This is one of the strangest and most disappointing books I’ve ever read. Reaching back to 12th-century Britain, The Pillars of the Earth vividly describes the architecture, landscapes, and challenges faced by denizens of the Middle Ages. Sadly, this potentially great project is brought low by Ken Follett’s shockingly poor writing. Follett combines the deep […]
“‘Perhaps the savages will always be in control,’ Philip said gloomily. ‘Perhaps greed will always outweigh wisdom in the councils of the mighty; perhaps fear will always overcome compassion in the mind of a man with a sword in his hand.’” ––The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, loc. 15284
“A man is always better off for understanding something!” ––The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, loc. 12550
“She walked along the southern side aisle, dragging her hand along the wall, feeling the rough texture of the stones, running her fingernails over the shallow grooves made by the stonemason’s toothed chisel. Here in the aisles, under the windows, the wall was decorated with blind arcading, like a row of filled-in arches. The arcading […]
“The most expensive part of a building is the mistakes.” ––The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, loc. 9609 “Being a monk was the strangest and most perverted way of life imaginable. Monks spent half their lives putting themselves through pain and discomfort that they could easily avoid, and the other half muttering […]
There was a time when I thought Michael V. Hayden and his ilk were scum, but, as Hayden himself acknowledges: “You can only dehumanize an enemy from a distance” (238). Once I let Hayden into my head, he gave my liberal, civilian ass a serious reality check. Despite its nonlinear format and a bevy of […]
“‘A king is a creature of the moment,’ he went on. ‘He’s constantly under threat, from rebels within his own kingdom and from neighboring monarchs. He needs allies.’” ––The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, loc. 7395 “I liken the intelligence-policy dialogue as a room with two doors, one labeled intelligence, the other […]
“A sense of doom swamped Aliena. This was to be their fate, then: Richard would avenge Father, and she would take care of Richard. For her it would be a mission of revenge, for if Richard became earl, William Hamleigh would lose his inheritance. It flashed across her mind that no one had asked her […]
“‘Highborn people make poor servants. They are disobedient, resentful, thoughtless, touchy, and they think they’re working hard even though they do less than everyone else––so they cause trouble among the rest of the staff.’ He shrugged. ‘This is my experience.’” ––The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, loc. 6638 “We make much in […]
“As he walked past the ruins, the prospect of building a new cathedral suddenly seemed daunting: all that stone, all that timber, all those craftsmen, all those years. He would have to control it all, make sure there was a steady supply of materials, monitor the quality of timber and stone, hire and fire men, […]