a book I couldn't read

[avrelia]

In order to post more I should post more. and so here is me posting again. this time about a book that I disliked very much. I don't have much time to read, and half of the stuff I do read is baby-related, but occasionally I get something else, mostly from the library. thankfully, I didn't have to pay for this one.

Long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, in a country that doesn't exist anymore, I was sixteen years old. I read a book then that made a great impression on me - "Pillars of the Earth", by Ken Follett. (well, I read a great deal of books that made impressions on me then, but the story is about this one.) it had a tragic mystery and medieval English history, and building a cathedral, and romance and sex. There couldn't be too much sex in a book, as far as I was concerned at sixteen, and I reread this book several times.

So, now I read a follow-up story - "World without end", which is not a true sequel, since the story takes place two hundred years after the first one, but it is the same town and the same cathedral. and soon enough I felt that it is exactly the same book. I started jumping through pages and in the middle of the book I stopped completely. the were many reasons why I believe it is a bad book, and if one reads one-star and two-star reviews on Amazon, one can find them all. I agree with many reviewers there, and here is what stood out for me: it's boring. Really, really boring. There are too many sex scenes, which is not bad in itself, but they are are awkwardly written, unrealistic (all heroines always enjoy it, even when they are being raped or have sex with people they hate), and utterly boring. the characters are made of cardboard and seem to come from the first book unchanged. The author did some research in material life of Middle ages, but I cannot suspend my disbelieve that high to read how as soon as any of characters get wronged they take matters to court in London. But it is a small thing. most characters are stereotypes, anyway. the villains are evil, the priests are greedy, the monks and nuns have sex all the time (monks with monks and nuns with nuns), the main heroine came differently from 21 century... You know, I like strong independent girls in books I read. But this one, Caris - she is insufferable, unreasonable, I have no clue where she got her ideas - her feminism isn't grounded in anything she could see around her, or experience herself, it's "pastede on yay." Plus, she, apparently, invents all the modern medicine all by herself.

But the main thins is that it is a badly written, repetitive, boring book. It feels like re-hashing of the first one. and I have to admit that the first one wasn't that good either. Which means, I, at least grew up and improved my critical facilities in the last 16 years.

to cleanse my mind I am rereading "Perilous Gard" by Elizabeth Marie Pope, which is as good as ever, with nothing superfluous in it, nothing stupid, and all Kate's rationality is firmly rooted in her time and place and people she talked to.

Comments

[ringthebells]

I actually read Pillars of the Earth just about a year ago, and rather enjoyed it—but the friend who lent it to me did warn me that the sequel wasn't very good.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I loved the Pillars a lot, but I read it too long ago, so I have no idea, how they would fare with me now. Probably not bad, as it is a better book than the sequel. My main annoyances with the WWE were that it is basically all the same with less coherent binding, plus utterly insufferable characters.

[ringthebells]

Actually although I enjoyed Pillars overall (the cathedral-building stuff was cool, and who doesn't like seeing a horrible villain meet a nasty fate?) -- I was kind of scarred by the beginning. See, my friend gave it to me to read right after my baby was born. So I was reading it with my 2-week-old baby asleep on my lap ... and do you remember how it starts? With the mother dying in childbirth in the woods, and then the father leaving the baby on the mother's corpse to die of exposure? Gah!

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I remember it. Yes, not something I would want to read a year ago, even now it would be hard. but after giving birth I couldn't read or hear anything about children or baby animals dying without bursting into tears...

when I was pregnant we saw Pan's labyrinth and then, for same reason, Star Wars III - they are forever joined for me since then as Movies About Dying in Childbed

[ringthebells]

after giving birth I couldn't read or hear anything about children or baby animals dying without bursting into tears...

Me too! The intensity of my reaction was really surprising to me.