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Loading... Fall of Giants (original 2010; edition 2011)by Ken Follet
Work detailsFall of Giants by Ken Follett (2010)
 JaneSteen | May 2, 2013 |  This was very good and very well written. I wasnt into all the political aspects of the story but that is just me. I loved all of the individual stories though. I will definitely be reading the 2nd book. (  ) susancrowe01 | Apr 27, 2013 | Historical fiction at its best. Spanning the globe with different families. Moving from place to place and never bogging down in one part of the story. Good characters and certainly creating an interest in what the next book will bring . (  ) librarian1204 | Apr 26, 2013 | What a fantastic read this was. I wish I could now start read book 2 and 3 but I guess I have to wait a while but I don't mind cause I know I will not forget this story. I have always loved books that is set in the area of the first world war and the second. What an area that was and how well this author showed us. This book has nearly 1000 pages but it is an easy read and you learn a lot while reading. I loved Pillars of The Earth but maybe I like this one even better or at least just as much. You get to know a lot of characters from different countries. They will all meet (only negative thing for me was it were a lot of coincidences involved. Someone meets a Russian in Wales and then meets the same person in America for instance.). Some of them are enemies, some are lovers and some are good friends. You will learn about the Russian revolution, the war of the trenches and much more. Highly recommend! ( ) Marlene-NL | Apr 12, 2013 | Overall I would consider this to be an average novel. The reason for this, in my opinion, is the huge canvas (by that I mean the plot) on which the writer "Ken Follett" tried to draw a story that involves five families across different continents. These families (Welsh, English, German, American and Russian) become interconnected as the they go through the extraordinary times of World War I and Russian Revolution. This vastness of the plot is both the strong and weak point of the book. On the one hand i appreciated the use of "history" as the main scaffold on which writer built the whole building of the novel but on the other hand it seemed absurd when the ordinary characters were advising the leading men of history about the decisions that later on changed the course of the history. However, the story was compelling enough to make me finish this huge book, but i admit that i had to struggle a bit especially in the middle. As far as the development of characters is concerned i would say that they are adequately developed and you develop some association with them as you move on. I liked the character of Billy Williams especially in the first part of novel, where he finds his courage in himself when he was left alone in the darkness. Most other characters like Ethel Williams, Fitzherberts, and Walter von Ulrich are well developed. In the end i would say the historic background was very well researched, perhaps the best i have read so for, and the novel is very readable. I would not say it is destined to be a classic but it was not bad either. I definitely recommend it if you are fan of historical fiction. (  ) Shahge | Apr 11, 2013 |
 Trotz peinlicher Sexszenen auf Groschenromanniveau und wie Untertassen dahinfliegender Dialoge: Ken Folletts neuer Roman ist gut recherchiert und freundlich-sozialdemokratisch - einer Verfilmung im Öffentlich-Rechtlichen steht nichts im Weg.  Die Aufteilung von erfundenen Schicksalen und weltgeschichtlich verbürgten Ereignissen löst Follett perfekt. Overall, Follett is masterly in conveying so much drama and historical information so vividly. He puts to good use the professional skills he has honed over the years — giving his characters a conversational style neither pseudo-quaint nor jarringly contemporary. That works well. And for all his belief in the redemptive quality of liberal humanism, he makes sure not to endow his characters with excessively modern sensibilities. As for the occasional cliché — well, unless you’re Tolstoy, you’re not going to have the time or the ability to be original throughout your 1,000-page blockbuster. Ken Follett is no Tolstoy, but he is a tireless storyteller, and although his tale has flaws, it’s grippingly told, and readable to the end. Despite all this, "Fall of Giants" offers pleasures that more than compensate for its lack of literary finesse. Follett may not be Tolstoy, but he knows how to tell a compelling, well-constructed story. Once its basic elements are in place, the narrative acquires a cumulative, deceptively effortless momentum. A lot happens on the first page of Ken Follett’s “Fall of Giants.” King George V is crowned at Westminster Abbey. A Welsh boy named Billy Williams turns 13 and begins his wretched life as a coal miner. And Mr. Follett, who was once a Welsh boy himself but grew up to become his generation’s most vaunted writer of colorless historical epics, kicks off a whopping new trilogy. His apparent ambition: to span the whole 20th century in blandly adequate novels so fat that they’re hard to hoist. Is contained inERROR Fall of Giants by Ken Follett ContainsERROR Fall of Giants by Ken Follett A Queda dos Gigantes - O Século I by Ken Follett (indirect)
No descriptions found. Follows the fates of five interrelated families--American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh--as they move through the dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage. (summary from another edition) |
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This Ken Follett blockbuster covers the lives of fictional Anglo-Welsh, Welsh, American, Russian and German characters from just before World War I, through the conflict, and in the years after the Armistice.
I usually enjoy a multi-plot-point saga like this, and Follett, on the whole, didn't disappoint. The plot lines were a bit predictable, but again it's that style of book, and besides I'm well enough acquainted with WWI to be able to see the Finger of Doom pointing.
I think my biggest peeve about the story is that at one point we stay in the Russian Revolution for what seems like a hundred years, while all the time I'm wondering what's happening to the other characters. Follett should have saved that for another book.
I have to say that John Lee's narration was a large part of the enjoyment. I particularly liked his Welsh accent, but his Russian, American and German characters were pretty convincing. He has a little habitual catch in the rhythm of his speech that irritated me slightly at times, but not overmuch. He pronounced the occasional swearwords with considerable emphasis - I had the impression he enjoyed those.
Definitely relaxation reading with little depth, although the scene in the village on Telegram Day was moving. I'll take in the next installment with interest. (