Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Les Piliers de la Terre by Ken Follett

23 reviews

susanknights's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bonesnhoney's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I have spent the last two months falling in love with this book. I am sad to see it go, but I am comforted that there are three more books in the series, not to mention television shows. I was awed by Follet's way of drawing you into the lives and development of the characters. There were moments where it was hard to continue reading due to my heart being ripped from my chest. I recommend this book to all!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Murder

maddyisreading23's review against another edition

4.5

!!! notice about the contents: rape, violence, animal abuse, domestic violence, sexism, bullying.

I decided to start the new year with a not so light reading and I don’t regret it.. I can’t describe the plot well because there are so many things going on, but I think I can say that it revolves around the construction of a cathedral in medieval England...but it is also a story of love, violence, revenge, politics, wars and battles, betrayal, hope, loss and other things.

Honestly I really liked this book, so I’ll start with the things I liked the most.
1. Each character was developed quite deeply and each chapter or section was narrated from the perspective of a different character. 
2. I really liked that although there are many different stories of many different people who have many different relationships with each other, each story comes to an "end" and has an explanation.
3. Despite the 1000 pages, the book was quite easy to read (well, most sometimes) because something always happened... you go from descriptive parts to very dynamic situations and dialogues. 
4. The length of the book allowed me to empathize with each character and it is something that I really enjoyed... Follet left nothing to chance.

In general I found it a very pleasant read.

Now let’s start with the things I didn’t like:
<SPOILER ALERT> 
1. I didn’t like (and I didn’t even really understand) the scene where Tom, on the same day that his wife died (giving birth to his child, by the way) dreams of having sex with an angel who, apparently, is Ellen, a woman with whom he had a 15 min conversation the same day. And I found it even stranger that she said things like, "I’ve loved you since I’ve seen you," like... you literally had ONE conversation with him. I think this part could have been written in a more normal and less ridiculous way... I think the author needed to find a fast way to get to Ellen and Toms love story.
2. Description of rape: scenes of rape weren't descripted that well...it was all from the rapist's perspective, which was William most of times, and I think the author didn't give these events the importance they would have deserved. 
Some of you may be asking: but the story isn't about this, a scene of rape isn't so important for this plot, INSTEAD I think it's essential. 
Obviusly, the most "important" of this kind of scenes is when William rapes Aliena. The act of raping is decribed in such a fast and insignificant way and it doesn't give a f about the fact that the rape is only the point of the iceberg...I mean, we read about Aliena and Williams story before the abuse, but the scene is described in such a dry way...
Also, Aliena starts talking only after the abuse and I wouldn't mind if she had talked about the rape...but she doesn't, or better, the author doesn't. This isolates the rape part even more. 
<END OF SPOILERS>
3. I understand that all the plot revolves around the construction of a cathedral, but I think some descriptive parts could have been avoided, because sometimes it was difficult not to skip those descriptive parts. 
In point 3 of things I liked about this book I wrote that there was balance, and this comment is refering only to specific little parts that in a 1000 pages book can make a difference. 

To sum up, I would recommend this book, but it's violent and cruel some times and I think sensitive people should stay in alert especially if you are suscetible to rape/sexual abuse because I think sometimes it has been described in a disturbing way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Animal death

worm_book's review against another edition

adventurous informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation

flowerowl's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

novelyon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Grief

tc_booksandmore's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Misogyny, Violence, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lillythebluepaladin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This was suuuuuuch a long, but exciting read!!
KEN FOLLETT SERIOUSLY KNOWS HOW TO WRITE TENSE AND EXCITING BOOKS!
My only criticism is probably how much "boobie" talk there was in it, that definetly made it clear that this was written by a middle aged man, BUT his female characters are most of the time greatly written, and the characters being all "booobiee, brrreastss, badonkas" were either extremely "thirsty" or disgusting misogynists, so it sense with their personalities and relationships, and we are talking about the middle ages, so I will let that slide.

Warning tho: This book is very graphic. The medieval ages were not fun to be in, and that is veeery reflected in this book. Check up on content warnings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, and Death of parent

seanml's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

It can be hard to tell the difference between an author’s thoughts and a character’s thoughts. I’m still not entirely sure when a hypersexual thought came from Follett or when it came from 

Tom, or William

. The first half of this book had me unsure, reading through the atrocities of 

William Hamleigh

  in graphic detail, and the sexual emphasis placed on 

Ellen.

  However, by the second half it had gone above and beyond. I’m sure it isn’t perfect, but it is a monumental effort and execution. 8.5/10. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Self harm, Excrement, Islamophobia, and Cultural appropriation

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Pillars of the Earth is far more engaging and compelling than a book about building a cathedral has any right to be. It's a very hard read, as it is one disaster after another, but it's incredibly engaging, to the point that you don't want to put it down, because you have to know what happens next. And it's never good, what happens next. Characters have runs of good luck only to lose everything and have to start over. It has an oddly hopeful ending, and everything is neatly tied together and explained. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity, Antisemitism, and Abandonment