E-X-O-D-U-S. Review on Exodus - Leon Uris

I love the EXODUS that was written by Leon Uris. Random House published in 1959.

The EXODUS was the name of one of boats that was trying to smuggle the Jews who survived the Holocaust into Palestine.

The main characters are an Israeli leader by the name of Ari Ben Cannan and an American nurse called Kitty Fremont, (who lost her Husband during WWII).

The story begins after the end of WW II. Homeless Jews are being held in D. P., (Displaced Persons), Camps in Cyprus. The conditions they are living in were almost as bad as the Concentration Camps they had survived.

England was about to leave Palestine and all of the problems they had cause to the newly formed United Nations. A vote would soon be held at the U.N. to see if they would give the Jewish Homeland, (Israel).

The British were leaving their strongholds and arms in the hands of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and his followers, (I could never understand this because the Mufti spent WW II at Hitler's side. He also had murdered all the intellectuals he could find so he would not be opposed when he returned to Jerusalem).

Praying G-D and the U.N. would grant them a State they knew they needed an Army, Air force, and arms to fight the Muslim States whose Military had begun to surround I what was left of Palestine).

Although Jews have always lived in Israel from ancient times to that day their population was very small because of the many Wars and the 'swamp fever' that killed many of them.

The Jewish leaders were not happy that Palestine was about to be divided again, (Trans-Jordan was the Muslim State that was created before WW II began), they knew that they would have to accept what little they got as it was their only hope for a Homeland.

They sent many people the D.P. camp. Some were Jews from Palestine while others were Doctors and Nurses from different Religions and Countries. The plan was to get these hopeless people as healthy as they could so they could cross the Mediterranean and be smuggled onto small boat that would take them to Palestine.

The boats sat off shore until dark waiting for a flash light signal to show them where the people should come on shore. If they made it they were taken to a Kibbutz, (a collective Farm), and trained with wooden guns.

The ones that did not make it were arrested by the British and put into Camps on Cypress until after the U.N. vote.

As you read the story you will learn a little about World War II, the struggle between the Jews and the Muslim Countries, (at that time Lebanon was not part of this), the D.P Camps, a lot about fear, hatred, murder and victory. You will learn that winning doesn't mean a lot.

Exodus is the story of the birth of Israel and sadly the struggle for her survival continues today!

I won't tell you the entire story as I could never tell it as well as Leon Uris. I will tell you that the characters in the novel are fictitious but the events are not.

THE AUTHOR, (from information on the book jacket):

'Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was a 'high school drop out' as he went joined the U.S. Marine Corps, (when he was seventeen), to fight for his country during WW II. In 1956 he went to the State of Israel to work as a War Correspondent.

His Novels include BATTLE CRY, THE ANGRY HILLS, THE OK CORRAL, TOPAZ AND THE HAJ. EXODUS was his 4ht Novel. (Since then he has written more novels and screen plays).

He has been honored with many awards including the John F. Kennedy Memorial Award from the Irish-America Society of New York, a gold medal from the Eire Society of Boston, the Scopus Award from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Jabotinsky Medal awarded by the State of Israel.'

SOME THOUGHTS:

This book has been translated into 50 languages because it sold the largest number of books since 'Gone With The Wind'. I loved this book and highly recommend it to you.

This book was made into a film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Paul Newman, Eva Marie, Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. If you don't want to read the book you might enjoy the video.

ISBN: 0517207982

©LL