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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
What I love about his books: his characters are SO round and dynamic and the story, setting, and plot are so well researched, I finish the book just a touch smarter than I was before I started.
I checked this out because I really enjoyed Pillars of the Earth. This is not as good. And while I understand that everyone in the world is always and forever thinking about sex almost exclusively, I felt that Follett's need to show this preoccupation didn't always move the plot forward.
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While it dragged at the end, it was otherwise a satisfying historical epic. I'll read the next one.
Many of the major conflicts of our age had their germination in the talks that unfolded post WWI & II. I am thinking particularly of the dismantling of Colonialism in Vietnam (formerly French Indo-China), Rhodesia, and Central Africa. The divvying up of nations and boundaries that we take for granted simply did not exist pre-WWI. The genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda are to some extent rooted in these decisions.
Follett’s ‘Fall of Giants’ gives an insightful view of how radically the world has changed from before WWI to afterwards. The strength of his narrative lies in how he weaves the lives of ordinary people (and some not so ordinary) into course of history. What was so fresh for me was how reveals the complexity of events that let to the outbreak of WWI.
For so long I have been baffled by how 3 cousins could be party to such a horrific conflict (the British King, the German Kaiser, and the Russian Tsar). Follett writes against the popular and naïve view that attributes all the blame simply to German aggression. He goes behind the scenes and shows the complexity of these events, the many people from all sides who were opposed to war, as well as the folly and arrogance of many of the political and military rulers. For me this was a wonderful, informative, and thought provoking novel.
Follett’s ‘Fall of Giants’ gives an insightful view of how radically the world has changed from before WWI to afterwards. The strength of his narrative lies in how he weaves the lives of ordinary people (and some not so ordinary) into course of history. What was so fresh for me was how reveals the complexity of events that let to the outbreak of WWI.
For so long I have been baffled by how 3 cousins could be party to such a horrific conflict (the British King, the German Kaiser, and the Russian Tsar). Follett writes against the popular and naïve view that attributes all the blame simply to German aggression. He goes behind the scenes and shows the complexity of these events, the many people from all sides who were opposed to war, as well as the folly and arrogance of many of the political and military rulers. For me this was a wonderful, informative, and thought provoking novel.
adventurous
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
The pages fly by in this first entry of Ken Follett's expansive Century Trilogy. He does an excellent job of weaving many storylines together without losing the reader.
We discuss this and other favorites in the Historical Fiction genre here: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-57-historically-fictitious
We discuss this and other favorites in the Historical Fiction genre here: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-57-historically-fictitious