Ken Follett is a renowned British writer and author of 17 international bestsellers. Winner of the Edgar Poe Prize. The total circulation of Follett's books is 130 million copies. His novels have been translated into all leading languages of the world and published in 27 countries.
"This is an epic of love, hatred, war and revolution. This is a huge novel that follows five families through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for votes for women."
"Fall of the Giants" is the first part of the "Century" trilogy conceived by Follett, in which he assumes, through the history of several families living in different parts of the world (American, German, Russian, English and Welsh), to tell the story of the entire twentieth century.
A wonderful book that makes you really feel the story. The story here is not described in the boring language of textbooks. She wrote the destinies of many characters of various views. They all occupy different positions in society. It is very interesting to read how the views on the same things can differ between, say, a miner and a well-to-do count.
By the way, the author at the end of the book specifically stipulates that all the words of real historical figures that flash through the book are taken from interviews from the book about the relevant historical events, or from their letters. Such thoroughness in recreating historical images is respectable.
I would describe it as "impressive". But the very fact that this is a large-scale historical canvas, with a large number of events and heroes, with several parallel storylines, led to the fact that I was simply tired of reading. Despite the fact that the novel is very voluminous, the author could easily make a dilogy or even a trilogy out of it.
The novel spans a little over 10 years, but over that decade the world is changing dramatically. The author very clearly showed these changes, and in general, it is clear that the author knows what he is writing about: whether it is work in a mine, war or revolution. The novel takes place in England, America, Russia, there are several storylines that are connected by common characters and events. In England, the plot covers the story of Count Fitz and his family. He is a wealthy, influential aristocrat to the core. Miners live on its land, and the Williamson family turned out to be closely connected with the Fitz family. Ethel Williamson worked in his house, she became his mistress, but it all ended when she became pregnant. To be honest, I was not at all surprised or amazed by the Count's behavior. Well, the maid got pregnant, so what? What was Ethel counting on? She considered herself special, but lying in bed with a married count, she clearly knew that they had no future. Many aristocrats, in his place, would have done much worse with Ethel. But I liked Ethel herself. When she got rid of her illusions and became independent, I could only admire her.
The story of Count Maud's sister and German diplomat Walter is an example of pure and deep love. It was very hard to read about how the war made yesterday's friends enemies and made them shoot at each other. It hurts to see how the lovers are forced to hide and hide their feelings, just because he is German and she is English. I was insanely worried about this particular couple and I am glad that they still stayed together.
In fact, there are a lot of heroes in the novel. It makes no sense to talk about each one, they are all bright and ambiguous. Among them there are real historical figures, Lenin, for example, or President Wilson. In Russia, the author showed us the revolution. In England, ordinary people come to power through elections, those who, before the war, could not even think about it. Women have received the right to vote, and they can also decide the fate of the country. America, too, is reaping the rewards of its involvement in the war. Changes await her, too. It is not for nothing that the novel is called “The Death of the Giants”; it was the giant countries participating in the First World War that survived their death; some to a greater extent, some to a lesser extent, but they all felt the changes.
A huge plus of the novel (for me personally) is that, despite the war and other events, very few deaths and other atrocities are shown. They are there, but less than you might expect.
You can purchase «Fall of Giants» at "Barnes & Noble"
This article was sponsored by Claudiu Gheorghe.
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