A God in Ruins

Rating:
Summary: Poorly written diatribe
Review: Poorly researched, editted and written political diatribe. Not worth reading. Real disappointment after books like Mila 18. Uris has lost the touch and resorted to propaganda

Rating:
Summary: This book is boring and trite
Review: Trinity and Exodus are without doubt two of the best books ever written so I have to believe that this book was not written by Leon Uris. I almost always finish books no matter how boring, but I could not finish this one. I finally gave up in the war room discussing plans to liberate a CIA operative from Iran. Please Leon, write something good. I know you can do it.

Rating:
Summary: Leon, where are you ?
Review: It is sad to see the author of such superb contemporary classics spinning his wheels in this, and his last several books. I used to RUN to the store and buy the hardcover at full price, when the word was out that Uris had written again. No more. This book will be available in the $2.00 stack at Media Play in about 6 months. No disrespect to the author, but, maybe it's time to just move on to something else.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointment!
Review: The only thing I can say is, "don't spend your money on this book." I had looked forward to a new book from Leon Uris, but this is not it. Someone in a Leon Uris suit wrote this, not him. Perhaps the Microsoft Word Wizard did it...you know: "Do you need help writing this book?" Mr. Uris should have refused. I must admit, I could only read 100 pages---by that time, every cliche known had been used---tough Irish cop, secretive Jesuits, very young Mexican girl who falls for son of ranch owner etc., etc., etc. What has happened to this author?

Rating:
Summary: Interesting premise, uneven plot, disappointing conclusion
Review: When you read the jacket description of this book, KANE AND ABEL by Jeffrey Archer immediately springs to mind. If only A GOD IN RUINS lived up to the quality of Archer's seminal work. Unfortunately, the promising summary gives way to an uneven book that ends feebly. Uris leaves astonishingly large gaps in the narrative, weaves in and out of first person for much of the first half of the book, and ultimately ends the story very weakly. For a writer of his talent, the novel is uneven and disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointed by poor editing.
Review: I love Leon Uris. I've read all his books and several have had specific influences on my life. Therefore, I was very excited when I learned of A God in Ruins and I preordered immediately. I am only 86 pages in but was compelled to do this review to register my shock at the poor editing job done by Harper Collins. Snyder and Camp never played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Snider and Campy (Campanella) did. Columbia Law School has no basketball team. No grad schools do. Columbia University (undergraduate) issues no athletic scholarships. The most egregious error, however, is that the list of the authors previous works is inaccurate. Uris never wrote a book entitled Milta Pass. He did, in fact, write a fine book years ago, Mitla Pass. How sad. Heads should roll. I'm almost afraid to read on to see what other errors mar this work.

Rating:
Summary: Leon Uris did not write this book
Review: I refuse to believe that Leon Uris truly authored this book. I suspect that in his declining years somebody took serious advantage of him and got him to sign his name to an abomination.
Uris' previous works, such as Exodus, the Haj, and Battle Cry, are centered around complex, well-developed, dynamic characters and riveting plot lines.
The premise of this book, namely, that in 2004 an assimilated, Irish Catholic politician would suffer prejudice because he is actually an adopted Jewish child, is frankly ludicrous. We saw in the last election a wide array of candidates fall over one another in an attempt to produce Jewish ancestors, shamelessly pandering to a mythically monolithic "Jewish vote" in a manner most Jews themselves found offensive. Joe Lieberman's Judaism was essentially a non-issue.
The characters in "A God in Ruins" run from unbelievable caricatures (the Republican opposition candidate) to whiney nebisches (like the main character's wife).
This book is virtually unreadable. It is a travesty that it is connected with the name of one of the greatest of 20th century authors. Please don't buy it. If you did buy it, please dispose of it. Let's all forget this book was ever written.

Rating:
Summary: Who wrote this?
Review: I was shocked at the lack of continuitiy in story-line and generally poor writing. My husband was reading another Uris book concurrently and I kept asking him what he thought of Uris writing style. My husband said A-. I began to think either I was crazy or my husband was, but since I have been reading other reviews of A God In Ruins, I realize we are both right. Something bad happened to Mr Uris at the time he wrote this book...but what? It is not a fair representation of his talent and I am befuddled enough to take time to write this review. God in Ruins is a definite 'don't read.' Read something else like The Haj or Exodus. I think his family should take this one out of circulation. God bless and rest Mr. Uris soul!

Rating:
Summary: An uncanny "deja vu" feel
Review: In autumn of 2008, Quinn Patrick O'Connell prepares to take office as president of the United States of America. Just before the election, this Democratic Governor of Colorado has satisfied a lifetime longing (and simultaneously risked everything) by discovering his true heritage.

From that opening on, the story is told in flashback as Irish cop Dan O'Connell returns to Brooklyn after his World War II Marine Corps service. Dan and his bride, Siobhan, set out soon afterward to look for wider horizons where they can raise their family. They find those horizons in Colorado; but the family doesn't come along until Siobhan's brother, a Roman Catholic priest, arranges for them to adopt a three-year-old boy whose background they can never know. We also follow the rise to economic and political power of Thornton Tomtree, an emotionally stunted genius whose "Bulldog" computer network eventually drives the nation.

Novelist Uris offers his readers both an engrossing family saga, and a moral commentary on the United States at the dawn of the 21st Century. Written prior to 9/11, this book has an uncanny "deja vu" feel in some of the fictional events it depicts. "Who am I?" - Quinn Patrick O'Connell's great question, that appears to be answered before we're past the first chapter - turns out to be the one his nation must also ask itself.


Rating:
Summary: a fall from grace for a great writer...............
Review: All you die-hard Leon Uris fans (like myself) listen up!

This book is (almost, almost, almost) complete crap and I'm only saying that because Uris is one of my favorite writers and I believe that because of EXODUS and his other great works almost get him off the hook.

The story follows an Irish-American (who also, guess what? is Jewish) through his life and various loves--two women and the Marine Corps-- until he becomes president. The main character Quinn O'Connell is a combination of Guideon Zadok from MITLA PASS and O'Sullivan from ARMAGEDDON (throw in a little Andrei from MILA 18 and Rory from REDEMPTION; just for good measure) and there's you're protagonist. The book is the same type of narrative style from MITLA PASS-- non-linear timeframes and different first person narrators-- but it doesn't work the same way, it's horribly one-sided and sloppy.

Whoever edited this book deserves to be shot because of mistakes; a section will start in the first-person but switch, very abruptly, into the third person.

All in all, if you're a die-hard fan I would read it, it was his second last book and at least now I have some insight as to why O'HARA'S CHOICE was also terrible, his downard spiral. If nothing else you will be able to chart the progression and devolution of a great storyteller.