Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre
Review: A rather mediocre effort by a great author. I had expected a sensational read and was found myself just entertained without finding a real drive to find out more about the characters. I do plan to read the sequel The Glory and hope it gets better.
Rating: 
Summary: An exciting workmanlike view of Israel's first 20 years
Review: Although not in the league of "Exodus" The Hope is an exciting view of the birth and early years of Israel through the eyes of four military men. The book lacks the epic scope of Uris's masterpiece but does a nice job of weaving fictional characters with real life characters and incidents. Unlike Exodus, however, the Hope manages to show the day to day lives of these Israelis and toshow them as people not larger than life giants. The Hope also shows a little bit of how backroom Israeli politics worked as figures like Ben-Gurion, Dayan, Rabin and Meir play prominent roles. Well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Great history, hackneyed fiction - but quite good read
Review: As a dramatization of history, this book was wonderful. One felt what it was like to live there through those very stirring times, and perhaps best of all, the historical figures become very vivid. Suddenly, the names one has heard of from the newspapers become very real and true and fascinating. I did not know Israel's history very well - and this is a wonderful way to learn it. Sure, it's not about the Arabs - why should it be? an account of Americans over the same years doesn't need to include Vietnamese or Korean characters. As fiction, this is pretty bad. It does retain your interest - but it's clear that at some point the once fine fiction writer Herman Wouk simply became more interested in history than in creating great characters and situations in fiction - probably while he was writing The Winds of War. (However, he has since written a few good novels set in contemporary times). At any rate, suffice to say that the characters are cardboard, their emotions aren't dealt with in a realistic way - and Wouk doesn't really try. What he does want to do is to create a very truthful yet page-turning historical novel that teaches us about Israel through the 1967 war's aftermath - it moves and inspires and is fascinating and makes you want to read the next page. The history itself leaps off the page. So no, it's not anything like Faulkner or Proust, Mann or Melville, but you'll still find it a very exciting informative read - and want to read it again. I did!
Rating:
Summary: Good Enough
Review: Compared with some of Wouk's earlier books THE HOPE is definitely not as good as his other efforts written in an epic style such as THE WINDS OF WAR or WAR AND REMEMBRANCE. It also is not as gripping as EXODUS by Leon Uris but I still recommend THE HOPE to anyone who loves Israel and its history.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Wouk...Historical fiction at its best
Review: First, the only reason that I gave this book 4 stars and not five was because it was not as good as War and Remembrance and Winds of War. That being said, this is an excellent book that I would recommend to anyone interested in a great story. The book has the backdrop of Israel during the early years of its existence. By following individual characters throughout the book, we, as the reader, get to see the many different elements of Israel's people and their actions and thoughts during this period of time. From the deeply religious to the holocaust survivor to the American Jew, we get the different perspectives of all who were involved at this period of time. Of course, we also have classic Wouk, the militarey scenes, the love story, and the entanglements that individuals have with regard to their personal lives. This book was able to give a more personal account of the creation of the Jewish state. There is no better storyteller than Wouk and I recommend this book to all. If you are not interested in the political and ideological background of this novel, then I would atr least recommend that you read his Winds of War and War and Rememberance which are similarly written books with the backdrop of World War 2.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Wouk...Historical fiction at its best
Review: First, the only reason that I gave this book 4 stars and not five was because it was not as good as War and Remembrance and Winds of War. That being said, this is an excellent book that I would recommend to anyone interested in a great story. The book has the backdrop of Israel during the early years of its existence. By following individual characters throughout the book, we, as the reader, get to see the many different elements of Israel's people and their actions and thoughts during this period of time. From the deeply religious to the holocaust survivor to the American Jew, we get the different perspectives of all who were involved at this period of time. Of course, we also have classic Wouk, the militarey scenes, the love story, and the entanglements that individuals have with regard to their personal lives. This book was able to give a more personal account of the creation of the Jewish state. There is no better storyteller than Wouk and I recommend this book to all. If you are not interested in the political and ideological background of this novel, then I would atr least recommend that you read his Winds of War and War and Rememberance which are similarly written books with the backdrop of World War 2.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT, A PLEASANT SURPRISE.
Review: I don't know why I was so surprised by just how good this book is or how great Herman Wouk is. Everything I have read by him is awesome. The events in the hope are unbelieveable. I thought i knew about some of the histroy, but the hope put it in a very enjoyable format and now can't wait to finish the glory.
Rating: 
Summary: The Faceless Enemy
Review: I was quite disappointed in this work, expecting another masterpiece such as the Winds of War. It covers the history of Israel from the War of Independence of 1948 through the Six-Day War of 1967. Unfortunately, this read far more as a non-fiction work describing each battle than a fully formed fiction work. I think one of the main reasons for this is that the Arab viewpoint is never presented by any fictional character, only the public pronouncements of the various Arab leaders are presented. This meant that all the action is focused on an enemy with no face, no heart, and no body, so it is difficult to become emotionally attached to it. Michener's The Source did a far better job here, getting into the detailed history and motivations of both sides, and making you see how the current situational mess came about and the obstacles that are still facing the people of the region. The characters that Wouk does present here are competently drawn, but they don't reach down and grab you in any emotional manner. He does handle the problem of inserting fictional characters into known historical events reasonably well; one never feels a jarring sense of non-believability in his situations or characters. One aspect that is well done is his depiction of the American Jewish society, with its unrealistic expectations and little knowledge of the true state of affairs within Israel. But overall, this work is not at all up to his prior standards.
Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointed
Review: OK - I went into this book hoping it would be a James Michener-type epic with sweeping characters and a grand sense of the rich field of Middle Eastern history since World War II. What I got was a romance novel about 3 men's boring love lifes and their boring affairs with a little war thrown in for spice.
The book starts out well but becomes hopelessly sappy. In addition, I was irritated that the story was told exclusively from the Israeli point of view (undoubtedly since I was hoping for the more-inclusive Michener-type approach). I stopped reading about halfway through.
My grade: F
Rating:
Summary: The Hope
Review: the hope is an exciting book that tells of the fight to make and keep the israel statehood alive. the book is not set as a history book like high school books are but a story.
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