The Pillars of the Earth Paperback – 15 June 2023

the story has two main characters , Philemon and the cathedral. the story begins with an old church and a boy who enters the monastery at a very young age . how this monk becomes the prior of the church and how he controls the monastery and how he builds the cathedral over his life time is the story.Moreover there is another character, Tom builder who is in charge of building the cathedral who comes from a very poor background and his stepson jack who takes over his project after his death both of whom are very interesting in their own way.Of course there is an evil earl ( most earls are evil by the standards of 21st century) who tries to stop the building of cathedral.You may think building a cathedral is very boring but in fact the story is quite the opposite with thrilling power struggles in the earldom. the power struggle between the bishops, priors , monks, stone masons, trade guild etc. Also the life of poor persons are also beautifully weaved into the story. even the monks who have renounced the earthly needs find themselves in exploitation, rivalry among themselves, forming groups among them, serving errands to earls or bravely and shrewdly opposing and defeating them, guiding the life of the town people

While reading this book I wondered if someone would write a similar book on the construction of the Ram Janmabhumi Temple. This is the first book in a series of three books and I have read only one till now. I think the other two need to be read too. It is a page-turner and the storytelling keeps readers captivated!

I still haven't finished but read enough to make a verdict. At first you will be kind of let down by the slow pace of the story but soon you will be too caught up to do anything but read on. One small point. If you are too easily disturbed by cruelty to animals or children then you may have to step carefully. Otherwise it is a solid piece of gold. Extremely well written and a novel to satisfy the intellect as well as the senses.

It is no doubt one of the best historical novels ever written. It captures the hard life of common men caught between royal intrigues and how their lives got destroyed for whims of the powerful. It shows love and sacrifice and the indomitable courage of people both poor and rich to rebuild their lives after destiny has thrown them to the bottomless abyss of misfortune. And it has in it the beautiful story of Cathedral architecture through the eyes of the poor but ambitious Tom builder. It is the story of triumph of human willpower over destiny and will inspire many generations.

What a page turner!!!! Right from the very first page till the last page not even a single dull moment.Politics,love,war,kindness,treason,vengeance, adventurism and cathedral,the pillars of the earth has everything a well weaved novel should have.At around 1100 odd pages initially it would seem an uphill task to get through this but once anyone starts reading this,I can vouch that it is unputdownable.Just go for it, you wont regret it.PS: Just as there is action on the very first page,dont presume the book is over before it actually gets finished because there is something even in the last few pages.

So strange how some novels give you a totally different experience the second time.The first time I read POTE was in the 1990s. This was after being a fan of Eye of the Needle and may be a few more Follett best sellers.I remember being completely bowled over then. Have been recommending it to all my friends and rating it among my Top 5.And then the second reading now, this time on Kindle.Almost all of my visual memories of the first reading were shown to be wrong. Kingsbridge looked so different, and the main characters' faces were totally different this time. Most likely because of the nearly 30 years of elapsed time.But the story itself, while it still held my attention enough to finish it in a week, felt quite a bit laboured. And not necessarily because I have read it before - actually I have forgotten many of the plot points.In contrast, there have been novels which got better the more often I read them - e.g. Ponniyin Selvan, a Tamil novel in 5 parts written in the 50s depicting almost exactly the same period as POTE but in Southern India. I have read it end to end (takes a month unless you don't eat) 3 times, and several favorite chapters many more times. Never tired of it.

One of the best work i have read from a author which has a good plot and good characters and the pace of the book never slow down.

Book is nice but its too long and boring. Same story from starting was strached to the level of breaking till 1100 pages!!