Pillars of the Earth ...reading in school...

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I asked my 13 year old (almost 14) what he is reading lately at school and he told me that his teacher gave him the book: " The Pillars of the Earth" to read.

I was a little ' flabbergasted', because I read the book myself and though I found it was writing at it's best, I personally would have waited a few years to hand it to my son to read.

I gave it to my 18 year old daughter a year ago and warned her of it's graphic content.
I found parts of it really hart to stomach as some of it's characters are rather degrading towards woman...
My son appears to be very mature in school, but his maturity level is way behind the regular 14 year old Teen.
My daughter was also surprised as I told her about her brother reading the book, but said I should let him and that I can not protect him forever from the 'darker things' in life.
I told my son that there were many uncomfortable parts in this book, like 'rape' of woman and if he knows what rape means.
He knew what it meant and said he has a hart time to imagining characters anyhow in a book( that is way he normally hates to read fiction). So I let it go.

I do agree with my daughter, we can not protect AS children forever, but I personally would have waited at least another 2 years to give him this book to read.
What do You think?

Better learning about such things from a book than from others or the internet, right?

I hate being sheltered. Don't shelter your kids, especially from books.

Well, I've read the book and there are some parts in there I wouldn't quite think my children are ready for yet, but my oldest is 9.

I'm a possible AS (VERY mild if I even have more than the "traits") and at 14 I was having sex to "fit in" and be accepted. It's been a couple of years since I've been in school but better a book I guess than that. (I'm female, too though.)

It's a tough call when your emotional/social age doesn't quite match your body, just let him know that you read the book as well and that when he finishes it you guys can talk about it, sort of like a book club thing. Ask him things like how their choices were wrong or what he would have thought to do in such a circumstance. You can't shelter him/ probably shouldn't take it away but you can make sure he understands what is going on and possibly identify their basic motives in the book. Possibly pose the questionable activities as "what in the world was this idiot thinking?"

I read the book, when I was about your son's age or even a little younger.
It didn't do me any harm. Actually it became one of my favourite books at this time and probably contributed to my developing interest in history. Today I'm a student of this subject...
Probably your son has seen much worse things on TV anyway. The good thing about a book is that you can confront yourself with the things in it at your own pace, unlike on TV, where the flood of pictures never stops.
Don't worry, at least it isn't Bret Easton Ellis...

I would have not take the book away, he reads the teachers copy at school...
we have one in our home too...
I think if I would have read the copy at 13 ( I was dating at that age, dating only ), it would have affected me profoundly...
Also my son has not seen worse on TV .
I used to switch channels when I was watching Crime Scene etc and he popped in the room... I do believe if one is exposed to violent content at a young age it does sensitise the person.
I do think he can handle a little more and let him watch it , but he usually is not that interested anyway, he is more in to Game Shows like "Howie Do it" etc.
I remember when I came to North America at age 25 and how I found most subjects of some of the TV shows like Oprah W. etc. utterly disturbing.

We used to have 3 channels on our TV in Germany and the more disturbing show I saw in my Teens was "Akten Zeichen XY Ungeloest" (show on unresolved crimes).
I very vividly remember that case of a Taxi Driver who got robbed and killed in Switzerland .
I could honestly not believe that there are people out there who could do something like this to another human being.
It changed my whole outlook in the way I saw the world.

I loved to watch "Graf Dracula" and "Scotland Yard" , but those shows were quite harmless and I always made sure my bigger brother was nearby so I could take his hand when it got to scary :O)

I told my son to talk to me when he comes over disturbing parts in the book and he said he would ( which I still doubt because he rarely talks about anything). He is only at page 5 he said.
He reads it at school and then has to write about it in a journal, which I never get to see either because it stays in school.

I would have not take the book away, he reads the teachers copy at school...
we have one in our home too...
I think if I would have read the copy at 13 ( I was dating at that age, dating only ), it would have affected me profoundly...
Also my son has not seen worse on TV .
I used to switch channels when I was watching Crime Scene etc and he popped in the room... I do believe if one is exposed to violent content at a young age it does sensitise the person.
I do think he can handle a little more and let him watch it , but he usually is not that interested anyway, he is more in to Game Shows like "Howie Do it" etc.
I remember when I came to North America at age 25 and how I found most subjects of some of the TV shows like Oprah W. etc. utterly disturbing.

We used to have 3 channels on our TV in Germany and the more disturbing show I saw in my Teens was "Akten Zeichen XY Ungeloest" (show on unresolved crimes).
I very vividly remember that case of a Taxi Driver who got robbed and killed in Switzerland .
I could honestly not believe that there are people out there who could do something like this to another human being.
It changed my whole outlook in the way I saw the world.

I loved to watch "Graf Dracula" and "Scotland Yard" , but those shows were quite harmless and I always made sure my bigger brother was nearby so I could take his hand when it got to scary :O)

I told my son to talk to me when he comes over disturbing parts in the book and he said he would ( which I still doubt because he rarely talks about anything). He is only at page 5 he said.
He reads it at school and then has to write about it in a journal, which I never get to see either because it stays in school.

"Pillars of the Earth" and its sequel "World without End" are awesome. I'm a little suprised that schools are now exposing middle schoolers to authors like Ken Follett and John Grisham; especially a 1000 page work like Pillars.

The only thing I find wrong with Pillars and World without End is that the main characters have 20th century mindsets in the 12th and 14th centuries. Overall, those books were probably the best historical fiction I had read in some time. I don't think that there is really anything to worry about as far as being exposed to obscenity. The author was trying to show how much less private people were about sex(in some ways) in medieval times.

I was quite surprised at the mature topics included in my son's 6th grade reading books, as well. It is hard because he is behind his peers in many of these areas of maturity. But I've bitten my tounge and discussed with him as appropriate. The world is always going to move faster around him than I think he is ready for. This is just a piece of that. A bit of a wake up call on it, really.

We had to read a lot of books in school that might be considered too mature for our age. I don't think I or any of my classmates really suffered any ill effects, unless you count the times when I didn't understand it at all and just ended up confused and bored. If I were a teacher, I wouldn't push an adult book on my students since I wouldn't want them to reject good literature just because it was too complex to understand at their age. But I think kids (AS and NT) are pretty good at handling mature subjects, and it might teach your son some things about the world that he has just never thought about before.

There's another side no one is discussing, will he actually enjoy the book without waiting a few years? I remember finding Terry Pratchet confusing and boring the first time I read it.

Good books are worth their weight in gold, don't ruin one by giving it to him too early.

Good point!
He says he has difficulty imagining characters and story lines in books, I hope he does not become dicuraged by those 900 page turner....

that would be "discouraged" :O) , sorry...