Well, I finished it, all 900-some pages. Did I end up liking it more than when I first started? Not really, no. Which is especially disappointing because I love historical novels and am interested in monastic life, church architecture, and religion in general. The one aspect that bugged me the most was that anything to do with sex – and there was plenty of it – was not well written, and most was unnecessary, especially the multiple rape scenes. What’s worse is that you feel like Follett got some perverted enjoyment out of writing them.
And yet, Pillars has been on many best seller lists. Oprah chose it for her book club. In 2006, German readers voted it the third-most popular book, after The Lord of the Rings and the Bible (whaaaat?).
Am I missing something?
The historical details and intricacy of the interweaving stories and characters is impressive, but given the time Pillars took to read and how much I actually liked reading it, it’s not a book I would recommend.
