Let's talk about World Without End *SPOILERS* & Decision Points Update

 -WARNING SPOILERS BELOW TO PILLARS OF THE EARTH AND WORLD WITHOUT END-

    I really enjoyed the book Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. It is perhaps my favorite book ever. As a matter of fact, I love it. 10/10. However, the sequel has some problems. 

    It is literally the exact same book.

    Sure, the characters have different names, which are more creative this time. But the plot is so similar. There is the builder, this time a carpenter, Merrithian. (Or whatever he's named). He tries to build an awesome structure but faces opposition from the Earl and Clergy. (Familiar?) He has a love interest who rejects him not wanting to be tied down, and he goes on a voyage to a foreign country to find himself. Finally it all works out, he and partner become billionaires, and they build their cathedral. Let's breakdown each character one-by-one. 

 

• Merthin - Essentially Jack Builder. He's the builder, the cornerstone of the story. He's an excellent builder but is held back by his youth. He is also in love with a girl well above his social stature. (Jack:Merthin::Aliena:Caris). He gets his heart broken, goes to Italy (as Jack goes to Spain), learns a ton and becomes successful but his Italian wife dying spurns him to go back to England to try and rekindle lost love. Now replace Italy with Spain. That is Jack's story. 
• Caris - The Aliena of this story. She comes from a background of privilege, but her family looses its power with the death of her father. She then is forced to rebuild her father's empire but in a different way. She is also stubborn, and doesn't want to be tied down. She also has a situation-ship with the builder character (Merthin). 
• Gwenda - Gwenda is an interesting character. I wouldn't say that she has an exact match in the previous book unless you put two characters together. I would say that Caris and Gwenda combined form Aliena. For Gwenda the biggest match is trauma. She is raped by Ralph, just as Aliena is raped by William. Furthermore she dedicates her life to stopping Ralph, in a way (this is an oversimplification but is essentially the case). Eventually, she vanquishes him.
• Ralph - Ralph is the villian. He is essentially William. He does terrible things and he gets away with it, largely due to his service in the war. He terrorizes the villagers. And eventually, his ego is his undoing, and he is killed by the one he terrorized. 
• Godwin - Godwin is the only thing that is different. This time, the Prior is the bad guy, while the Bishop is good. He essentially is the Bishop from the first book. 

• Mother Cecilia/Bishop Henry - I would say these two take the role of Prior Phillip with a little bit of help from Caris. However, unlike Prior Phillip, they're not infallible. Henry is weak and doesn't help out the nunnery in its time of need. As I'm writing this perhaps Caris is both the Aliena and the Phillip of this story. However Mother Cecilia is pretty great. 

Anyway, the books are essentially identical. They are both enjoyable, but I don't know if I can get through a third book that is exactly the same. 

 Now Bush.

     On my flight yesterday I read some more of decision points. The most striking thing in that book is Bush's penchant for revenge. It seemed to me that he was salty that his Dad couldn't take down Hussein in Operation Desert Storm, and wanted to finish what George H.W. Bush started. He spent many words trying to justify Operation Iraqi Freedom, and while Hussein was a brutal dictator the war seemed to accomplish little. Its justification was also shaky. It started out as a search for weapons of mass destruction and then when there were not changed to as Bush called it "Nation-Building". However, I honestly think he just wanted to go to war. 

    Finally, my favorite photo of Bush is him abord the USS Abraham Lincoln with the Mission Accomplished flag in the background, which he claims was celebrating the end of the Lincoln's record-breaking long deployment, not a victory lap after the fall of Baghdad. He says it was a costly political mistake. However, it is a great photo and works as a reply to make texts. I have it in my favorites and as a sticker because I use it so much. So, as I finish this blog post, I say to  myself and to you all:

 

Mission Accomplished