Title: just didn't do it for me
Product review: I wanted a book to read during my holiday vacation. I never read Follett before, and trusted the "Oprah Book Club" sponsorship. But, after the first 40 pages . . . I find it hard to continue. There is minimal character development, rudimentary plot, and gratuitous violence. I am not a historian, and I am sure the era in which the story takes place was violent, but in this story there appears to be too much. I realize the story is centered on cathedrals, but Tom is way too hung up on it - a 12 century yuppie obsessed with their career. I don't know why many (too many in mu opinion) can give this book more than one star. Follett preface claims about the ten years to write hints at an epic story. But, I think the ten years was due to the book being an afterthought, something to write when there was nothing else to do - a hobby. Instead of trying to engage you in the character's lives, you seem to be a third party, a voyeuristic trip through binoculars.
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