Rating: 
Summary: An embarressing decline
Review: Anticipated the usual Uris quality read. It had potential and lost it. Poorly edited and error - ridden. Avoid. Shame on you Leon.
Rating:
Summary: Did Leon Uris Really Write This ??
Review: Halfway through this book I finally got fed up. I came to this site on-line to read the reviews to see if I was the only one who couldn't believe Leon Uris wrote this book. I loved Leon Uris' earier books, in part because I thought I was learning something. But now I have this question: If he wrote such over-the -top tripe about the American scene, was he equally inaccurate about the other cultures dipicted in his earier works.
Rating:
Summary: A dreadful book.
Review: This had to have been the worst book I've ever read. The story line jump constantly, such that I re-read paragraphs to see if I missed something. The back cover of the book mentioned an explosive secret, and that was the only reason I continued to read it. Once it was revealed, I couldn't help but think that even a predictable, government conspiracy type secret would have been better. I can't believe I read this book. I can't believe I bought this book. I've never sold a book to a used book store before, but I think I'll get rid of this one. It doesn't deserve to sit on my bookshelves. On top of it, I didn't appreciate his sermonizing. His AMERIGUN was an obvious attempt to negatively portray the NRA, of which I am a life member.
Rating:
Summary: Wow--why did I read this book?
Review: Terribly slanted and contrived. You can tell he's a liberal! His bashing of conservative values and people is shameful. The only redeeming quality of this book was the section on Quinns military exploits. Don't bother reading this book if you actually know anything about religion, ethics, or technology. If your a bleeding heart liberal, you'll probably love it.
Rating: 
Summary: An aging master, but a master still
Review: "Man is a god in ruins.... Infancy is the perpetual Messiah, which comes into the arms of fallen men, and pleads with them to return to paradise," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. Choosing this passage as his frontispiece, Leon Uris, now 76, gathers his strength one more time. With wry honesty, he recognizes that he has passed his prime (as he says of his avatar, an aged writer with the unlikely name of Christopher Christopher, "he had outlived his mediocre talent but knew the whens and hows. He became a legend"). But there are some battles which allow no respite for the weary, and make no allowances for age. These are what Uris calls the "moral imperatives" ... points at which human history must rise above itself, or begin the headlong fall back to savagery. Putting an end bigotry and racism, the causeless hatred of men for men, is one such imperative, and A God in Ruins is how Leon Uris answers the call. We meet war hero Quinn Patrick O'Connell -- a former cop so brave, so capable, so selfless, so principled, so caring and so loyal that his life reads like, well, a novel -- just weeks before the election that looks certain to make him the second Catholic president of the United States. An adopted child whose sterling qualities have made him governor of Colorado, he has already electrified the public by exposing the seamy underside of the national gun lobby. His subsequent call to repeal the Second Amendment, fueled by the mindless slaughter of 400 Boy Scouts at the hands of a drug-crazed arms dealer, has caught the magination of a nation which has grown tired of living in armed anarchy. His campaign is inspired, the brainchild of an old flame who has since become a towering media personality. His wife is Guenavere, his children are devoted squires, his advisers all knights. The incumbent, President Thornton Tomtree, started as a computer hacker who used his skill to blackmail a money-laundering bank, the payoff serving to launch his own company, T3, and political career. His invention, a free-standing computer network which guarantees absolute security of electronic information, is made available for the exclusive use of the rich and powerful, and his adroit use of the resultant money and contacts -- with the hard gleam of avarice and elitism softened on the advice of his brilliant, black, socially conscious side-kick, Darnell Jefferson -- have taken him to the White House, where he has every intention of staying. Tomtree and his establishment cronies watch O'Connell's rise with amusement that changes to concern before hardening into the tried-and-true determination of the modern politician to "get that guy." But they've left it too late; the polls spell doom. Their day of judgment is at hand, and the judge's name is Quinn. And then, just as this American's American is about to ride into Camelot -- the Battle Hymn of the Republic swelling in the background -- Quinn O'Connell discovers that he is really Ben Horowitz, child of two Holocaust victims. What happens next is... well, that would be telling. But rest assured that Uris rises to the challenge, throwing everything he has onto the fire and pouring the light into the troubled heart of America. Yes, he still knows the when and how. And what's more, he's learned the what and why.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! Did Uris really write this tripe???
Review: I've read most of Uris' work, and this was so far below his other works than I was stunned. Cardboard cutout characters, contrived dialouge unworthy of a soap opera, and a bizarre story line than included characters and scenes that added nothing whatsoever. Obviously, he was deeply wounded by Columbine and what Clinton went through, but this, if intended as a response, came off 'half-cocked'
Rating: 
Summary: Very weak
Review: In "A God In Ruins" Uris ventures into Jeffrey Archer territory, telling the story of two families leading up to the 2008 election. Unfortunately, Uris filters his characters through enough layers of rediculousness to completely destroy any credibility they may have. Uris may have a great handle on what makes an interesting character (Quinn O'Connell sounds like a fascinating individual), but his grasp of technology is hideously tenuous (anyone who can make the claim "I control the Internet" deserves to be laughed out of a b-movie), his view of America's reaction to a potential Jewish leader woefully out of whack (particularly in view of Senator Lieberman's nomination), and his political viewpoints horribly skewed to an extent that would be laughable in a lesser writer, and depressing for one of his abilities. The storyline moves along, and if you can stifle a gag reaction every 30 pages or so, you may well find yourself enjoying this book more than it deserves. There *are* redemptive moments where you'll find yourself drawn into the naarative, and if you check your credulity at the door, you'll find glimpses of what all the fuss is about Uris. By and large, though, you'd probably do better with the classic Uris books.
Rating:
Summary: The worst Uris book ever!
Review: I honestly cannot believe Leon Uris wrote this book. I bothered to finish it only because I hoped he (Uris) would redeem himself. Now after having finished it and knowing the touted "secret," I realize that I could have quit reading on any page and not regretted it. This "secret" which was supposed to be apex of the storyline, was a "so what" instead of the nation-shattering event as depicted in the book. If you are a Uris fan as I am, don't read this book and let it lower your impression of him. If you must read it, don't read it before driving or operating heavy machinery.
Rating:
Summary: A Book in Ruins
Review: Having read and reread several of his earlier works, I picked up this book with eager expectations. What a disappointment! I believe quality writers should improve, not regress. I rated it one-star only because I couldn't go lower. I found this book difficult to follow, and the disjointed dialogue frequently forced me to backtrack. I prefer reading the pages in the order in which they are printed I am also tiring of Mr. Uris's overuse of the supremely virtuous man impervious to the charms of wanton women. Get real. And speaking of reality, I was thoroughly turned off by the author's sycophantic treatment of Bill (O.J.) Clinton and Mrs. (Poor Victim) Clinton: "...nothing can happen, no disaster can befall so great as to go through the agony of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Nothing, nothing..." And this pathetic passage: "Don't throw us back to the dark ages of 1998 and the damage it wrought, and THE TORTURE IMPOSED ON A GREAT BUT IMPERFECT MAN(emphasis added)." I suggest to Mr. Uris that he has his subject and direct object transposed. It was this last fawning reference to the amoral Bill Clinton that forced me to quit this book on page 419. I've never before felt obligated to quit a 517-page book on page 419. Does anyone want a (just slightly) used copy of this book? I certainly won't finish it, so rereading is out of the question.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Review: This book ranged from the unbelievable to the ridiculous. The characters were somewhat interesting and worthy of a better fate than being subjected to the zany antics they were forced to be put through by the author. Don't waste your time on this poorly written book.
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