Monday, May 31, 2010

Review: Exodus

ExodusLeon Uris' Exodus is an incredible novel about the founding of the modern state of Israel. Broken into five parts, the first is the source of the book's name - a ship carrying Jewish children from a British camp in Cyprus to Palestine against all odds.

The 1948 creation of Israel cannot be told without first telling of the Nazi final solution. Many of the children aboard the Exodus were Holocaust survivors, who were then again interred by the British in a colony on Cyprus as the English sought a decision as to what should be done with its Palestinian Mandate. Not all of the characters surived these camps; others were survivors of the Russian Pale of Settlement (the geographic area in Imperial Russia where Jews were allowed to locate). Two young Russian Jews walked on foot the great distance to Palestine.

The stories of the pogroms are not ignored, neither is the early battles with neighboring Arab states who sought the annihilation of the newly created Jewish state (during which fight the same children who have suffered so much are against transplanted to safety).  In all, the book is a fantastic history, an inspiration tale and incredibly enjoyable to read.

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