Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

I will not read an eight hundred page (plus) novel again! What are the publishers thinking of when they publish an hardback book that is 851 pages? Don't they realize we will get bored at some point, even if the book is interesting? I know that there is a lot to say about World War One, and I know that Ken Follett is probably the author to say it. But honestly, I get antzy and want to move on to something else by page 542 of any book.

An 851 page book is also impossible to hold in my preferred reading position - in bed on my side. Do most people read sitting up in a chair or with the book on the table in front of them? I don't think so unless you are studying and this is not a studying type of book. I think that Ken Follett has earned the right to make his books any damn length he wants to, but please, publishers and editors, talk him out of it next time. It's too big a commitment for any but the most loyal fans.

My dad, who sadly passed two years ago, was a most loyal fan and would have cherished this book. I'm sorry that he didn't get to read it. Follett has, again, written a most readable book with an historically accurate story. And I did persevere for my father's sake. No - 'persevere' sounds like it was a struggle and it most certainly was not. If anything is was a pleasure to read this book. There was no 'a-ha' moment in the end but there was good and honest story telling.

The book begins by developing some supremely likeable characters in some very real situations. There is an Earl and a Coalminer, an Earl's sister and a Housekeeper, an upper-class American, an upper-class German and a lower-class Russian. Their lives intermingle and twirl around each other as WWI heats up, begins, plays out, and ends in all its glory and horror. A couple of years ago I read 'Paris, 1919' by Margaret MacMillan, which is about the six months of peace talks involving Wilson, Lloyd George and Clemenceau. It was an engrossing expose (that's an e with an accent) on the history of peace negotiation and the high cost of war. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the foundations of politics on a global scale. Follett takes these events and turns them into a very readable popular fiction novel.

There are real historical characters in this book and the fictional characters have much to do with them and are in their confidences. This is a great way to make history real to readers who know nothing about WWI. It was a devastating event and it does not have a prominent place in school lessons any longer. Follett is obviously passionate about the politics and economics surrounding WWI and has not pulled his punches when it comes to aiming squarely in the right corner of who is to blame for the absurdities of this war. He obviously means no disrespect to the soldiers who fought and died in this war but means all disrespect to the military, political powers and bankers who kept it going for so long with such a devastation loss of life.

And I must say something about Follett's descriptions of 'place'. The landscapes, big and small, in a novel are most important to me. If I cannot feel the place the author is placing his characters in, if I cannot smell and see and hear the surroundings of the people I am reading about, then the book doesn't work for me. Follett does situate his characters in places that speak as much as those characters do. In the depths of the coal mine you can feel the lack of air and the damp. In the trenches of France you can smell the foulness of the air and feel the mud squishing around army boots. In the small apartments of St. Petersburgs in winter you can hear the wails of hungry children and feel the desparate cold. Follett is a master of setting a scene without intruding on his own storyline.

Ken Follett takes on a big project in writing this book and covers every step of the way with love affairs, personal tragedies, and families as the fore-front subjects in this novel. He skillfully shows how the war affects them all by bringing people together and separating them forever. Read this novel. It will teach you about a place in history that should have taught us bigger lessons than it did, while entertaining you with people that you will feel fondly for and remember long after the reading has ended. And if you like this novel you must read 'Pillars of the Earth' as well. But that is for another Book View sometime.

I will not harp on about this but...Nancy Pearl, Seattle Librarian Extraodinaire, said that once you reach 50 years of age you only need to read 50 pages of a book before you decide to continue or stop. The first 50 pages of this book were good enough to keep me going. But from now on I will not even pick up a book that is too thick to fit comfortable under my pillow when I fall asleep at night. I may miss out on some fabulous books and I may break this vow occassionally but this is going to be my rule of thumb (and I can safely say this now that we know for sure that there will be no more Harry Potter books (smilely face)).
Happy Reading, Rhonda