Anyone read Leon Uris?

[DivinBreuvage]

I've read four of his books: QBVII, Exodus, Trinity, and Jerusalem, Song of Songs. I'm currently rereading QBVII, which I'll comment on in a moment; I haven't read the others since high school and can only offer hazy recollections of them.

I loved Exodus; along with James Michener's The Source and some books I got on the Six Day War it helped make me a passionate Israeliphile and even Judaeophile, an emotional attachment I retained for a long time (over the past few years my feelings have been considerably modulated).

I disliked Trinity. At the time I was offended by Uris' (to me) flagrant anti-Catholicism. I also thought he revealed a very shallow grasp of the motivations of Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland -- a curious lack of understanding for one who wrote so eloquently about the Jewish desire, and struggle, for a homeland.

Jerusalem, Song of Songs (which he wrote with his wife Jill Uris) was a glorification of the Israelis and Judaism. I enjoyed that theme, but Uris also took an evident delight, like a naughty child who can't stop grinning because he knows he is getting away with something, in making "outrageous statements" about Jesus Christ and Christianity. That bothered me more at the time than it would now, I suppose; I was much more religious (in the false conservative sense) in those days.

QBVII is the story of a Polish nationalist doctor who willingly performed brutal medical experiments on Jewish patients in a German concentration camp. Fleeing to England at the end of the war, he manages to escape extradition to Poland for war crimes due to lack of evidence, and in fact numerous people (none of them Jews) testify that he saved their lives in the camp. He devotes the rest of his life to alleviating sickness and hunger among the poor, eventually being knighted, but decides to sue for libel when a Jewish author mentions his name in a book on the Holocaust. The case goes to trial, with the author and his publisher attempting to prove that Dr. Kelno did in fact conduct himself in such a way that their book does not substantially damage his reputation.

I have mixed feelings about this book now. I think that through most of it Uris does an excellent job in his characterization of Kelno, depicting him not as a one-dimensional villain but as a conflicted, genuine human being who may have done bad things (Uris keeps us in doubt), and who does have weaknesses, but who has done many good things too and in some ways exhibits great strength of character. I think his characterization of the Jewish author (Abraham Cady) is much weaker, but perhaps that's because I so dislike Cady's pathological "he-man" behavior (he is a gifted athlete; fighter pilot; greatest author of the age; world's best dad; sailor and motorcycle rider; and the conqueror of the hearts of a hundred women, the majority of whom are wealthy members of European nobility) that I can't really believe it when he suddenly becomes so noble that he's willing to lose his case rather than allow a famous violinist (who also happens to be a victim of Kelno's experiments) to testify, despite the fact that the man is perfectly willing to do so.

It also seems to me that the other characters who had been in the camp (whether as victims or as doctors opposed to Kelno) are too uniformly pure and good to be quite real. Some of them are humorously crotchety, but none of them are filled with anything more than dignified righteousness. Not a single one of them, at any time, gives vent to any kind of real rage or hatred against Kelno. But maybe that's how the vast majority of the people who had gone through that hell really turned out; I don't know.

I was also a little disgusted by the way that Kelno's defender, the supposedly phenomenally gifted and brilliant barrister Sir Roger Highsmith, is so quickly demolished by Cady's attorney. Furthermore, most of the courtroom shenanigans -- Columbo-like behavior from the good guy to trap the bad guy, key witnesses dying, supposedly missing witnesses and damning documents magically turning up -- all strike me as hackneyed, but to be fair the book was written 30 years ago, so these tricks may have been brand new then.

The writing itself is nothing spectacular; Uris as a writer is a good, competent craftsman, but there's no poetry in him; at least not in this book.

In short, I think it's a good book that could have been better, and I regret its flaws.

Incidentally, the book became an ABC TV miniseries, starring Ben Gazzara, Anthony Hopkins, and a few big names of the day.

I don't suppose anyone will read this; but I felt I wanted to pour it out. Thanks for letting me vent.

[fairfaxvadem]

1. Read Trinity and QBVII and Exodus

Agree on Exodus. Movie didn't do it justice, as much as I actually like the film. But the book was fascinating to read.

Wasn't there a sequel to Trinity?? I read most of these in high school or shortly thereafter, so like you, my memory is a bit vague.

I have little recollection of QBVII, so thanks for the reminder, I'll revisit it.

I didn't get as strong a sense as you of the anti-Catholicism in Trinity but you may be right. I found it a painful book only because of the situation in Northern Ireland was/is so disheartening.

I think his wife was a photographer and they put out a book called Ireland, a Terrible Beauty. At least, I thought it was Uris and his wife. My mom had it. Wonder what happened to it....

[DivinBreuvage]

3. You raise a really good point about "Trinity"

that I didn't think of, but now that you mention it I realize how right you are: namely, that he did do a good job of communicating the grimness and futility of that struggle. I certainly remember to this day how the book ended, and it wasn't on a triumphant or happy note.

You're right about that Irish photo book, too, I never read it myself but I remember seeing it in catalogs.

And, thanks for posting in this thread. I thought sure it would sink even faster than most of mine do.

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. Sequel to Trinity is called Redemption.

Unfortunately, Uris' criticisms of the Catholic church were right on. I know of women who still confess to practicing birth control. Uris' point is that women shouldn't die or lose good health from having too many babies.

[DivinBreuvage]

6. I also remember a scene in Trinity where...

a married woman confesses to her priest how much joy she and her husband take in lovemaking with each other, and he declares it sinful and makes her do penance and ends up ruining it for her forever.

I'd probably have a better grip on what he was trying to say if I read it today; I was younger then and it wasn't too hard for me to get knocked off course by things I took too personally (sometimes it still isn't).

[redwitch]

2. I like Leon Uris

I thought QBVII was fascinating- but I liked Mila 18 better- about the Warsaw ghetto uprising during WWII. I liked Trinity also- maybe no poetry in Uris but he tells a good story.

[DivinBreuvage]

4. Thanks for mentioning Mila 18

I've heard of it, but haven't read it, and had forgotten it. I didn't know what it was about but I believe I'll pick it up now.

I agree he does tell a good story. Even with my problems with QBVII I've blasted right through it -- I already know how it ends but it still holds my interest all the way through!