This is for the speedsters, bless your hearts! I'll be away the 1st part of the week, Mon-Thurs. and then we'll wrap up this baby!

I really enjoyed this read. I read it as a work of fiction, which it is and hated to see it end. I felt Follett did a good job acquainting us with his characters, good and evil. I would have liked to see more of Ellen in there as she was such a spitfire and so high spirited. I just really enjoyed her character. I didn't want this one end but it was time.
I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. And I am so glad that I bought my copy instead of using the library as I am certain that I will one day want a reread of it.
I will be looking forward to meeting all of you mid January for the follow-up read of World Without End and keep my fingers crossed that I will feel differently than some reviews I have read.
Happy reading and I thank you all for taking part in a really great group read. We owe a great deal of thanks to Mark. He did a great job, but it is the readers whose comments and sharing of feelings on the book that make the read. So kudos to all of you and to Mark!~!
belva

I liked this section of the story as well. I have to say that never in a million years did I think that William could be sheriff. Still hoping for someone to do him in! Prior Phillip continues to amaze me. I am hoping that in the last section the cathedral will be finished.
--BJ

I stayed up too late last night to finish the book. It was worth it, though I am grumpy this morning.

Overall, loved the story, the characters, the book, everything. I only became annoyed at the high drama in one part. Without too much spoiling, the trial reminded me very much of American daytime soap operas which felt cheap to me. At a couple of points I thought, "This is where they would break to a commercial" and "This is how the soap opera people would leave it on a Friday afternoon." But I understand the necessity.

A big part of me loving it was the active discussion. Thanks to Mark for organizing us and thanks to everyone who posted. I really enjoyed it!

Now that this is the end section I can feel free to say what I think without spoiling it for you.

The history of this book is as interesting as the book itself. How and why did it become a megastar? I spotted this book when it first came out - back in the 80's. I even purchased a trade paperback copy of it and fully intended to read it. However, I just never did. Eventually it got lost in the shuffle and finally I sold all of my books in a yard sale. From time-to-time somebody would mention it and I would think oh yea! I need to read that. I was very surprised that Oprah picked it for her book club. I thought it had long since disappeared into obscurity. Then just before the sequel came out Oprah picks it for her book club. Good timing? Since I have grown cynical over the years I figured that because of Oprah Ken Follett wouldn't have to write another book. PUblisher/publicity in cohoots? Maybe. Even probable.

When it was published it was a surprise even then as Follett was a spy novel thriller author and a big historical novel was a departure from his normal fare. So why didn't it fall out of sight? Europe. In particular Germany. When the book was translated the German editor added some architectural drawings that were heavily influenced by the children's book author David Macaulay. In particular his books Cathedral and Castle. These were published about 25 years ago and break down the building of a cathedral using architectural line drawings. The same type of pencil line drawings were inserted into the German edition of Pillars. The book was a hit and when the drawings were inserted in other European editions continued to have strong sales. When the Oprah edition was produced the line drawings were included in it.

I am not saying that Oprah and line drawings alone account for the success of the book, but they certainly helped. Illustrations in a book are illuminating, and publicity never hurt a book yet. There is no doubt that it is a strong story, but we have already established in this group read that there are some major flaws in this book. In my opinion it is a good work of historical fiction but there are other works of fiction about the building of cathedrals that are as good or better. Several LTers have given me titles of more of these books to add to my TBR list.

I finally read it because two good friends of mine read it and wanted to know what I thought of it. (Never underestimate the power of a friend and the pull of wanting to talk about the book with others.) This was after it was made an Oprah selection. For me it was a good book about medieval life with a strong story line, but it was not a book with medieval characters I could believe were real. There were too many 20th century ideals and mores in the major characters. Probably the truest characters were Richard, who was a spoiled knight as bad in his way as was William, Jack who was dominated by his art, and Phillip who was an example of a good Benedictan monk.

Will I read the sequel? If I get time.

#5. Fascinating message. I have my doubts about the rage Oprah creates for products. However, I do think she has boosted the book industry overall, and I am grateful for that.

I read the book on my Kindle, so the only illustrations one picture at the start of each part, so 6 drawings total. Sounds like there were more in the actual book.

My book had 6 drawings as well. But I loved looking at them.
--BJ

And I just plain loved it!~!
But I would be interested in the titles of the other fictional books on cathedrals that were mentioned. I love this era of time for fiction and nonfiction alike.
belva

In that case, Belva, have you read the Brother Cadfael books? 20 detective stories all except for the first one set during the war between Stephen and Matilda? They are by Ellis Peters and feature a monk living in Shrewsbury Abbey on the border between England and Wales as the detective. No cathedral building but lots of medieval every day life.

The new editions of the book (Oprah and editions that came out in 2002) have six architectural pencil type drawings inserted between the sections of the book. These pictures are not in the editions previous to 2002.

The Macaulay books are very common and can be found in the children's section of most libraries and book stores. Macaulay's work was a benchmark in the children's book world as many experts in that field thought that children wouldn't like the drawings because they were too technical. The experts were wrong. There is now a 25th Anniversary edition of Cathedral that is about how the original got published and how Macaulay did the drawings for the book. He has a book on castles and towns that have lots of information in them about medieval cities. His book Building Big also has lots in it about construction and engineering feats from that time period.

There are several adult works of fiction specifically about cathedrals that might be of interest to you. Cathedral of the Sea is a book translated from the Spanish about medieval Spain. LTer's in another group discussion pointed me in the direction of another series. Heaven Tree Trilogy by Edith Pargeter. This is a pen name of the same person who wrote the Brother Cadfael series. I believe that her other pen names are Ellis Peters and Sharon Kay Penman.

The Heaven Tree Trilogy as published in the US is an omnibus. (All three books in one bound volume.) These books were not available in the US for many years and have just been reprinted.

I forgot to mention that Bernard Cornwell has a series of books that are set in the late medieval period of the Hundred Years War. These aren't about cathedrals but about war in the Middle Ages. The latest one in that series is Agincourt. Also Barbara Tuchman wrote a classic about the middle ages A Distant Mirror. It has a little bit of everything about the medieval period in it. I have been trashing Tracy Chevalier lately becuase Burning Bright was such a mess, but her book Lady and the Unicorn and lots of information in it about medieval life in general.

well I have to say, that I agree with those who point out that the characters don't act/think according to their time. You could make the argument that Follet did it so that we could relate better to the characters. But at some point he put Jonathan playing football... that's pushing it.

p.s. most people ignored the schedule... I think the discussion would have been even more lively if everybody was discussing the same thing at he same time...

Yes, Edith Pargeter was Ellis Peters's real name. But Sharon Kay Penman is a different person, who wrote a novel about Stephen and Maud, When Christ and His Saints Slept.

My paperback version of Pillars of the Earth which came out in 1990 has architectural drawings between the parts. Are they different from the drawings in the most recent edition?

I'm still with the schedule, but this is mainly due to my short commute and lack of reading time. I was pleased to meet Elizabeth, although feel sorry she's got such a rotten life being married to William. I've got a feeling things will go better for her once Will gets his comeuppance, and am looking forward to reading that part of the book.

I am still enjoying the book, don't get me wrong but at this moment in time we seem to be going round in circles. It's being built / problem, solved. being built / problem, solved ... I understand that this is what makes the story compulsive reading and I am desperate to get to the end to find out what happens to all the characters (including the cathedral itself), but at this moment in time I'm just wishing they would finish the damn thing :)
it seems to maybe have been one problem too many, it seems never-ending.

It's amazing to me that a book almost 1000 pages long keeps my attention, even though there are parts I don't much like. For being such a long book, it's still a fairly quick read, and it definitely keeps your attention.

It only seemed never-ending because I had to pause so long between sections. I think if I had read it straight through, the fight between good and evil might not have been so glaringly cyclical.

I'm going away this weekend so stayed up last night and finished part 5. Thank goodness someone did something terminal to Alfred. Yay Richard!

Excellent comments everyone, but it's not over yet! BTW, I also really enjoyed this section. Also glad to see Alfred go, too bad William didn't tag a long too. On to Part 6: http://www.librarything.com/topic/71020