Apr 21, 2001 06:10 PM
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One of my friends gave me this book to read which was a 1970 edition. Before reading it, I had little knowledge about Palestine & why there used to be conflicts between the Arabs & Israeli people.
The writer, being a Jew himself, the novel will be bound to be biased but he has brought about the struggle of Jewish people for their own country in a beautiful way. The first 200 pages details the Nazi oppression against the Jews in concentration camps & reading those things makes your blood boil that such things did happen.
Around the middle of this novel, the pace gets somewhat slow as it deals with the hunger strike by the children in a ship aptly named 'EXODUS'against the British in return for free passage to Palestine.
At the end, it was distressing to note that India voted against the partition of Palestine into a separate state of Israel at the United Nations. As you read this book, you will get acquainted by Jewish terms such as kibbutz, Passover, sabra, Torah& many other words.
In totality, I would say that this is a must-read book for those who want to know more about the freedom struggle of Israel. I feel that the Arabs have been portrayed rather poorly in this book as cowards & having a penchant for creating trouble.
