About:
Cathedral of the Seaby Ildefonso Falcones is a fictional book taking place in 1300s Spain, Barcelona to be more accurate. The book was published in 2006 and has been translated by Nick Caistor.
- 611 pages
- Publisher:Penguin Group
- Language:English
- ISBN-10:0525950486
My rating for Cathedral of the Sea–5
Buy Cathedral of the Seafrom Amazon.com*
More Books by Ildefonso Falcones*
Thoughts:
When I started readingCathedral of the Seaby Ildefonso Falcones the book that immediately came to mind wasPillars of the Earthby Ken Follett, the general themes and times seemed to be very similar, but the storytelling is, of course, very different.
The author does an excellent job moving the story along, even for such a large book. The descriptions of living a life, challenges, and classes of old Barcelona, as it is about to become a world center, are fascinating, engaging, and interesting.
The author doesn’t paint Spain with rose colored glasses, he talks about bigotry, the horrible Inquisition (whose main job was the steal the money of the rich, not necessarily conversion), commerce, and economic inequality. On top of all those there are the issues people struggle with to this day, religion, morality, the everyday problems life throws at you and how to reconcile them all.
My only complaint is that the books drags in the last quarter. The outcome was obvious, the characters were just as engaging and the story was still drawn out, nevertheless it was worth reading.
Synopsis:
The novel follows Arnau Estanyol, the son of a fugitive serf who obtains freedom and eventually achieves a high status in medieval Barcelona. Throughout his life, the one constant that Arnau has is a small cathedral which he have helped build, which grows, like Arnau, and becomes his solace and community when all else fails.
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer:I borrowed this book from my mom.
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
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