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challenging
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
2.5/5
You can feel the joys and sorrows of the characters deeply. Narratives are well-written — character backstories were compelling even if Uris inserts them somewhat choppily. Exodus is its best when it focuses on the characters of the story instead of meandering into 5+ pages of history. I liked Book 2 the best.
That said:
You can scarcely go a passage about Arabs/Palestinians without the addendum of dirty, stinky, uncivilized, sexist, etc. Uris makes it very clear that here are the good guys and here are the bad guys, which comes at the cost of a lot of the Israeli/Jewish characters' complexity as well.
Female characters were flat. The main three aren't characterized by much except by their love for their partners and how feminine they are/how much they quash their femininity. I think Uris has a strange fixation on premarital sex.
You can feel the joys and sorrows of the characters deeply. Narratives are well-written — character backstories were compelling even if Uris inserts them somewhat choppily. Exodus is its best when it focuses on the characters of the story instead of meandering into 5+ pages of history. I liked Book 2 the best.
That said:
You can scarcely go a passage about Arabs/Palestinians without the addendum of dirty, stinky, uncivilized, sexist, etc. Uris makes it very clear that here are the good guys and here are the bad guys, which comes at the cost of a lot of the Israeli/Jewish characters' complexity as well.
Female characters were flat. The main three aren't characterized by much except by their love for their partners and how feminine they are/how much they quash their femininity. I think Uris has a strange fixation on premarital sex.
“There was never a question of the Jews’ willingness to die for Israel. In the end they stood alone and with blood and guts won for themselves what had legally been given them by the conscience of the world.”
I truly wish I could give this book more than five stars. In fact I might go through my other five star ratings and move some of them to four stars to give this five star rating more merit.
This was so excellent in so many ways it is impossible to describe.
Couldn't stand the poor writing, racist descriptions/characterisations of Arabs, or blatant historical inaccuracies anymore.
adventurous
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I love this book. I've read it a few times, and still get wrapped up in the story as if I'm reading it for the first time again.
I don't even remember who recommended this book to me. I didn't enjoy as much as the person thought I would though. I learned a little bit about Jewish/Israeli history by reading "Exodus", so that's something. ;)
fantastic novel
can be hard to consume because of large swaths of historical events relayed in rapid succession that reads almost like a history textbook, but is really useful from an educational standpoint
as far as neutrality on the Palestine-Israeli conflict goes, I truly can't act like this isn't a biased novel (I mean cmon it was written by a Jewish Zionist), but it really does attempt to be fair and minimally prejudiced. it's really easy to parse out the problematic parts so long as you come in with a simple background on the conflict at the time that this novel was written
last 10 pages of the novel struck harder than I expected and were really poignant and cutting
somewhat of a rite of passage to read as a jew idk
can be hard to consume because of large swaths of historical events relayed in rapid succession that reads almost like a history textbook, but is really useful from an educational standpoint
as far as neutrality on the Palestine-Israeli conflict goes, I truly can't act like this isn't a biased novel (I mean cmon it was written by a Jewish Zionist), but it really does attempt to be fair and minimally prejudiced. it's really easy to parse out the problematic parts so long as you come in with a simple background on the conflict at the time that this novel was written
last 10 pages of the novel struck harder than I expected and were really poignant and cutting
somewhat of a rite of passage to read as a jew idk
I feel like I was just re-educated on modern history. This was definitely worth my time.
3.5***
From the book jacket: The Exodus was a ship that held 300 Jewish children, orphaned by World War II and the Nazi destruction. The ship was docked in Cyprus, and the British would not let more than its ‘quota’ leave for Palestine, which was under British rule. Ari Ben Canaan, a freedom fighter, will not allow the children to return to the horrific conditions of the displaced persons camp, where the British had been keeping them. This incident sets in motion a series of events that depict the inhuman treatment of the Jewish people, and the triumphant founding of the state of Israel.
My reactions
This is an epic novel covering the history of the Jewish people’s efforts to return to Palestine and form an independent state.
I found the writing uneven. I felt that Uris couldn’t make up his mind whether he was writing an epic romance, a war novel or a history of the formation of Israel. The reader is immersed in the plight of the orphans held “hostage” aboard the Exodus, and then taken back to the late 19th century for a history of the Jewish people in Russia, and Ari’s grandfather, father and uncle. By the time Uris comes back to the romance I’d forgotten about the couple. Then the novel concentrates once again on the political maneuverings and historical references to the formation of the country, and some very exciting battle scenes in the last half of the book. Sprinkled throughout are quite a lot of very anti-Arab and anti-British “observations.”
Still, it certainly made me think. And I am fully aware of how woefully ignorant I am of the details of this episode in history. I remember the movie (and especially the movie’s music score), which came out when I was nine, but I never actually saw it. I’ve read a couple of other books by Uris ([book:Trinity: A Novel of Ireland|2729825] and [book:QB VII|426825]), and I remember liking them, so when a book group chose it for a monthly read I signed on. I’m glad I finally read this novel.
From the book jacket: The Exodus was a ship that held 300 Jewish children, orphaned by World War II and the Nazi destruction. The ship was docked in Cyprus, and the British would not let more than its ‘quota’ leave for Palestine, which was under British rule. Ari Ben Canaan, a freedom fighter, will not allow the children to return to the horrific conditions of the displaced persons camp, where the British had been keeping them. This incident sets in motion a series of events that depict the inhuman treatment of the Jewish people, and the triumphant founding of the state of Israel.
My reactions
This is an epic novel covering the history of the Jewish people’s efforts to return to Palestine and form an independent state.
I found the writing uneven. I felt that Uris couldn’t make up his mind whether he was writing an epic romance, a war novel or a history of the formation of Israel. The reader is immersed in the plight of the orphans held “hostage” aboard the Exodus, and then taken back to the late 19th century for a history of the Jewish people in Russia, and Ari’s grandfather, father and uncle. By the time Uris comes back to the romance I’d forgotten about the couple. Then the novel concentrates once again on the political maneuverings and historical references to the formation of the country, and some very exciting battle scenes in the last half of the book. Sprinkled throughout are quite a lot of very anti-Arab and anti-British “observations.”
Still, it certainly made me think. And I am fully aware of how woefully ignorant I am of the details of this episode in history. I remember the movie (and especially the movie’s music score), which came out when I was nine, but I never actually saw it. I’ve read a couple of other books by Uris ([book:Trinity: A Novel of Ireland|2729825] and [book:QB VII|426825]), and I remember liking them, so when a book group chose it for a monthly read I signed on. I’m glad I finally read this novel.