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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
there were parts of this book that I enjoyed but overall I found it: incredibly dated; pro-American to the point of cold-war propaganda material; nauseatingly romantic; and a displeasing proportion of the book spent developing characters of the fictitious protagonists compared to the time covering historical facts.
Think this book made me realise that I have moved beyond historical fiction and think my time is better spent reading historical facts.
Think this book made me realise that I have moved beyond historical fiction and think my time is better spent reading historical facts.
I liked the book and enjoyed reading about the Berlin Airlift at the same time we were covering the beginning of the Cold War in American History class. I read Exodus years ago and fell in love with it and the characters. This book didn't have the same impact on me, so I only gave it 3 stars.
Nearly 60 years from first reading this book, it is still a good read. I learned many points about the battle between the Americans and Russians to gain supremacy over Berlin. I did find the detail of the airlifts somewhat over detailed and therefore boring. Having said that, Leon Uris was an exceptional writer due to the amount of detail he put into all of his books and his characters are very well depicted. He illustrated very well the anguish felt by both Americans and Germans who experienced loss of loved ones due to the war and also the horrors of the Nazi regime.
I still feel that Mila 18 was the better of these two books.
I still feel that Mila 18 was the better of these two books.
I very much enjoyed this project. Yes, the language is not p.c. Guess what, that's the way it was. A very moving account. Reads like an action movie. I am a 64 y.o. nonviolent vegan feminist from San Francisco. I LOVED it.
Many reviews discuss the characters' blandness. While a valid criticism, there are moments of depth, especially among minor characters (Russian Igor Karlovy, for one). In all, I think this is far from Uris's best, but even a mediocre Uris is better than average. You'll learn a lot about the Berlin Airlift, if nothing else.
I was excited to learn more about Berlin in the early days after WWII, but found this book to be quite a slog. I have kept reading it, but have read many books in the meantime. Not one I would recommend, there are other Leon Uris books that I much preferred: QV VII and Mila 18 are wonderful.
This was the first Uris book I read and it spurred me into reading three more. Very sweeping, and very interesting book. I like how he intertwined real events (some obscure) into his books. Well worth the read!
I read this book many years ago, and I just re-read it. The writing is still powerful, and the story is compelling.
I was really torn about this book. There were passages and sections where I couldn't put it down, but others that had me nodding off. Uris is clearly a master of character development, world-building, and exhaustive period research, but sometimes I think he bogs his narrative down a bit with all of the details he's discovered along the way. For those interested in the post-war years, this will definitely be a fun and fulfilling read--just be prepared to push through sections every once in a while to get back to the good stuff.