ten didn't like the book. Those that loved it didn't find the vernacular an issue. They liked that they didn't have to think. They did though agree that the sex scenes were far too graphic and seemed to be a man's fantasy. Also discussed was the accuracy of the church, which seemed to be somewhat accurate for that time period.
 Excellent Book, a Must Read June 30, 2008
It took me 2 weeks to read it, but it was a great book. Highly recommended!
A HUGE Disappointment June 29, 2008
A couple of friends and I selected this book as the the first one of many in our newly formed book club. We knew nothing about it besides the fact that it was a New York Times Bestseller, that it was historical fiction, and that it had gotten rave reviews on Amazon. We weren't expecting a masterpiece in the ranks of authors such as Hemmingway, Austen, Orwell, or Dickens; however, we were expecting at the least a well-written, entertaining summer novel. From the beginning, this book failed to live up to praise of Amazon reviewers. The story itself was drawn out way to long and this wouldn't have been a criticism is the author had used these many pages to actually develop his characters. The characters never developed personalities of their own beyond the basic good or evil labels that Follett gave them. Not one of them was memorable and I couldn't get myself to sympathize with them despite the torture that that author seemed to love to inflict on his characters. Many scenes in this book seemed excessive and unrelated to the plot of Pillars at all. The author uses so many 20th century words/phrases that it is hard for the reader to take the historical aspect of this novel seriously. All in all, this book was a huge disappointment and I would not recommend it to anyone who isn't looking for bland characters, boring plot, and a lack of any particular writing style.
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