Fall of Giants

I just finished a wonderful book called Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. This man is a positively brilliant historical writer. Fall of Giants was about WWI from several different perspectives, an American, English, Russian, and German men and women. There were also different class point of views.  To cover World War One from one country's perspective is an undertaking, but to cover that many differing opinions makes a tome.

Pretend there is a picture here 'cause it won't download. Pretending...pretending.

I have a confession, I knew very little about WWI before reading this book. My history classes never seemed to get that far. We got so bogged down in the Civil War that we couldn't get to more modern wars. I felt very educated and entertained with this book though. To the victors go the spoils and also the privilege of writing history. It is easy to make villains of anyone who loses a war, but is anyone without blame when it comes to taking millions of lives?  I was interested in reading the German and Russian (yes, I know they didn't lose the war) sides of the story. I was unfamiliar with both of those.  I feel much more knowledgable now.

It is one thing to know about the battles and the guns used in battles, but Mr. Follett spent a vast amount of time researching. He knew the number of the train that Lenin rode into Petrograd!  That is crazy!  You have to respect a guy who puts that much effort into his craft.  Besides, of course, the historical content, the story was engaging. Maud was my favorite character.  She was so strong and confident and I loved her relationship with Walter! So precious!  Also, I wanted to punch Lev Peshkov in the face. He was a sorry excuse for a human.

If you haven't experienced Mr. Follett's work (and you aren't put off by big books [who else started singing I like big books and I cannot lie? Just me? All---righty then]) then you need to get your hiney to the library and get on it. Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. day so your library will be closed, so go this weekend.