Book Summary and Reviews of Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett

Reader Reviews

Write your own review

Cathryn_Conroy

A Solid History Lesson Embedded with a Delicious Soap Opera Story of Love, Sex, Revenge, and Intrigue
This book, just like the two in the Century Trilogy series that precede it, is a solid history lesson complete with well-known and obscure factual details embedded in a delicious soap-opera story of love and sex, revenge and intrigue, regret and hope. Even at more than 1,100 pages, it's an all-consuming read!

The third in author Ken Follett's massive, epic history of the 20th century, this volume covers 1961 to 1989 with an epilogue dated November 4, 2008, the date of Barack Obama's election as president. I thought this book was the best of the three, but that might be because I lived through this time period and remember almost all the events.

The reason this series works so well and is so compellingly readable is that the history is told from the perspective of key characters who are loosely connected to one another. And these characters are placed all over the world—from the United States to Great Britain to Germany (East and West) to the Soviet Union to Cuba. They are rock 'n roll stars, CIA agents, close aides to the top Soviet officials, leading U.S. government employees, Stasi secret police, TV and newspaper journalists, and more, which makes their perspective seem like an insider point of view.

The book opens on a rainy Monday in 1961 when Rebecca Hoffman, a teacher who is married and lives in East Berlin, receives a terrifying order to report to the Stasi, the East German secret police. After she learns that the Stasi has intimately spied on her and her extended family for years, Rebecca makes an impassioned decision to escape over the Berlin Wall. And from there the story catapults into a fast-moving chronicle of life around the world at a volatile time when everything seemed to change—and quickly. From John F. Kennedy's presidency and womanizing to Martin Luther King's quest for civil rights to Robert Kennedy's tragic run for the presidency to the escalation of the war in Vietnam. Strap on your reading chair's seatbelt and get ready for a wild and fascinating literary ride.

This is a compelling, can't-turn-the-pages-fast-enough novel, but it's definitely pop fiction—not literary fiction. It's a perfect vacation read when you want a long book to last the duration of the trip.

And the ending? Let's just say there were tears…quite a few. It's wonderful.

Advice No. 1: Follett helpfully provides a cast of characters arranged by country and then family. Bookmark it. Even with the Kindle X-ray feature, I referred to this list frequently in the early chapters of the book. There are so many characters, and the scenes shift quickly so this list is indispensable.

Advice No. 2: While the books in the Century Trilogy can be read independently, it's probably best to read them in order, beginning with "Fall of Giants" and followed by "Winter of the World" and then "Edge of Eternity." Why? There is continuity in the stories of the characters and their descendants so it's best to read from the beginning to avoid inadvertent spoilers.

Book Marm

Edge of Eternity is Disappointment
Having read and enjoyed nearly all of Ken Follett’s novels, I was shocked and saddened to read Edge of Eternity, which focused on events in the United States, Germany, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. I realize that this novel is classified as “historical fiction,” but it should be labeled as a “re-imagining.”

Mr. Follett concentrated on the bleakest aspects of the 1960’s and later, which were depressing reminders of those turbulent times that we endured…assassinations, segregation, civil unrest, communism, drugs, and “free love.” However, the Welsh author used his characters to promote his obvious political preference for socialism and liberalism. Examples included calling US presidential candidate Barry Goldwater a “racist,” denying President Reagan’s role in the collapse of the Soviet Union through economic and political pressure, plus no mention at all of Reagan’s and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s strengthening of their countries’ economies. The positives of space exploration were ignored, even though it involved both the USA and the USSR. The spin made me question the accuracy of the historical elements in previous two books of the Century Trilogy.

His biases were further exemplified in his characterizations. The liberal characters were written in a positive way, while the conservatives were invariable depicted as inept or unsavory. Although he rightly promoted racial equality, he implied that Condoleezza Rice was a war-monger. At least Mr. Follett was equal in his treatment of both types as far as sexuality, writing soap opera scenes of infidelity for all, including President John Kennedy and the communists.

I hope that Mr. Follett will return to writing suspenseful espionage.

Other books by Ken Follett at BookBrowse

16 more...