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| Fall of Giants by Ken Follett |
The story begins before the start of World War I, continues through the war and finishes a few years after. The main characters are British, Welsh, German, American, and Russian. Some are real-life historical characters but the main characters are fictional. I found this in an Amazon.com review (3 stars): "... all of the significant characters are constantly meeting in the most unusual places and ways. I understand that the resolution of the First World War caused much change, but the characters simply interact in ways that are almost Forrest Gump-like in their ability to be where the evolving action is happening." Well said. Once (or even twice) could have been believable but this happened several times throughout the story. The more-likely scenario would have been characters being near the same place at the same time and never crossing paths.
I will admit that some of the war scenes got a little old, but I understand the need. The war lasted many years and the reader needed to get into the feeling of the long separations and loss people experienced. Sometimes it worked and other times the emotion wasn't there. All in all, the book could have easily been about 200 pages shorter. The characters were spread a little thin so we could've done with fewer. For example, the Russian brother who went to America and married a wealthy Russian girl. This part of the story felt totally unrelated to the rest of the characters and the larger story. He was an unlikeable character and I kept reading in hopes that his part in the larger scenario would evolve, but it fell flat.
This is book one in the Century Trilogy. Book two comes out in 2012. I read on Ken Follett's website that book two will cover the period of World War II and involve the children of the characters in book I.
Can you recommend any historical fiction covering the early 20th century?
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