Mitla Pass

I usually really like Leon Uris's books but this is the second one that I have read recently that didn't seem as high a caliber as his earlier books.

Gideon is an American Jewish writer who served as a Marine in World War II. Coincidentally, Leon Uris was a Marine in World War II and saw battle in the same places as Gideon. Is this autobiography posing as fiction? I suspect it is although I don't know that Uris was at Mitla Pass.
In 1956 Gideon is present in Israel when the Suez Crisis erupts. As a Jewish American he has been given many privileges by the Israeli government. He is also the lover of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion's secretary, Natasha. Gideon is given the opportunity to go with the Lions (an elite military unit) to close off show more Mitla Pass so the Egyptians can't get through to the Sinai. Although he has never jumped out of a plane before he decides to go. He lands badly and hurts his hip. He could have been evacuated with other injured soldiers but he elects to stay and during the several days the Lions are holed up outside of Mitla Pass he reviews his life and his family's history. The Lions wait for Colonel Zechariah to lead his troops to them so they can be assured of defeating the Egyptians. Interestingly, Wikipedia reveals that Colonel Zechariah in the book is Ariel Sharon in reality.

There is lots of interesting stuff here but I felt it jumped around too much. One chapter might be in 1956, the next 1949, the next 1910 and then maybe back to 1956 briefly before delving into the First World War. There was also a number of different narrators besides Gideon which made the book seem disjointed. I also found Gideon to be a non-sympathetic character because of his treatment of his wife Val. He says he regrets cheating on Val but he continues to see Natasha. He says he is upfront with Val but then he sneaks off to a hotel room with Natasha. I suspect that Uris was a womanizer and this comes out in Gideon. I've lost some of the respect I always felt for Uris but his novel about the Warsaw uprising, Mila 18, is still one of my favourite books. show less

Pretty good book once you get beyond the first 100 pages or so. I was about to give up on the book when the author got stuck on Gideon's early attempts to become a writer. I was expecting more historical fiction. Once the author got beyond that, though, and focused on Gideon's ancestors, the book became much more interesting.

wow. it's fair to say that i opened this book with above average expectations from leon uris, having read a few of his books before, and having thought they were quite good. so a touch of my opinion of this book comes from that. but really, objectively, this book is just awful. i haven't read something this patently poorly written in a while. this was so, so, so bad. it's not even worth saying what he was trying to do because he failed so miserably. i was initially going to write that this book read just like a nelson demille book (which is not a compliment from me), but i think in the end that that wouldn't give demille enough credit.

Mitla Pass is the impassioned story of Gideon Zadok, a gifted young author of World War II novels, a modern man trapped by his own contradictions; ambitions and fear; desire and obligation; the past and the future.

Desperate to resurrect his career, after succumbing to the lure of Hollywood, he travels to Israel, determined to find material for a new book. Once there, he finds Natasha Solomon, a survivor of the Holocaust, and her disturbed passion for him unleashes his own smouldering desires. Then, on the eve of the '56 Sinai War, he abandons her and joins the Israeli forces and is parachuted to the key junction of Mitla Pass, deep behind enemy lines. Amid the sounds of battle, Gideon wages a war no less violent within himself, as he show more strives to come to grips with the frightening power of love-hate.

Breathtaking in scope and painfully human, MITLA PASS is the masterwork of a great novelist. show less

Struggled with this one. Probably deserves a higher rating, but read it 30 years late.

Not my favorite Uris novel.

NO OF PAGES: 435 SUB CAT I: Historic Fiction SUB CAT II: SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: With unequaled power and overwhelming emotion, Leon Uris gives us Mitla Pass, the impassioned story of a modern man trapped in his own contradictions: ambition and fear, desire and obligation, the past and the future.NOTES: SUBTITLE: A Novel