Interesting Trivia: Joseph Heller's novel "Catch-22" was originally named "Catch-18." MILA 18 was published just before Catch-22, and as a result, Heller renamed his novel "Catch-22" to distinguish it form Uris'. Otherwise, we would be calling confounding and circular situations a "Catch-18."
This is story telling at its best. The reader is completely swept up in the unfolding drama. I felt angry at those who turned a blind eye to the Ghetto, and relieved when the characters made it through one more day.
The heart of the story is the debate within the Ghetto about how to fight back against the German oppressors. This is what makes the story so dramatic. Each character, whether it… Read more
Preceding John Grisham and Scott Turow by some 25 years, Leon Uris' QB VII is one of the original courtroom drama books. Here, Dr. Kelno has been named in a book on the Holocaust as having committed heinous experiments on concentration camp prisoners. Dr. Kelno then brings a libel suit against the author of the book, Abraham Cady. The resulting trail is the last third or so of the book.
Until that point, the author Uris treats the reader to a narrative on the life stories of both Cady and Kelno. Thus, the reader is intimate with and likes both characters. The trial is therefore difficult for the reader, for it's not clear if Kelno was or was not the doctor in question until the last… Read more
I am a fan of Naguib Mafouz, and I eagerly picked this novel up, hoping that it would be as transporting as Arabian Nights and Days. The journey of Ibn Fattouma disappoints: it has nowhere near the lyricism of Arabian Nights and Days or the sophisticated interweaving of fable, magic and reality.
Readers who enjoyed the Cairo Trilogy, a series of three realistic novels, and who want to sample Mafouz' more iridescent writing should not start with this book. That written, The Journey of Ibn Fattouma does have things to offer those interested in political science, false utopias, or even fledgling democracies.
Others reviews on the page have eloquently captured the different societies… Read more
