Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

15 reviews

heartfelthullabaloo's review against another edition

challenging 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? No

4.0

I honestly am struggling with what to rate this because on one hand I want to give it five stars for an epic tale, but on the other I want to give it two for all the rape. Oh my gosh! I’ve never experienced so much rape before in my whole life! I bet if you took every single movie I’ve watched, every book I’ve read, every person whose told me they were raped and put them together it still wouldn’t add up to all the rape that happened in this book. It was crazy! And descriptive! Like super descriptive! Also, the author is clearly a tits guy. He looooves to talk about big tits, and nipples and how heavy they are, and soft and the way they hang and sway and move and feel. There was a lot of sexual stuff going on for a book about monks. Maybe the author was fascinated enough about the way cathedrals were built to write a book, but he’s equally fascinated with top heavy women. 

William was the WORST bad guy! I absolutely loathed him and I cannot believe how much he got away with, it was OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!! So, kudos to the author for writing someone to root against. 

The politics of the Catholic Church! The things that they sanctioned is sickening and infuriating. Trying to play a giant chess game to rise to power and using God as a tool to justify your actions is awful. I can’t imagine why anyone is still catholic to this day. Sure, they’re not all like that and they did some good and helped some people but man, the corruption is hard to look past. 

The actual story itself, was great. Will I read the next one? Sure will because we’re about to go on a plague kick and I’ve heard that’s coming up next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death, Murder, and Sexual violence

basbleu_dans_labiblioteque's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.0

im a huge fan of historical fiction, especially medieval historical fiction. I was really excited for this book, because it was in a setting I find fascinating and was clearly accurate and well-researched, but this guy did not pull it off. Some of the book was boring, and there was quite a bit that was downright painful to read.

Also, that bearbaiting scene absolutely did not need to take around 5 pages!

I couldn’t care about any of the characters, and the book was so. Repetitive.

The “good guys”(Aliena, Jack, Phillip, etc.) would do something good, Waleran Bigod would make a plan, Hamleigh would show up, murder some people and rape somebody, and we’d be back to the beginning.

For 975 pages. All in all, I ended up reading it out of obligation: I felt like I was already into it so I might as well finish.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Classism, and Gore

aether_seawo1f's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Glacial pacing for the first 600 pages, the last 400 are decent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Ableism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and War

dielilla's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Alcohol, Cursing, Infertility, and Vomit

schnarlie's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Torture, Murder, Misogyny, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Slavery, Pregnancy, War, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Alcoholism

Minor: Racism, War, Abandonment, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and Infertility

cheazcakeguy's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I only finished this because I read it for a book club. Way too much unnecessarily explicit SA & pedophilia (just because it's "historically accurate" does not mean I want to read full details of a 14-year-old being r*ped by someone twice her age), characters were mostly one dimensional and often more like caricatures, and the pacing was uneven. The plot and the character Philip were the only things keeping me going, as it is ultimately a good story. The descriptions of the cathedral and the building process were also great. However, all of the tension and story beats ended up feeling super repetitive and recycled, and for the last couple hundred pages I was rolling my eyes at the dramatic twists and turns which felt contrived and meaningless at that point. I really wanted to love this book, but ultimately it was unremarkable. Hard to recommend, unless you like to read soap operas with one-note characters and you're okay with repeated graphic SA. I suppose if you *really* like drama and architecture, and have extreme patience, this is the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: War and Emotional abuse

Minor: Child death, Alcohol, Animal death, Antisemitism, and War

breadwitchery's review against another edition

adventurous slow-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Misogyny, Death, Violence, and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Pedophilia, and War

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Confinement, Fatphobia, and Alcohol

siniandi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I understand that this is one of Follett's most beloved works. It is a densely packed work spanning several decades; the plot is nicely interwoven with historical elements and makes one reflect on power structures and injustices that in some form persist to this day. I honestly loved most of the characters and the way the flaws of even the "good" characters reflect in the story. Follett makes sure to create a strong female protagonist, which I love. She seems believable and strong and wields power in ways realistic for the era.

The description of women and sex scenes are a quite male gaze-y though (as is usually the case in Follett's work) and the ending comes a little abrupt and too neatly, as if he really wanted to finish after 1000 pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Bullying, War, Confinement, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Classism, and Cursing

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

flowerowl's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Death of parent, Hate crime, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Stalking, Alcohol, Animal death, Gaslighting, and Grief