600 pages book disguised in a 973.
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I am very confused about my feeling for this book. I really enjoyed the story but there are so many bad things about this book. First, from page 700 til the end I really skim throu the book because I couldn't read one more thing about trancept and buttress and all the repeatious things about construction work. But way before that I did pass over cockfight and dogfight and bearbaiting etc.
I laughted a some of the language. I don't think the term BAMBOUZELED was used in the 1200th. Kids didn't pay football because even my mother, 60 years ago played with a pig's blader on the farm. So my guest is it was pigball or simply ball.
I enjoyed all of the characters. Although they were pretty flat such as the bad one were bad without one iota of goodness in them and the good ones were good to the core.
Finally, I am very picky about giving a 5 stars to a book. If I could have given a 3 1/2 to this one that's what I would have done.
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Low Rating but not for the reason you may think
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I read The Pillars of the Earth years ago and loved it. So imagine my surprise when World Without End was released. I wanted to buy both together from Amazon.ca but unfortunately, I will not. I refuse, absolutely refuse to buy any novel that has "Oprah's Book Club" on it. It is insipid and ridiculous to have someone else's name who has zero to do with the actual writing, editing, or reviewing of books! She is a talk show host and nothing more. I think it is unfair to foist this person on the paying public and those of us who feel the same should make our feelings known.
Please stop advertising her name on every book she happens to read. I have read many books in my life that did not require her approval. I refuse to pay for a novel with anyone else's name on the cover but the actual writer of the book.
Shame, too. I would have loved to buy both novels and enjoy them both.
The Pillars of the Earth was one of the best historical novels ever written. Too bad I can't buy it and enjoy it.
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A well written noverl but with typical potty mouth parts
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There were a few drawbacks on this otherwise well-written novel.
One definite 5 star aspect to this book was the ease with which the characters were easily remembered. All too often in books, you forget who is who and what they did and yada yada. But each character was clear in your mind.
One drawback was his tendency get into potty mouth writing when describing the actions of the villain, as though he enjoyed describing it more then getting the message across. Some restraint would have been called for in this one area. This is all too often the case in our movies and books these days and it gets a bit nauseous. Furthermore, it seems every time this character was dealt with he insisted on describing in ridiculous detail more of this nonsense. If you don't like this nonsense you might try a different book.
He does pull the carpet out from you if you forget who the principal character of the book is. I have to admit he did spin a pretty good yarn and you never knew exactly what was going to transpire next, and you often guessed wrong, yet the direction it took was entirely plausible.
Though he did keep the characters all clear, it was plain that he had a picture of the lay of the land but for some reason was unable to describe it well enough so you knew exactly where you were in relation to everywhere else, so he could include a map for you to follow along with.
But besides, is was a pretty good read indeed. However, though this was a huge epic novel, believe it or not it seems he rushed the ending a bit. One of the characters in the beginning of the book who was given beautiful attention, was virtually forgotten at the end.
It wasn't a gripping novel that you had to keep turning the pages, but it was interesting enough to keep you reading the 900 odd pages.
It was an interesting mixture of Ken's imaginary people and the real people of the period (1050-about 1090 AD), that got me doing research of my own after reading it.
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Good read
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This book was enjoyable to read and actually kept my interest throughout the approximately 900 pages. It is very delightful, however I haven't really thought more from the book since I finished it. It's one of those novels that one enjoys whilst reading it, but afterwards its put at the back shelf.
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A highly readable and engrossing novel
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When a novel is as thick as "Pillars of the Earth", I am usually skeptical whether it will keep me interested throughout. And, the start was slow, but only for a couple of pages. And then, it really started. I had a tough time putting the book down before I reached the ending. The depiction of medieval times was so vivid that I could picture the villages, the buildings and the people quite clearly in my mind, almost as if I were watching a movie instead of reading a novel. The storyline is very good and kept me on my toes as if the book were a modern day suspense thriller. If you want to spend a couple of days reading a good novel, you cannot go wrong with this one.
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