4 posts tagged “historical fiction”
I was excited to read this because I couldn't put The Other Boleyn Girl down. Although I enjoyed it, I didn't like it nearly as well. The story was just not quite as compelling, and it seemed like the stakes weren't as high.
I did enjoy the multiple perspectives, but got a little tired of Katherine and Jane's chapters since I had to reinterpret everything they said because they are such unreliable narrators. I do see why Gregory thinks Anne of Cleves is an interesting figure, though, and I enjoyed her chapters.
I was really excited about this quasi-sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, which I loved. (Just to clarify, I loved it a long time before Oprah did, okay?) Since this book is set 200 later, none of the same characters appear, although there are some family connections.
I enjoyed this book, but I didn't love it the way I loved Pillars of the Earth. World Without End follows a handful of citizens from Kingsbridge through about 35 years, encompassing economic upheaval, war with France, and two plague outbreaks. There's also a lot of church politics involved.
Although one of the primary characters is an architect and there are some major buiding projects scattered throughout the narrative, I think it lacks the cohesiveness that Pillars of the Earth had, with the construction of the cathedral going on throughout the whole book. That was the story of a town and some people set against this grand, epic backdrop of the cathedral construction. This one is the story of some people set against many other more minor events. (I should qualify that by saying that although I know that I loved The Pillars of the Earth and remember basically what it was about and some selected incidents from the book, I read it over 10 years ago and don't remember specifics. I think I'm due for a reread.)
Follett clearly researches all of his books very thoroughly, and this one is no exception. However, I did find some of the modern language kind of jarring. I know it would be ridiculous to write all the dialog in a 1000+ page book in the authentic dialect of the fourteenth century (nobody would understand anything), but I think he could have found better words to use that didn't sound so modern for terms like "girlfriend" and "boyfriend," etc.
There is much drama surrounding the intertwined fates of the owners and a family of onion farmers from a nearby seaside community. The family secrets that are hinted in the first couple of chapters, and revealed in bits and pieces as the story unfolds are too numerous to count. I liked getting hints, and then a chance to figure things out for myself before learning the truth for certain. I was right some of the time, but I was surprised plenty, too. And there weren't any loose ends, something that too many authors get away with.
The only thing I didn't really like about the book was that many of the character names were indicative of the character's nature. A brooding man is named "Bruder," a kind ranch worker is named "Hearts", etc. I thought that was a little corny, and it gave me the feeling Ebershoff may have thought he was being a lot more subtle than he was.
Through Brennert's account of Rachel's story, we get a portrait of the community at Kalaupapa. Although the initial impression is that people are sent to the island to die, life goes on, with a vengeance. There are parties, movies, and marriages. There are births, too, although those are bittersweet, since infected parents are not allowed to keep their infants.
This book is a really great example of why I love fiction, and merely tolerate most nonfiction. I could just as easily have read a nonfiction about Moloka'i where I would have learned and retained basically the same facts, but I can guarantee you that it wouldn't have moved me to tears at all, much less as many times as this book did. I think that historical fiction takes you much closer to experiencing history, as you are observing it through the prism of characters you've come to know and love. Sure, fiction authors take some liberties with things like names and dates, but that is not the kind of thing I tend to retain or care about, anyway.
*The bacterial infection once known as leprosy is now called Hansen's disease. In 2003, when this book was written, there were still 30 Hansen's disease patients living in Kalaupapa.
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