A God in Ruins

Rating:
Summary: Can't bring myself to finish it
Review: I pride myself in finishing every book I start. I've only broken that rule once before. Fortunately I've forgotten which book that was, hopefully I'll soon forget this one as well. I recall Leon Uris as being able to write very good books. I don't know what happened with the writing and editing of this book, but it really stinks. Thanks for the laughs, but I think I'll quit reading and retain my last shred of respect for Leon Uris.

Rating:
Summary: what a sad disappointment
Review: I can't remember feeling so disappointed in a book. I have read everything Leon Uris has written, and loved each and every book. When I saw this new one, I couldn't believe it, and bought it immediately. Fifty pages into it, I'm thinking this has to get better. One hundred pages into it I'm thinking maybe it's me?? No, by two hundred pages into it I'm thinking the poor man is senile and someone else cranked out this garbage. The dialogue doesn't make sense. There were several times when I couldn't even tell who was talking. The story line jumps too much. By the time you get to the "devastating climax" with the horrifying "four corners incident" you can't even believe the scenario. The circumstances are ludicrous, the situation totally unbelievable--as was the rest of the book. This is a sad, sad chapter in an unparalleled author's creative output. If this is what he has left, please, someone in the family or the publishing world keep him from printing anything else and leave his legacy as it is. Another book like this will do a lot to destroy the beauty and truth in his lifetime of writing.

Rating:
Summary: Shockingly Poor
Review: On the heels of great books like Trinity, I was very surprised by this poor effort. Terrible character development, unbelievable dialogue. The book spends a great deal of time on what are obviously Uris' own political views at the expense of plot. It is so bad that I have a hard time believing Uris actually wrote it! Don't bother. Re-read Trinity instead.

Rating:
Summary: Learn Leon Uris'Politics
Review: I had mixed feelings while reading this book. On one hand, Leon Uris gives us his usual reader-friendly, fast-paced, well-written novel.On the other, he gives us some typical media stereotypes - a courageous, good-hearted, heroic liberal Democrat; a hard-hearted, mean-spirited, technocratic, bigoted conservative Republican. As someone who supports reasonable gun-control measures, I found his depiction of the gun lobby a ridiculous caricature.At least six times in the book he depicts the Clintons as poor, unfortunate victims rather than what most people view them as. Perhaps most frightening, he presents a horrific scenario of what he must feel will happen if a Jew is nominated for President. Fortunately, all of this is fiction but it's still disappointing in light of Uris' previous works.

Rating:
Summary: The title should be Leon Uris in Ruins
Review: If you are looking for the outstanding writing of past Uris' works, pass this one by. His continuity is poor, the characters are either all good or all bad, and the political opinions of the author are shrouded in not so subtle qualities of his characters. The story line is weak and the characters flawed. Don't waste your time or money on this one! I would not even assign one star.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book was clearly not Leon Uris's best effort. Uris is one of my favorite authors, but this book was difficult to read at best. The characters were not developed to the level of those in "Armageddon", "Battlecry", "QBVII", "Exodous" or "Trinity". It appears that this book was rushed into print to take advantage of the 2000 election. I would recommend reading this book only to appreciate Uris's other works. I hope this is not his last book, I prefer to remember "Armageddon" and "Trinity" not "A God in Ruins".

Rating:
Summary: A God in Ruins
Review: Having read literally thousands of books with Leon Uris being one of my favorite authors, I can honestly say that I was extremely disappointed by this book. It is poorly edited with numerous flashbacks that are very confusing. For example, events are referred to that have not yet occurred. The author seems to have as a prime objective the furthering of his own political agenda at the expense of a rational plot. The characters seem to have little depth and their actions do not seem realistic.

Rating:
Summary: Dreadful!
Review: I bought this book because it was written by Leon Uris. What a mistake! The book is dreadful! It is poorly written, poorly edited, and seems to be a parody of a novel. Did he write it tongue in cheak? It is choppy and poorly organized; the pacing is uneven at best. It seems like a decent outline for a good story that is poorly executed. How do "they" let work like this get published? It seems that "they" are just cashing in on Uris's good name. But how about the unsuspecting reader who puts out cash expecting a good read? It's not fair to the reader or to the reputation of one who has written some great books to put out such a weak excuse for a novel.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: Having read all of Uris' books (and almost all of them more than once) I can properly say that this was by far the weakest and shallowest one. I couldn't stop reading books like EXODUS, TRINITY or REDEMPTION, but I had to force myself to read this one.

The story and the characters are weak, as plenty of other reviews have pointed out -- I have nothing to add to them.

Another negative point goes to the research: in a scene supposedly set in the late 70's, you read "People have gladly traded their freedom for a web site"; a couple of pages later you find a URL (web address), and then someone inserts a CD into a computer! Internet didn't exist then, and CD's are a 90's invention! The references to SCARAB (in actual life, OSPREY) are also wrong, for the aircraft started flying in the 80's. And, finally, the supposed BULLDOG computer/security device/composer/etc. is ludicrous!

I sure wish I had read the reviews first: I thought that with Uris I couldn't go wrong, but...

Rating:
Summary: A Different Type of Story for Leon Uris
Review: Leon Uris published his first novel, Battle Cry, a World War II story of a Marine battalion, in 1953. In the nearly fifty years since he has written eleven more. The latest is A God in Ruins. While most Uris novels have been well received, the most popular by far is Exodus, which was published in 1958 and was at that time the best-selling American novel since Gone With the Wind. Uris' novels typically relate to personal experience. He was a marine in World War II, as was his first wife. Parts of The Angry Hills related experiences of Uris' uncle as a volunteer in a Jewish Brigade in the British Army fighting Nazis in Greece. The Jewish experience in Europe and Israeli independence have been part of many of Uris' novels. An Irish theme developed in Uris' novels after he lived in Ireland. Perhaps the Irish independence movement struck a chord after his immersion in Israeli independence. Trinity and Redemption followed in 1976 and 1995. A God in Ruins is a departure for Uris. There are still marine, Jewish and Irish connections, but this story is about an American presidential race (in 2008). The opponents are poles apart. Both are from working-class families. One is a technology geek who grew up in the family-owned junkyard playing with radios and the like. He ends up an the inventor of a computer system that makes him wealthy and eventually the incumbent President. The other is the son of a Irish-American marine veteran, ex-Brooklyn cop. The ex-cop could not settle back in Brooklyn after the war and moved with his bride to Colorado where he buys the ranch that had been the home of his best friend who died on Saipan. Unable to have children, they adopt a son through a Roman Catholic agency. This son becomes the governor of Colorado, and the candidate to unseat the incumbent President. This novel begins on the eve of the general election, as Quinn Patrick Patrick O'Connell learns who his birth parents are, and is trying to prepare a statement for the media to inform them that if elected he would not only be the second Roman Catholic President, he would also be the first Jewish one. As he tries to prepare his statement, he flashes back over his life, his accomplishments, and his loves. Mixed with his flashbacks Uris gives us a similar treatment of the life of President Thorton Tomtree. As the novel unfolds, leading up to the election, we see two somewhat similar young men grow into very different adults. There is something of the tension between industry-technology and liberal-environmental in the contest between the two principals, but neither is a stereotype. Overall, A God in Ruins is an interesting, well-told story. Nothing great, but entertaining. The title, by the way, is from an Emerson quote: "Man is a god in ruins..."