Fall of Giants

It's been a long time I've written anything about a book. That's because I've been slacking. The house-arrest is starting to get to my head so much so that I ended up indulging in some mindless Netflixing. I devoured this Canadian comedy show called Schitt's Creek & absolutely forgot everything about reading for a few days. I guess I needed some time off. 

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I started reading Fall of Giants for the second time. The first time I had read this marvel by Ken Follet in 2016, I was absolutely mesmerised! The way he's narrated the whole World War saga intertwined around the lives of five families of different nationalities is nothing but fascinating. I was pleasantly surprised to realise that I did remember parts of this story. However, I wanted to give it another read just to refresh my memory on World War 1 of which I remembered nothing. 

Although this book is a work of fiction, it does have some famous real life leaders, like Churchill, Wilson, Lenin, as part of this story too. How else would World War even be described without a mention of them! Ken Follet narrates this epic from the perspective of the myriad characters he brings to life with the help of his story-telling genius. You learn about the historic events through the lens of a working class Welsh family, a German bureaucrat, a Russian revolutionary, a British aristocratic family and an American official. It gives an honest & brutal account of the effects of war on ordinary people driven by the mindless egocentric tussles between the noblemen & government officials. 

The characters in this novel may be one too many, but all of them have been developed quite well. It's enlightening to observe how different people from different nations sometimes held remarkably opposite opinions on the same issue, all having solid, if not sound, reasons to justify their own opinion. The chaos, the uncertainty, the sheer absurdity of the war drove billions into the abyss of darkness. You can't help but shudder at the thought of being forced to live in destitution for the rest of your life without even getting a say in the things that affect your own life. The people lived through it all only to see an end that had no light at the end of the tunnel. 

If you are like me who wishes to know so much more about history and these historic events that shaped the world we live in but don't have patience to go through tedious accounts of dates and unpronounceable names, you should totally go for this series. You'd learn about both the World Wars, the Russian revolution, the Spanish Civil War & much more! Plus there won't be a single dull moment, I promise you that!

This century trilogy has two more books that I plan to re-read but after a break. I've decided to pick up a different book just to give myself a change for a bit and get back into the rhythm. So for my next read, I've picked up The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. It's got a 4.14 on goodreads and looks like a promising one! Unlike this time, I'd try to pace my reading and come back with a review rather soon!

Until then, happy reading!

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