Exodus

This book is so massive that somehow it should count as two! I read Uris's Exodus long ago before I went to college. I wanted to see if it would hold up to my memories. It succeeded in that. It is a powerful book, especially when it focuses on the past injustices to the Jews. It made me sick at heart to read of the brutality and atrocities they suffered. The power of what they endured to create a nation sang to me.

The difference this time is that back in college, I took a course titled "History as Seen through the Eyes of the Novelist." Taught by a journalist/historian, the main thought came from the final exam question. Paraphrasing it, the question was, "Every novelist has a reason for writing his book. What was the reason for the show more books you read? Did the novelist achieve his goal?"

It is evident that Uris is pro-Israeli. It comes through in all of his noble characters that I fell in love with. Ari Ben Caanan, his father Barak, his sister Jordana, Jordana's love David Ben Ami, Karen Hansen Clement, and Dov Landau are richly drawn. Kitty Fremont is the American nurse through whom we see so many of the events and people.

However, Uris definitely paints with a broad negative brush when it comes to the Arabs in the stories. "Dirty" and "stinking" are used too frequently to describe the people, and their homes are almost uniformly "squalid." From what I have read about the history, it does seem accurate. However, I feel the loaded words weren't necessary to clarify what happened was wrong. I felt that I was being shoved down a path I would have taken anyway.

My final verdict is this is a 4.5 star book, losing a half star for the reasons above. It certainly accomplishes the author's objectives. It is an important novel in many ways because it clarifies how the roots of what happened during the Holocaust were already in too many countries. The Jewish ghettos, the pogroms, and the existing discriminatory laws made it too easy to ignore what was happening to a people who were already marginalized.

If you haven't read this massive historical novel, it is well worth the time, with the caveat above. show less

Even though I was caught up in the book when I first read it, I had to leave it halfway through... and when I went back to it some years later, after learning more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (not the American-Israeli fiction, but real history), I felt I couldn't read it, it was so nauseating. Now I work in the Middle East, and see the conflict more close at hand. I could talk with many displaced Palestinians, and hear their side of the story. And the aversion to the book has increased.

The story of "Exodus" could be summarised in one sentence: "Brave godlike Jews defeat cowardly, evil Arabs and build the beautiful country of Israel."

Yuck.

If this book doesn't make you rage at the injustice that is visited since time began upon the Jews, nothing will. Exodus is a compelling and beautifully written account of the history of prejudice and torment of God's chosen people throughout history, but especially during the Holocaust and during the formation of the nation of Israel. It is heartbreaking and very difficult to read, but it gives a gut wrenching perspective that makes the struggles of the Jewish nation unbearably real. The historical events are told with accuracy and specifics that make the Jewish struggle come alive. While I found this book enormously painful, it is one everyone should read.

All through high school and into college, I had a friend who worked at our local library. Stopping in to visit every now and then, I’d sometimes leave with discards or old beat-up books that were being culled from the shelves. Though I believe by that point I’d already read Uris’s excellent tale of Ireland, Trinity, and Mila 18, his tale of the Warsaw ghetto, for some reason, I hadn’t yet read Exodus. That’s how I stumbled upon my first copy of this book.

Engrossing after even the first few pages, Exodus is, of course, the story of the creation of the State of Israel. Picking up not long after World War II ends, with the displaced Jews of Europe still living in refugee camps, their homes long gone or stolen, they are simply show more looking for a place to live and call their own. With the British cracking down on emigration to Palestine, those Jews wishing to make the trek must rely on luck or skill or guile. The book continues the journeys of these people from a shattered Europe, into Palestine, and toward a hard-won statehood.

So engrossing is the book that one day, about halfway in, I decided to take the old beat-up hardback into the bath with me. I don’t normally take baths. Think I just wanted to escape even further into the book. So there I was, halfway in, enjoying my bath, in the middle of an exciting scene, when I turned the page and . . . there was about a forty page chunk in the middle missing. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I blinked, looked again, but there was no doubt about it. It went from something like page 232 straight to page 280. You could even see the hollowed out chunk in the spine where those pages used to be.

Damn!

So frustrated was I that I did give passing thought to simply jumping ahead. I might even have read a sentence or two further, skipping over the missing chunk, before thinking better of it. Flinging the book aside, I dried myself off, got into my car, went to the bookstore, and bought another copy. And if the same thing happens to you?

You will too. show less

I desperately wanted a book that explained the foundations of Israel in historical fiction terms snd this book does so wonderfully. But it is more propaganda than historical fiction. All Arabs are smelly, backward and dishonest. All Jews are heroic with God on their side. And there are some out and out lies. There was a ship Exodus filled with Jewish refugees that was not allowed to disembark in Israel but it was not filled solely with children who were holocaust victims who went on hunger strike. This exaggeration made me doubt other claims in the book. Were the Middle East leaders all Nazi sympathisers? Did Israel really have so few arms?

That said, I learnt a lot. It’s just I want to know even more.

It was written in the fifties when show more the narrative was more about why Israel should exist. Nowadays everyone but HAMAS and Corbynites believes it should but we want more about how it can do so peacefully. show less

Powerful! Reads like non-ficiton in many ways. A long book, ideal in ebook format to avoid tiny, paperback font. Character development includes lifelong personal and family histories. Fascinating, graphic, tragic, & inspiring.

I had good memories of reading this book almost fifty years ago and liked it even better the second time around reading it with the 'wisdom' I've gained over the past five decades. It may not be a literary masterpiece but it touches the heart as it vividly portrays the persecution and the faith and dedication of the Jews over centuries.

The meld of fact and fiction is the perfect device for imparting the history and passion of the Jewish people. The characters lead the reader through the post-WWII period of massive immigration of Jews into Palestine and their untiring efforts to make desert land fertile while overcoming hostility from their Arab neighbors. This fine example of epic historical fiction is still timely as it gives a show more greater understanding of the wars and hatred that plague the Middle East.

Uris wrote the history portions accurately to my knowledge and created a darn good fiction story to boot. There is enough adventure to satisfy the most daring reader and several great love stories for the romantics among us. The writing was not up to the standards of some of my favorite authors, but his storytelling is first class and makes up for some stilted dialogue and stereotypical characters. This is a book of faith and there are many Bible references to explain the Jewish reliance on God. It's just part of their story and who they are which made it more meaningful to me. As Kitty, the non-Jewish nurse working with the orphans said: "I have learned that it is impossible to be a Christian without being a Jew in spirit." (495) Whatever your beliefs are, it would be impossible to read this book without having great respect for what the Jewish people have achieved in making Israel a country to be proud of. show less