Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

6 reviews

delvesinshelves's review against another edition

I spent quite a while weighing the merits of this book and my own interest in the material against the gratuitous rape scenes and obscene misogynistic perspectives. 
I don’t shy away from challenging books, but there has to be a strong why when it comes to this degree of sexual violence. 
The most recent series  I read with content of this sort is the Poppy War trilogy, which deliberately covers a parallel to the rape of nanking. 
This book is not covering real historical events, and not all of the rape/attempted rape seems to be serving a purpose of any kind in the story. 
I was really excited to read about the building of a historical cathedral over the decades, but I think this book may be harmful without sufficient redeeming qualities for me to push through. DNF. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Gore, Death of parent, Death, Rape, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Grief, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage

joypouros's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Such an interesting and well-behaved story. The length makes it quite the undertaking, but the storytelling makes it go quickly. 

The rape makes this difficult in places, yet that's a major part of a main character's, and several other character's, arc and story.

Follett does a good job showing the reader what motivates each character and how that leads to inevitable conflict. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Animal death, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Minor: Antisemitism and Miscarriage

joey1914's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Blood, Cursing, Miscarriage, and Rape

Moderate: Abandonment

turtlebucket's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Amazing read (twice) but I cannot give a 5 with the gratuitous and constant violence and sexual assault of women and the overt ways all male characters describe women. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Xenophobia, Classism, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, War, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Rape

seanml's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

It can be hard to tell the difference between an author’s thoughts and a character’s thoughts. I’m still not entirely sure when a hypersexual thought came from Follett or when it came from 

Tom, or William

. The first half of this book had me unsure, reading through the atrocities of 

William Hamleigh

  in graphic detail, and the sexual emphasis placed on 

Ellen.

  However, by the second half it had gone above and beyond. I’m sure it isn’t perfect, but it is a monumental effort and execution. 8.5/10. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Cultural appropriation, Excrement, Gore, Infertility, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, and Self harm

maxamoose's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

An 806-page book spanning almost half of a dark-age century centered on the construction of a fictional cathedral-

actually, more like THREE cathedrals

. That doesn't sound like a page turner to me. Yet it so, entirely is. It's an over-used metaphor to describe a well constructed plot, but Follet's Pillars of the Earth truly is a masterfully woven tapestry of characters, intrigue, motive, backstabbing, violence and more.

It can be a brutal book. There are portions, of considerable page count, where it feels nothing goes right, where the villains- and these are villains, there are few "grey" characters in this story- find ways to take more from the protagonists than I could possibly foresee. In truth, this can almost detract from the read, as it is hard to imagine one persevering in the face of such hardship. Graphic violence, physical, sexual, emotional, even spiritual, accompanies each setback. Yet the characters, particularly the older generation, in my opinion, react to the setbacks in just the right way, neither too despairing, nor too unaffected, that even after such a slog of defeat, I continued to be hopeful and admiring of their struggles.

Most of the characters spin a distinct gear in the cogs of medieval society, and most of them are passionate in their roles. Follet translates these passions to writing fantastically, even those of the villains. The original architect of the cathedral so central to the novel, for example, simply oozes love and knowledge for constructing his monument to god, and the prior destined to run it is admirable in his devotion to both god and the project, as well as the wellbeing of his fellows.

The cast of characters are the true stars of the novel, the cathedral simply the knot that ties them together. Most of them are extremely well crafted, flawed, and most of them grow. A few get lost in the plot, particularly a character named Martha who is just... around. She starts off seeming like she will grow into an important character, molded by struggling through extreme hardship at a young age. She instead hangs around the main cast, and is rarely even mentioned. I also found one of the main characters of the younger generation to be rather boring. He falls into the trope of too-smart for his setting, young and therefore innovative, destined for greatness because everyone can see it in him, not because he actually does much to earn it. Yet it is forgivable, especially because his love interest is my pick of the bunch.

And one last thing, if you are sensitive to violence in writing, this may not be the book for you. There are several particularly brutal and graphic acts of sexual assault, so make sure you are okay to read such passaged before jumping in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Miscarriage