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Title: Sarum: The Novel of England by Edward Rutherfurd ISBN: 0-517-22354-6 Publisher: Gramercy Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.21 (90 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Sarum
Comment: I have been fortunate enough to have visited the Salisbury Plain area, including Salisbury Cathedral, and Stonehenge. Actually, I bought my copy at the Stonehenge site, but was not able to read it until my return home. The cathedral is as awesome in reality as Mr. Rutherfurd describes in his book. The stone walls, St. Ann's Gate, Old Sarum, Stonehenge, and even the unique sundial on the side of the house he mentions are actually to be seen today. The book brings the area to life in a way, I never imagined it could. I am ready to return to the area with a renewed interest and appreciation for its rich history. I again want to gaze on the Cathedral with a clearer understanding of the sacrifice, energy, and passion involved to create such a beautiful edifice in the first place. I took a particularly nice photo of the Cathedral, and when I look at the gorgeously graceful spire, I can better appreciate the amazing engineering feat it is, thanks to the care Mr. Rutherfurd has taken to describe the stones and its masons in living color. I thank him, and look forward to letting his novel London give me a similar experience of historical London.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Book...
Comment: This was a truly wonderful read. Other reviews have pointed out certain facts though. If you want a straight read of one time period or one family, then this is not for you. However, if you want a sampling of history covering about 10,000 years and want a wide range of stories, then this book is perfect.
You really need to pay attention and then you can see how different lineages keep cropping up throughout history. Sarum also has the little people of Salisbury bumping into great figures of history.
One thing I loved about this book, was it was honest. Most novels, you have the good guys win and everyone lives happily ever after in the end. If a bad guy wins, don't worry, justice will soon prevail. That's not real life. I like those books, but Sarum was wonderfully true for a change. Here, the badguys were defeated for a while, but sometimes they one. Then sometimes they became more powerful than the good guys. Some good guys were ruined and never recovered. Some did recover. there were also characters that Rutherfurd would develop, then let them die unfairly. But guess what. That's what happens in real life.
The only negatives were mentioned by others. The little stone figure's story did end too soon. We know about this figure now and it would have been nice to read how it was finally found again. Also, the ending was a little choppy. I was surprised Rutherfurd left out WWI entirely. That was a big time and should have been included. Also, the names were confusing in 1985. I knew who most of the characters were, but who they had married didn't make sense and the family names were messed up in the end. That was too confusing. Even still, he did end the book nicely as a whole, bringing Sarum into the present day. Definitely an excellent read and I'm off to get his other books now.
Rating: 5
Summary: What the last one said, plus some
Comment: I'm not giving this book 5 stars just because Rutherford managed to keep it less than 2000 pages. I'm giving it those stars because I managed to enjoy the book. Although it doesn't qualify precisely as fictionalized history throughout, it comes close overall and actually is through most of it.
Even for people who consider themselves well schooled in history there's bound to be a lot of minutia that slips by for any piece of geography. Rutherford fills in the gaps for the Salsbury plains and does it with fact where possible, speculation where not possible. And he does it with consistent panache.
I'd never given much thought to the details of the building of Salsbury Cathedral, though I certainly was awed, visiting it. Sarum carried me through generations of that immediate period and place of the building in a way that caused me to inevitably have more respect and thought for the builders. Similarly for myriad other incidents and monuments of the area over 20,000 years. Stonehenge, Roman occupation, Viking raids, early Christianity, the bloody reigns of Bloody Mary and others.
Make a career of reading this book if need be, but read it.
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Title: London : The Novel by EDWARD RUTHERFURD ISBN: 0449002632 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 28 March, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Russka : The Novel of Russia by Edward Rutherfurd ISBN: 0804109729 Publisher: Ivy Books Pub. Date: 24 October, 1992 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Forest by EDWARD RUTHERFURD ISBN: 0345441788 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 03 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Princes of Ireland : The Dublin Saga by EDWARD RUTHERFURD ISBN: 0385502869 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 02 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0061091944 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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