Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 1/17/2017 + 1180 more book reviews

Very powerful novel about the Warsaw Ghetto and the Jewish Uprising there during WWII. I've read quite a bit about the Holocaust but this is the first novel I've read about the Warsaw Ghetto and the courageous fighters who faced the Nazis with limited weapons including homemade bombs and their bare hands. This novel by Uris was sweeping in scope telling the story of Poland and Warsaw before the German invasion in 1939 and through the horrors of the ghetto. The novel focuses on a group of people including Jews, Polish non-Jews, and Germans. The Jewish characters and the Poles who helped them were very believable and Uris' descriptions made me feel their pain as they fought their oppressors. The German characters were sufficiently evil and there was no question that I despised them and everything they stood for. Every time I read something about the Holocaust, I can't believe how man can be so inhuman towards man!

This novel was written in 1961 and some of the first part of the novel was a little soap-operaish, in line with other novels of the time like Harold Robbins and Irving Wallace. But overall, I would definitely recommend this one. I have read QBVII by Uris which I would also recommend and I most definitely will be reading more of his work.

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