A Place Called Freedom

This book was recommended to me by a friend who loved it, but I didn't.

Stylistically, Follett is like a fourth-grader with lofty aspirations but no real skill or subtlety. I felt continually led by the nose and given commands on how to think and react.

Consider this passage, thrown gratuitously into Mack's cross-examination of the villain in a courtroom scene. "Gordon said: 'You should be a lawyer, Mack. Where did you learn to argue like that?'" Come on, now. If we can't decide whether Mack's argument is convincing, then we're too damn stupid to be reading books with abstract themes anyway. But Follett is too insecure to let his action and dialogue speak for itself, so he insists on inserting an onlooker to pronounce from on high that show more Mack's argument was good.

And there's the nonstop exposition on what characters think and feel, almost all of it fully disconnected from the action. Can't we have a character who does things that a person feeling an emotion would do, instead of just being told about the emotion? "Lizzie was happy. She was scared and anxious and guilty, but she could not help smiling. She was out of doors, on a horse, beside the man she loved, beginning a great adventure. In her mind she worried about what might happen, but her heart sang." It's kind of him to specify that the place where she did her worrying was "in her mind," but how she's holding so much worry, fear, and guilt in there while her heart sings is far from clear. But Follett seems unaware that emotions and inner conflict usually have physical expression; he's satisfied to describe a woman smiling on a horse, fling allegations of an inner state, and call it a day. I picture stick figures drawn in crayon. The whole book is like that.

If the Pillars of the Earth was a letdown; this is a total collapse. The fact that it deals with grand themes of freedom and justice only makes it worse, because such themes deserve better than this book's ineptitude. You'll never catch me touching another Ken Follett book. show less

A page turner, describes the struggle of a miner in Scotland who is forced to become indentured in America. Good evocation of his journey and some decent descriptions of settings and thehistorical context. That said, this is basically a love story---the miner and the woman who is forced to wed a ne'er do well aristocrat. With a fair amount of attention to erotic detail (pretty well done), the story is a bit too Hollywood-ended.

I wanted to read another Scottish tale to compare the experience against the Outlander that's back in vogue. I've been reading that series and thought of this book which is set in the same time period (1700) and I like Ken Follett's historical fiction. So I read A Place Called Freedom.

The biggest difference in the experience was the story's voice. I found Ken Follett's writing to be more formal. Though he presents a good image of the characters, time period, and unique human scenes, the prose doesn't touch the heart as deeply. In that regard, Outlander shines a higher score.

This does not mean it's not worth the time reading - it is a good book. The story did tug on my heart, especially the scenes that showed the horrid treatment of the show more people back then, the miners, and even children. As a mother of four reading the sections, where they were shipped off as 'indentured slaves' and when working in the mine, moved me. I am very thankful things have changed.

The two strong protagonists, Lizzie & Mac have stories that weave together in and out until the final conclusion. They find what they had been searching for - freedom. The storyline has a love relationship that develops over years, a great villain in the character Jay, and lots of confrontation and obstacles to overcome.

If you want not only historical fiction, but also action adventure and romance, then this book's a wise choice to read. show less

I picked this up because of its purportedly dealing with an aspect of Scottish history that I was interested in - the perpetuation of feudal slavery in the Scottish mines. I soon discovered that the author knew and understood even less about the period and the system then I did - for example he presents a punishment that was often fatal (and intended to be so) as merely tiring and embarrassing.

This is simply a unhistorical vehicle for a trite and banal romance, in which every character is a banal cliché.

I will never waste my time on another novel by this author.

The history the storyline follows is intriguing - in 1767 a Scottish coal miner learns he was not born a slave and continues to question and disrupt the existing power structures around him (reflecting the lower populaces' sentiments) as he journeys to London (coal-heaver offloading ships), Virginia (indentured convict on a tobacco plantation), and finally over the Cumberland Gap to a life in service of what he chooses. But the caliber of writing makes me hesitant to read another work by Follett.

This is my favorite Follett yet, but mostly because i really like the historical period that he is writing about. Again, another strong female heroine and complicated characters. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it was too short... I was upset that it was over!

This was the first book I ever read by this author, and I ended up enjoying it. It was surprising to hear about white people being held as slaves (or practically slaves) in a time where it was usually the black person in that situation, so I found this book to be rather educational. I certainly am glad I wasn't a coal-miner back then, these white 'slaves' were really not much better off (and sometimes worse-off) than the blacks because they had to work in caves all day and deal with black lung and all that other stuff that comes from mining without proper safety equipment.

This coal stuff happens in Scotland, but a good part of the story also happens in America (hence the title of this book) with several good main characters and a show more convincing story. show less