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QB VII
In Queen’s Bench Courtroom Number Seven, famous author Abraham Cady stands trial. In his book The Holocaust—born of the terrible revelation that the Jadwiga Concentration Camp was the site of his family’s extermination—Cady shook the consciousness of the human race. He also named eminent surgeon Sir Adam Kelno as one of Jadwiga’s most sadistic inmate/doctors. Kelno has denied this and brought furious charges. Now unfolds Leon Uris’s riveting courtroom drama—one of the great fictional trials of the century.
432 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
About the author
Leon Uris
97 books1,337 followersLeon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 - June 21, 2003) was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.
Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish-American parents Wolf William and Anna (Blumberg) Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a paperhanger, then a storekeeper. William spent a year in Palestine after World War I before entering the United States. He derived his surname from Yerushalmi, meaning "man of Jerusalem." (His brother Aron, Leon Uris' uncle, took the name Yerushalmi) "He was basically a failure," Uris later said of his father. "He went from failure to failure."
Uris attended schools in Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, but never graduated from high school, after having failed English three times. At age seventeen, while in his senior year of high school, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Uris enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served in the South Pacific as a radioman (in combat) at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and New Zealand from 1942 through 1945. While recuperating from malaria in San Francisco, he met Betty Beck, a Marine sergeant; they married in 1945.
Coming out of the service, he worked for a newspaper, writing in his spare time. In 1950, Esquire magazine bought an article, and he began to devote himself to writing more seriously. Drawing on his experiences in Guadalcanal and Tarawa he produced the best-selling, Battle Cry, a novel depicting the toughness and courage of U.S. Marines in the Pacific. He then went to Warner Brothers in Hollywood helping to write the movie, which was extremely popular with the public, if not the critics. Later he went on to write The Angry Hills, a novel set in war-time Greece.
According to one source, in the early 1950's he was hired by an American public relations firm to go to Israel and "soak up the atmosphere and create a novel about it". That novel would be Exodus, which came out in 1958 and became his best known work. Others say that Uris, motivated by an intense interest in Israel, financed his own research for the novel by selling the film rights in advance to MGM and writing articles about the Sinai campaign. It is said that the book involved two years of research, and involved thousands of interviews. Exodus illustrated the history of Palestine from the late 19th century through the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. It was a worldwide best-seller, translated into a dozen languages, and was made into a feature film in 1960, starring Paul Newman, directed by Otto Preminger, as well as into a short-lived Broadway musical (12 previews, 19 performances) in 1971. Uris' novel Topaz was adapted for the screen and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Uris' subsequent works included: Mila 18, a story of the Warsaw ghetto uprising; Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin, which reveals the detailed work by British and American intelligence services in planning for the occupation and pacification of post WWII Germany; Trinity, an epic novel about Ireland's struggle for independence; QB VII, a novel about the role of a Polish doctor in a German concentration camp ; and The Haj, with insights into the history of the Middle East and the secret machinations of foreigners which have led to today's turmoil.
He also wrote the screenplays for Battle Cry and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Uris was married three times: to Betty Beck, with whom he had three children, from 1945 through their divorce in 1968; Margery Edwards in 1969, who died a year later, and Jill Peabody in 1970, with whom he had two children, and divorced in 1989.
Leon Uris died of renal failure at his Long Island home on Shelter Island, aged 78.
Leon Uris's papers can be found at the Ransom Center, University of Texas in Austin. The collection includes all of Uris's novels, with the exception of The Haj and Mitla Pass, as well as manus
Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish-American parents Wolf William and Anna (Blumberg) Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a paperhanger, then a storekeeper. William spent a year in Palestine after World War I before entering the United States. He derived his surname from Yerushalmi, meaning "man of Jerusalem." (His brother Aron, Leon Uris' uncle, took the name Yerushalmi) "He was basically a failure," Uris later said of his father. "He went from failure to failure."
Uris attended schools in Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, but never graduated from high school, after having failed English three times. At age seventeen, while in his senior year of high school, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Uris enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served in the South Pacific as a radioman (in combat) at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and New Zealand from 1942 through 1945. While recuperating from malaria in San Francisco, he met Betty Beck, a Marine sergeant; they married in 1945.
Coming out of the service, he worked for a newspaper, writing in his spare time. In 1950, Esquire magazine bought an article, and he began to devote himself to writing more seriously. Drawing on his experiences in Guadalcanal and Tarawa he produced the best-selling, Battle Cry, a novel depicting the toughness and courage of U.S. Marines in the Pacific. He then went to Warner Brothers in Hollywood helping to write the movie, which was extremely popular with the public, if not the critics. Later he went on to write The Angry Hills, a novel set in war-time Greece.
According to one source, in the early 1950's he was hired by an American public relations firm to go to Israel and "soak up the atmosphere and create a novel about it". That novel would be Exodus, which came out in 1958 and became his best known work. Others say that Uris, motivated by an intense interest in Israel, financed his own research for the novel by selling the film rights in advance to MGM and writing articles about the Sinai campaign. It is said that the book involved two years of research, and involved thousands of interviews. Exodus illustrated the history of Palestine from the late 19th century through the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. It was a worldwide best-seller, translated into a dozen languages, and was made into a feature film in 1960, starring Paul Newman, directed by Otto Preminger, as well as into a short-lived Broadway musical (12 previews, 19 performances) in 1971. Uris' novel Topaz was adapted for the screen and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Uris' subsequent works included: Mila 18, a story of the Warsaw ghetto uprising; Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin, which reveals the detailed work by British and American intelligence services in planning for the occupation and pacification of post WWII Germany; Trinity, an epic novel about Ireland's struggle for independence; QB VII, a novel about the role of a Polish doctor in a German concentration camp ; and The Haj, with insights into the history of the Middle East and the secret machinations of foreigners which have led to today's turmoil.
He also wrote the screenplays for Battle Cry and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Uris was married three times: to Betty Beck, with whom he had three children, from 1945 through their divorce in 1968; Margery Edwards in 1969, who died a year later, and Jill Peabody in 1970, with whom he had two children, and divorced in 1989.
Leon Uris died of renal failure at his Long Island home on Shelter Island, aged 78.
Leon Uris's papers can be found at the Ransom Center, University of Texas in Austin. The collection includes all of Uris's novels, with the exception of The Haj and Mitla Pass, as well as manus
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 509 reviews
August 23, 2023
⚖️ UK courtroom thriller 🇬🇧
Auschwitz and the Holocaust are in court and so is the man who saved so many lives there.
Or did he?
One of Uris’s best works but entirely forgotten.
A spellbinding legal drama and a spellbinding pursuit of truth and justice.
⚖️ QBVII means Queen’s Bench 7, a special courtroom in London.
Auschwitz and the Holocaust are in court and so is the man who saved so many lives there.
Or did he?
One of Uris’s best works but entirely forgotten.
A spellbinding legal drama and a spellbinding pursuit of truth and justice.
⚖️ QBVII means Queen’s Bench 7, a special courtroom in London.
August 17, 2008
I don't like to be contradictory, but this book is not a contrived situation for Leon Uris to make a point. It's based on a lawsuit taken against Uris himself.
The basic plot involves a doctor bringing suit for slander against a Jewish author who mentions him, in a work of fiction, as being a Nazi collaborator. Since the story takes place in England, we learn much about the British legal system and the meaning of the word slander. There's plenty of tension, a satisfying ending, and a lot of tangential information so dear to my nerdy heart.
I enjoyed this book very much, and oddly enough, also enjoyed the t.v. or movie adaptationm. It starred Ben Gazarra (a surprisingly good choice) in the leading role, with a much younger Anthony Hopkins as the doctor.
Highly recommended.
The basic plot involves a doctor bringing suit for slander against a Jewish author who mentions him, in a work of fiction, as being a Nazi collaborator. Since the story takes place in England, we learn much about the British legal system and the meaning of the word slander. There's plenty of tension, a satisfying ending, and a lot of tangential information so dear to my nerdy heart.
I enjoyed this book very much, and oddly enough, also enjoyed the t.v. or movie adaptationm. It starred Ben Gazarra (a surprisingly good choice) in the leading role, with a much younger Anthony Hopkins as the doctor.
Highly recommended.
February 18, 2018
¿Qué puedo decir? A pesar de que la primera parte me gustó mucho por lo imprevisto de la situación (Uris es un genio a la hora de describir un lugar o una situación), el juicio se me hizo eterno; quizá por el realismo con que lo describe. De todas maneras, es atroz leer sobre lo que pasó en el campo de prisioneros de Jadwiga (uno de los peores por los experimentos que se hacían con los prisioneros)
April 19, 2019
This is an extraordinary book ... a great story ... beautifully structured to make the reader struggle as pieces of the truth relentlessly emerge. The first major part introduces the Polish doctor and makes the reader like him. Then the holocaust author comes along and my first reaction was to defend the Polish doctor. Then ... I won't spoil it ... Read the book. Read it again.
March 30, 2009
Leon Uris writes a story that reaches out in the first pages and grabs you. There is no worry over the numbers of pages here; you thank the stars that it HAS heft because you don't want to finish this one. I learned more about medicine, law, the holocaust, Judaism, life changes, and what time will and won't heal than I ever thought possible in this book. Some books you live with for a while; this was some quality time.
May 30, 2022
QB VII was a riveting fictional narrative about month-long libel trial in Queens Bench Courtroom Number Seven in 1967 by beloved author Leon Uris. The book is divided into sections, the first The Plaintiff where we are introduced to Sir Adam Kelno, an esteemed and imminent Polish surgeon who was imprisoned for some time during the war at the Jadwiga Concentration Camp. The second section is the Defendants where we are introduced to the legendary and well-known author Abraham Cady after publication of his book The Holocaust and his British publisher. The third section is comprised of the Brief to Counsel where we become aware of the legal strategy and the case to be presented by both the Plaintiff and the Defendants. And the last section is The Trial, a spellbinding month long-long look at the litigation. This has to be one of the best courtroom dramas that I have read, the case being tried in the High Court of Justice in London. As trials are wont to do, they can change course in an instant with the Plaintiff and Defendants and their legal teams scrambling. And this did occur with one surprise after another, a powerful book.
The fictional narrative seems to follow closely the set of facts in the litigation brought against Leon Uris. Although the author stresses that this book is pure fiction, it should be noted that soon after the publication of Exodus in 1964, Leon Uris and his British publisher were sued for libel by a Polish-born physician who had been imprisoned at Auschwitz asserting that he was defamed because of a paragraph appearing in Exodus, alleging surgical atrocities to him while he was imprisoned in Auschwitz.
One of the highlights of our first visit to London many years ago, having recently switching my career to the legal field, was standing outside The Royal Courts of Justice and The Inns of Court as one contemplated the long and rich history of The Inns of Court, coming into existence centuries ago dating back to the Knights Templar in 1099.
The fictional narrative seems to follow closely the set of facts in the litigation brought against Leon Uris. Although the author stresses that this book is pure fiction, it should be noted that soon after the publication of Exodus in 1964, Leon Uris and his British publisher were sued for libel by a Polish-born physician who had been imprisoned at Auschwitz asserting that he was defamed because of a paragraph appearing in Exodus, alleging surgical atrocities to him while he was imprisoned in Auschwitz.
One of the highlights of our first visit to London many years ago, having recently switching my career to the legal field, was standing outside The Royal Courts of Justice and The Inns of Court as one contemplated the long and rich history of The Inns of Court, coming into existence centuries ago dating back to the Knights Templar in 1099.
"Within the Inns corruption is unknown."
"The barrister is judged by a man who has been chosen from the ranks of Queen's counsels in a no nonsense courtroom."
"A new student taken into a chamber to study is fearfully admonished that he is in the home of the Knights Templar, in the midst of kings and queens, statemen and judges and philosophers and writers. He is to be governed by the Benchers or elders and receives the wisdom of the Reader or chief lecturer."
March 6, 2011
Bottom line, this never should have been published. It is unquestionably one of the worst books I've ever read in my entire life---worse than books that merely have stupid plots or challenged writing, because those are just superficial flaws of superficial books. No, QB VII is the worst kind of book in that it was written by a talented author, yet it insults, manipulates and proselytizes ad nauseum.
If you believe the inside cover, you'll pick up this book thinking you're going to hear the story of two men from opposing sides of a libel suit: Adam Kelno, a surgeon who spend several years practicing in a concentration camp while being held as a political prisoner by the Nazis, sues writer Abraham Cady for including allegedly defamatory remarks about Kelno's actions at the camp in his latest book about the Holocaust. Is Kelno evil, an anti-Semite on the same plane as the Nazis, or is he a decent man who was forced to do terrible things as a Nazi puppet?
Sounds promising, right? Yeah, I thought so too. My mistake.
Uris takes what could have been a great story and instead uses it as a platform to continue his personal vendetta against the Dr. Kelno in his own life: Dr. Wladislaw Dering, a doctor Uris accused of atrocities in his book Exodus, which led to the longest libel proceeding in British history (thanks, New York Times obituary on Uris). Of course, writing about one's own life isn't inherently a mistake, but this particular subject was clearly too close to Uris for him to write about it objectively.
He spends the first half of the book introducing us to the two characters, and because Cady is written as an insufferable misogynist and Kelno is a generous family man, I think we're supposed to assume that Uris doesn't have an agenda and wants to show the ambiguity of ethics. Soon, though, it becomes apparent that Kelno is being written into a corner and for 20+ years has been hiding his hatred of Jews---no better evidenced than in the last few pages of the book, where he entirely uncharacteristically I'm sorry, but...what???
Uris didn't "show" anything; he just "told" me what to believe, and no way did I believe Kelno's transformation from human to evil reincarnated. Rather, Cady's flagrant mistreatment of women made him the most believable asshole in the book. Cady---who for all intents and purposes is Uris---clearly hates us, the feeble, lesser sex, yet doesn't seem aware of how that contradicts his platform for equality.
This book is riddled with hypocrisy, legal shakiness and bias, and had it been written about any subject other than the Holocaust, I think people would more readily admit that. I almost couldn't stomach it, and very, very rarely do I give up on a book, but it was all I could do not to skim the pages two at a time to get to the end.
It's too bad: Mila 18 and Trinity have been on my to-read list for ages, and I'm not sure after this I can give old Leon another chance.
If you believe the inside cover, you'll pick up this book thinking you're going to hear the story of two men from opposing sides of a libel suit: Adam Kelno, a surgeon who spend several years practicing in a concentration camp while being held as a political prisoner by the Nazis, sues writer Abraham Cady for including allegedly defamatory remarks about Kelno's actions at the camp in his latest book about the Holocaust. Is Kelno evil, an anti-Semite on the same plane as the Nazis, or is he a decent man who was forced to do terrible things as a Nazi puppet?
Sounds promising, right? Yeah, I thought so too. My mistake.
Uris takes what could have been a great story and instead uses it as a platform to continue his personal vendetta against the Dr. Kelno in his own life: Dr. Wladislaw Dering, a doctor Uris accused of atrocities in his book Exodus, which led to the longest libel proceeding in British history (thanks, New York Times obituary on Uris). Of course, writing about one's own life isn't inherently a mistake, but this particular subject was clearly too close to Uris for him to write about it objectively.
He spends the first half of the book introducing us to the two characters, and because Cady is written as an insufferable misogynist and Kelno is a generous family man, I think we're supposed to assume that Uris doesn't have an agenda and wants to show the ambiguity of ethics. Soon, though, it becomes apparent that Kelno is being written into a corner and for 20+ years has been hiding his hatred of Jews---no better evidenced than in the last few pages of the book, where he entirely uncharacteristically I'm sorry, but...what???
Uris didn't "show" anything; he just "told" me what to believe, and no way did I believe Kelno's transformation from human to evil reincarnated. Rather, Cady's flagrant mistreatment of women made him the most believable asshole in the book. Cady---who for all intents and purposes is Uris---clearly hates us, the feeble, lesser sex, yet doesn't seem aware of how that contradicts his platform for equality.
This book is riddled with hypocrisy, legal shakiness and bias, and had it been written about any subject other than the Holocaust, I think people would more readily admit that. I almost couldn't stomach it, and very, very rarely do I give up on a book, but it was all I could do not to skim the pages two at a time to get to the end.
It's too bad: Mila 18 and Trinity have been on my to-read list for ages, and I'm not sure after this I can give old Leon another chance.
January 3, 2013
Almost didn't want to read this because of it's obscure title, and length. So glad I finally read it. Some books you forget right away; this one will stick with me for awhile. The author uses his talent to weave an emotional roller coaster that sets up the libel trial with the reader knowing both plaintiff and defendant intimately. It's a gripping novel to the very end as the reader struggles to find out the truth.
While some parts are awful and graphic, I think any matter relating to the Holocaust can be nothing but.
I learned from this book more about communism, Judiasm, anti-semetism, concentration camps, WW II, and the English law system. But most of all, is the gripping question of what would you do, what could you stand up to, and do you live up to your morals and the morals of humanity when faced with ethical issues every day? Very interesting, well-written novel.
While some parts are awful and graphic, I think any matter relating to the Holocaust can be nothing but.
I learned from this book more about communism, Judiasm, anti-semetism, concentration camps, WW II, and the English law system. But most of all, is the gripping question of what would you do, what could you stand up to, and do you live up to your morals and the morals of humanity when faced with ethical issues every day? Very interesting, well-written novel.
October 4, 2013
Strange how memory plays tricks. I read this book first probably in the late 70s and all I remembered before I started reading it again was that it was a court case that described explicitly what a Polish surgeon did in a concentration camp during WW II.
Actually, that's only about a third of the book, perhaps less. But obviously that left the most lasting impression.
Following a visit to Auschwitz, I decided to read this book again after some 35 years and did not regret my decision.
Actually, that's only about a third of the book, perhaps less. But obviously that left the most lasting impression.
Following a visit to Auschwitz, I decided to read this book again after some 35 years and did not regret my decision.
July 26, 2011
I was very disappointed. With a subject matter as interesting as this, it should have been a great book. The courtroom scenes are when this book comes alive, but they only get started around page 250, which is more than halfway in. The pages until then are spent developing the background of the two principal characters. Despite this, I feel neither character ever becomes anything more than a two dimensional cliché: the Polish, Jew-hating doctor with the explosive temper, and the misogynistic, Jewish antihero of a writer. Both are thoroughly unlikeable, and the outcome is, sadly, very predictable. No nuances, no depth.
A minor point of annoyance: The use of all capital letters to depict interior monologue managed to pretty well drive me crazy. Entire chapters of capital letters are near unreadable, and by the end of the book, I would more or less skip those sections.
This was my first Leon Uris novel, Mila 18 is next, I hope it's better.
A minor point of annoyance: The use of all capital letters to depict interior monologue managed to pretty well drive me crazy. Entire chapters of capital letters are near unreadable, and by the end of the book, I would more or less skip those sections.
This was my first Leon Uris novel, Mila 18 is next, I hope it's better.
June 30, 2008
This has been on my to read list for a long time. I was totally disappointed in it. It was a contrived situation to give Uris opportunity for a sermon.
The situation could be compared to OJ Simpson bringing suit against the Goldman family for defaming him, while knowing all the time he was guilty. I don't think that will happen.
Neither do I think a war criminal would go to court to clear his name because of an obscur paragraph in a book mentioning someone with the same last name. A guilty man would just let the sleeping dog lie.
It is another reminder however of the terrible atrocities inflicted upon the world by the Nazis.
Would that we had learned a lasting lesson about how evil humanity can become.
The situation could be compared to OJ Simpson bringing suit against the Goldman family for defaming him, while knowing all the time he was guilty. I don't think that will happen.
Neither do I think a war criminal would go to court to clear his name because of an obscur paragraph in a book mentioning someone with the same last name. A guilty man would just let the sleeping dog lie.
It is another reminder however of the terrible atrocities inflicted upon the world by the Nazis.
Would that we had learned a lasting lesson about how evil humanity can become.
August 17, 2017
QB VII (Queen's Bench Court #7) is a courtroom drama set in London in 1967. It is based on a real-life libel case against Uris himself, when in 1964 he was sued by Dr. Wladislaw Dering. Dr. Dering had sued the writer over claims made in his earlier novel Exodus that he had been involved in medical experiments in Auschwitz.
The topic in question is about the sterilization experiments that were performed mainly upon the Jews (and at times, others) that took place in the fictional Jadwiga Concentration Camp in Europe during the Second World War, making them the human guinea pigs.
The book has been very well-written, considering the complete structure required to form a certain lawsuit with an issue as big as this. It deals very well with emotions, and is graphic at times whenever has been necessary in terms of brutalities when afflicted upon, within descriptions.
The first half of the book is dedicated to the life-stories of the plaintiff and the defendant, before the lawsuit takes place. This has provided a good characterization, for the reader to understand both the parties involved. Nearly the entire second half of the book then takes place in the courtroom.
The book is CERTAINLY RECOMMENDED. It brings out one of those areas of the Holocaust, which has caused a lot of pain to the survivors who have gone through this, and which the newer generation, I personally feel, should be exposed to at some point, so as to avoid bringing such times ever again.
P.S: It can be difficult to stomach the core content of this book, if one has no knowledge of what happened in the Holocaust at all. Also, best recommended for psychologically matured readers, yet I feel we all should know what has happened barely just more than seventy years ago.
The topic in question is about the sterilization experiments that were performed mainly upon the Jews (and at times, others) that took place in the fictional Jadwiga Concentration Camp in Europe during the Second World War, making them the human guinea pigs.
The book has been very well-written, considering the complete structure required to form a certain lawsuit with an issue as big as this. It deals very well with emotions, and is graphic at times whenever has been necessary in terms of brutalities when afflicted upon, within descriptions.
The first half of the book is dedicated to the life-stories of the plaintiff and the defendant, before the lawsuit takes place. This has provided a good characterization, for the reader to understand both the parties involved. Nearly the entire second half of the book then takes place in the courtroom.
The book is CERTAINLY RECOMMENDED. It brings out one of those areas of the Holocaust, which has caused a lot of pain to the survivors who have gone through this, and which the newer generation, I personally feel, should be exposed to at some point, so as to avoid bringing such times ever again.
P.S: It can be difficult to stomach the core content of this book, if one has no knowledge of what happened in the Holocaust at all. Also, best recommended for psychologically matured readers, yet I feel we all should know what has happened barely just more than seventy years ago.
September 22, 2020
I loved this author...This was an amazing book and an amazing mini-series with Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, and Anthony Hopkins.
July 9, 2009
This is a story about a Polish man Adam Kelno who was accused of the war crime of doing improper surgeries, for example, without the use of anesthetic or removing healthy people’s reproductive organs during WWII in a Polish concentration camp. After he was tried and found not guilty he fled to remote jungle village with his family to escape what he claimed were the Jews and communists trying to discredit him as a doctor. During his time in hiding the book The Holocaust, was written by the acclaimed author Abe Cady. In it he wrote that Kelno had performed thousands of inappropriate surgeries. Kelno was infuriated that his name again be tarnished and he sued Cady and his publisher for libel (untrue statement under the demand that he be paid for this untrue discredit and the books no longer be published). The trial took place in Queen’s Bench 7 (hence the title of the book) and after a number of witnesses testified against Kelno that he had in deed performed brutal surgeries against Jews in the concentration camp. He had been part of experimental surgeries in which X-radiation was given to people’s genitals and then they were removed in what Kelno argued was to prevent cancer. However, it was more of an experiment of mass sterilization of the Jews. It was also discovered through witnesses and a medical record that was uncovered at the very end of the book that Kelno used improper anesthetic procedures as failing to sterilize himself and his instruments between the surgeries that he performed with unsafe speed. This resulted with infections and discomfort to the victims for the rest of their lives, not to mention the face that they could no longer reproduce. Therefore, the jury came up with the verdict that Kelno would not be paid for the discredit he claimed The Holocaust had inflicted on him. No only did this decision uncover the brutality that Kelno had hid all those years, but it also stood as a small payment to those Jews that were victims of these inhumane crimes.
I really enjoyed this book- it is an older book recommended by my parents. The first two thirds of the book I thought were a little slow, introducing Adam Kelno and Abe Cady’s stories prior to the trial. But the last third of the book was all about the trial and was sooo good, that it made up for the slow portion. The main thing that I will take from this book is the theme that even though it may be hard to fathom, inhumanity can occur, as it did in the holocaust and people are capable of being pushed to do extreme things, the unimaginable, in unordinary circumstances such as these.
Pg. 161- AFTER ALL, THE ONLY THING THAT IS GOING TO SAVE MANKIND IS IF ENOUGH PEOPLE LIVE THEIR LIVES FOR SOMETHING OR SOMEONE OTHER THAN THEMSELVES.”
Pg. 424- “ after learning what people can be made to do to people and after the holocaust seeing it still go on and on, I that we are wrecking our world beyond our ability to save ourselves. We have polluted our planet, and the creates who live on it. I swear to God, and we have destroyed each other. I think we’ve run out of time, and space, and I think it’s not a case of if it is going to happen, it’s only a matter of when.”
Pg 225- “You see, we mortals are so pompous that we have deluded ourselves into believing that in all of eternity, and all of the vast universe, that we are the only ones who have undergone the human experience. I’ve always believed that it’s happen before on this very earth… Perhaps there have come and gone a dozen human civilizations in the past billion years that we know nothing about. And after this civilization we are living in destroys itself, it will all start up again in a few hundred million years when the planet has all its messes cleaned up. Then, finally, one of these civilizations, say five billion years from now, will last for eternity because people will treat each other the way they ought to.”
I really enjoyed this book- it is an older book recommended by my parents. The first two thirds of the book I thought were a little slow, introducing Adam Kelno and Abe Cady’s stories prior to the trial. But the last third of the book was all about the trial and was sooo good, that it made up for the slow portion. The main thing that I will take from this book is the theme that even though it may be hard to fathom, inhumanity can occur, as it did in the holocaust and people are capable of being pushed to do extreme things, the unimaginable, in unordinary circumstances such as these.
Pg. 161- AFTER ALL, THE ONLY THING THAT IS GOING TO SAVE MANKIND IS IF ENOUGH PEOPLE LIVE THEIR LIVES FOR SOMETHING OR SOMEONE OTHER THAN THEMSELVES.”
Pg. 424- “ after learning what people can be made to do to people and after the holocaust seeing it still go on and on, I that we are wrecking our world beyond our ability to save ourselves. We have polluted our planet, and the creates who live on it. I swear to God, and we have destroyed each other. I think we’ve run out of time, and space, and I think it’s not a case of if it is going to happen, it’s only a matter of when.”
Pg 225- “You see, we mortals are so pompous that we have deluded ourselves into believing that in all of eternity, and all of the vast universe, that we are the only ones who have undergone the human experience. I’ve always believed that it’s happen before on this very earth… Perhaps there have come and gone a dozen human civilizations in the past billion years that we know nothing about. And after this civilization we are living in destroys itself, it will all start up again in a few hundred million years when the planet has all its messes cleaned up. Then, finally, one of these civilizations, say five billion years from now, will last for eternity because people will treat each other the way they ought to.”
February 11, 2016
Warning: raw pessimism ahead.
So, this is a fairly unique read. Quick, how many Holocaust-related courtroom dramas can you think of? ... Okay, Judgment at Nuremberg? Was that a book in addition to being a movie? I'll allow it.
The point is, there aren't that many. This is one of those serious books that nevertheless has a touch of playfulness, if only in the kind of narrative magic trick being pulled. You first get a depiction of Dr. Adam Kelno as a pretty cool guy. Hey, he's a Polish doctor. What, he's wrongfully accused of sterilizing people against their will? That's no fun. Must be a Communist plot like he's saying. Two years stuck in an English prison, yikes. Self-imposed exile in Sarawak? Well alright. The story initially moves at a crazy kind of breakneck pace where you're getting a lot of events in remarkably few pages. Leon Uris also switches between summary and scene, and vice versa, more seamlessly than almost any other author I can name. You'll be reading a scene and then, bang, one sentence later that's over and years have passed. It's a little insane.
Okay, then you get a depiction of a Jewish writer (quite obviously a stand-in for Uris himself) named Abraham Cady, who's written a book titled, sternly, The Holocaust, which makes a very small but crucial mention of Kelno as a being the doctor at the Jadwiga concentration camp. Yes, the one who was doing all those thousands of forced ovariectomies (a word I totally use every day) and testicular subtractions. This results in Kelno suing him for libel, and we get the drawn-out courtroom drama that forms both the crux and the climax of the story.
So, what's the magic trick? It's that shifting depiction of Kelno. I was fooled. Yet there were subtle and not-so-subtle hints dropped along the way that make the reader re-think what they may have believed at first. He begins to seem increasingly paranoid and anti-semitic and, frankly, damaged. There's one unintentionally hilarious section regarding the genesis of his childhood hatred for his father and his father's, uh, junk. There's also a nice, gasp-inducing, double-reversal moment during the outcome of the trial.
Long story short, this is an effective tale. What appealed to me on a personal, philosophical level, however, was the pessimism that bled into, and ought to bleed into, any novel with the holocaust as a backdrop. How can anyone continue to believe in the 'nobility' of the human race after the 20th century's most monstrous crime? It reminded me, by contrast, of the untrammeled 19th century optimism Victor Hugo betrays in Les Miserables, where he predicts that the 20th century will be free of war and poverty and crime simply because there'll be the "light! light!" of universal education. Although I still consider that book a masterpiece, its author was obviously misguided in that particular belief. Sorry to say, but the lesson of the 20th century and our current, slow-motion global catastrophe seems to be that civilization is a failed evolutionary experiment. Making apes smarter was a dead end. Fun while it lasted, sure, but we're going down in flames.
So, this is a fairly unique read. Quick, how many Holocaust-related courtroom dramas can you think of? ... Okay, Judgment at Nuremberg? Was that a book in addition to being a movie? I'll allow it.
The point is, there aren't that many. This is one of those serious books that nevertheless has a touch of playfulness, if only in the kind of narrative magic trick being pulled. You first get a depiction of Dr. Adam Kelno as a pretty cool guy. Hey, he's a Polish doctor. What, he's wrongfully accused of sterilizing people against their will? That's no fun. Must be a Communist plot like he's saying. Two years stuck in an English prison, yikes. Self-imposed exile in Sarawak? Well alright. The story initially moves at a crazy kind of breakneck pace where you're getting a lot of events in remarkably few pages. Leon Uris also switches between summary and scene, and vice versa, more seamlessly than almost any other author I can name. You'll be reading a scene and then, bang, one sentence later that's over and years have passed. It's a little insane.
Okay, then you get a depiction of a Jewish writer (quite obviously a stand-in for Uris himself) named Abraham Cady, who's written a book titled, sternly, The Holocaust, which makes a very small but crucial mention of Kelno as a being the doctor at the Jadwiga concentration camp. Yes, the one who was doing all those thousands of forced ovariectomies (a word I totally use every day) and testicular subtractions. This results in Kelno suing him for libel, and we get the drawn-out courtroom drama that forms both the crux and the climax of the story.
So, what's the magic trick? It's that shifting depiction of Kelno. I was fooled. Yet there were subtle and not-so-subtle hints dropped along the way that make the reader re-think what they may have believed at first. He begins to seem increasingly paranoid and anti-semitic and, frankly, damaged. There's one unintentionally hilarious section regarding the genesis of his childhood hatred for his father and his father's, uh, junk. There's also a nice, gasp-inducing, double-reversal moment during the outcome of the trial.
Long story short, this is an effective tale. What appealed to me on a personal, philosophical level, however, was the pessimism that bled into, and ought to bleed into, any novel with the holocaust as a backdrop. How can anyone continue to believe in the 'nobility' of the human race after the 20th century's most monstrous crime? It reminded me, by contrast, of the untrammeled 19th century optimism Victor Hugo betrays in Les Miserables, where he predicts that the 20th century will be free of war and poverty and crime simply because there'll be the "light! light!" of universal education. Although I still consider that book a masterpiece, its author was obviously misguided in that particular belief. Sorry to say, but the lesson of the 20th century and our current, slow-motion global catastrophe seems to be that civilization is a failed evolutionary experiment. Making apes smarter was a dead end. Fun while it lasted, sure, but we're going down in flames.
November 8, 2015
For a book which details how a person will respond to evil, there is nothing better.
Adam Kelno, well-known, knighted, accomplished, a brilliant doctor who once worked in a Polish concentration camp, has been libeled by a writer. Accused of performing 'unnecessary' surgeries on hundreds of concentration camp inmates, he retaliates with a lawsuit.
Abraham Cady, writer of both great fiction (and trashy) is the accuser. In his new novel, Holocaust, he mentions, very briefly, that Adam Kelno didn't perform just normal surgeries, but also performed crude, quick, inhumane surgeries on inmates, most of which involved the removal of the sex organs of both men and women, and that these were part of an experiment being performed by other, German (Nazi) doctors.
The setup is brilliant, and though the first third of the book dwells on Kelno's past history, and how he worked in various parts of the world, helping and treating the poor and indigent - and Cady's background, too, and how he went from the quiet son of a boisterous father to writing fame - this is the least interesting part of the book. However, on retrospect, it was necessary to show the background of both major characters.
But the best part of the book? The libel trial itself, held at Queen's Bench, VII. I often find books in which a trial is featured very interesting and this has to be one of the best I've ever read. As the two parties' lawyers battle in court - a very civilized court, by the way, as England is known for - the truth about Adam Kelno's past work in the concentration camps is revealed. It's a riveting story; I carried the book around for two days doing little else but read whenever I had the chance. Leon Uris is a very good writer, excellent with dialogue, detail, narration, all of it, and he writes a solid book about a very sordid time in human history.
One small criticism, both major characters often displayed an impatience, and even general disgust, with the 'younger generation' of the 1960's. It creeps in at the most unusual times when both men lament the lapse in morals, in education, and complain about the protests of the 60's, and even the way young people dress, talk, live - even the music is assailed.
I tend to think this is Leon Uris himself, railing against the 'hippie generation' or the years of protest which infiltrated college campuses, especially in the US. I've seen this in other writers who were born in the 1920's; it's a general dissatisfaction with the young and the direction in which the world is going. I wonder, though, if Uris changed his mind about us - I was a teenager in the late 1960's - and ever got over his fears that we were going to destroy the world and civilization as we know it.
We didn't. We're all aging baby boomers now, who got jobs, had kids, and worry about retirement. Anyhow, that's my one (small) complaint and otherwise, the book is great, absolutely eye-opening in its treatment of both the accused doctor and his accuser.
Adam Kelno, well-known, knighted, accomplished, a brilliant doctor who once worked in a Polish concentration camp, has been libeled by a writer. Accused of performing 'unnecessary' surgeries on hundreds of concentration camp inmates, he retaliates with a lawsuit.
Abraham Cady, writer of both great fiction (and trashy) is the accuser. In his new novel, Holocaust, he mentions, very briefly, that Adam Kelno didn't perform just normal surgeries, but also performed crude, quick, inhumane surgeries on inmates, most of which involved the removal of the sex organs of both men and women, and that these were part of an experiment being performed by other, German (Nazi) doctors.
The setup is brilliant, and though the first third of the book dwells on Kelno's past history, and how he worked in various parts of the world, helping and treating the poor and indigent - and Cady's background, too, and how he went from the quiet son of a boisterous father to writing fame - this is the least interesting part of the book. However, on retrospect, it was necessary to show the background of both major characters.
But the best part of the book? The libel trial itself, held at Queen's Bench, VII. I often find books in which a trial is featured very interesting and this has to be one of the best I've ever read. As the two parties' lawyers battle in court - a very civilized court, by the way, as England is known for - the truth about Adam Kelno's past work in the concentration camps is revealed. It's a riveting story; I carried the book around for two days doing little else but read whenever I had the chance. Leon Uris is a very good writer, excellent with dialogue, detail, narration, all of it, and he writes a solid book about a very sordid time in human history.
One small criticism, both major characters often displayed an impatience, and even general disgust, with the 'younger generation' of the 1960's. It creeps in at the most unusual times when both men lament the lapse in morals, in education, and complain about the protests of the 60's, and even the way young people dress, talk, live - even the music is assailed.
I tend to think this is Leon Uris himself, railing against the 'hippie generation' or the years of protest which infiltrated college campuses, especially in the US. I've seen this in other writers who were born in the 1920's; it's a general dissatisfaction with the young and the direction in which the world is going. I wonder, though, if Uris changed his mind about us - I was a teenager in the late 1960's - and ever got over his fears that we were going to destroy the world and civilization as we know it.
We didn't. We're all aging baby boomers now, who got jobs, had kids, and worry about retirement. Anyhow, that's my one (small) complaint and otherwise, the book is great, absolutely eye-opening in its treatment of both the accused doctor and his accuser.
April 9, 2009
This book kept me turning the pages, and even more important, kept me thinking. Leon Uris creates two sympathetic characters at odds with each other -- both protagonists and antagonists, each of them. Whose side to be on? Who to believe?
This novel deals honestly with human nature under the most dire circumstances. Would you hurt a stranger, a friend -- a loved one? Of course not. What if your own life were at stake? Would you spare another, even if it meant your own death? In this case, a concentration camp provides the setting for such difficult questions. The book culminates in a memorable courtroom battle in which our deepest sympathies are tested.
This novel is not perfect. I have always found Uris to be a poor writer of dialogue -- it tends to be stiff and stylized. Additionally, the novel feels dated, as female characters are introduced only to move the story along or to be sexual partners to the males in the forefront of the story.
That said, I still recommend this book. It's rare to find a page-turner that also inspires deep thought!
This novel deals honestly with human nature under the most dire circumstances. Would you hurt a stranger, a friend -- a loved one? Of course not. What if your own life were at stake? Would you spare another, even if it meant your own death? In this case, a concentration camp provides the setting for such difficult questions. The book culminates in a memorable courtroom battle in which our deepest sympathies are tested.
This novel is not perfect. I have always found Uris to be a poor writer of dialogue -- it tends to be stiff and stylized. Additionally, the novel feels dated, as female characters are introduced only to move the story along or to be sexual partners to the males in the forefront of the story.
That said, I still recommend this book. It's rare to find a page-turner that also inspires deep thought!
August 7, 2016
This is the story of a trial in Queen's Bench Courtroom Number Seven of a famous author Abraham Cady against the surgeon Adam Kelno who acted in the Polish concentration camp of Jadwiga.
Like Nuremberg's trial, this books will reveal all atrocities committed by the Nazis, specially against the Jews.
5* Trinity
4* QB VII
TR The Haj
Like Nuremberg's trial, this books will reveal all atrocities committed by the Nazis, specially against the Jews.
5* Trinity
4* QB VII
TR The Haj
July 2, 2014
According to my records I read “QB VII” in 1979 with a comment about how good it was. I have read all of Uris’s books except “Battle Cry”. My favorite Leon Uris books are “Exodus,” “Mila 18” and “QB VII.” It was after I had read QB VII I discovered the book was a fictionalization of a libel suit which grew out of the publication of the book “Exodus”. On page 155 Uris named a Polish physician Wladislaw Dering M.D. whom he asserted performed experimental surgery on human guinea pigs for the Nazi’s in Auschwitz. In “Exodus” Uris states Dering performed castration and removed ovaries that had been subjected to radiation treatment. Uris claimed he did experiments in surgery without anesthetics on 17,000 inmates primarily Jews. The libel trial, Dering v Uris & others, was held in London in 1964. The verdict by the jury was for Dering but only awarded him a half penny the smallest coin in the realm. Uris proved his information was correct with only a slight discrepancy in the number of cases.
Queen’s Bench Courtroom Number Seven (QB VII) is a master fictionalization of the Dering v Uris libel suit. Uris divides the book into four gripping sections. One is the story of Polish physician Adam Kelno, a brief review of his childhood and the anti-Semitism of Poland at the time. Then goes into his capture and life in the Jadwiga concentration camp. The book then goes into his life after the war in England and Borneo and after 20 years his return to England. The next part of the book tells the story of author Abe Cady, his childhood, life as a British pilot during WWII his injuries, marriage and writing career ending with the publication of his big book called “Holocaust”. The next part tells about Cady’s hunt for key people that were in Jadwiga concentration camp. The last and most exciting part tells the blow by blow action of the court trial. Uris explains about the pomp and circumstance of the British Court system and British common law. I found this education about the British legal system not only informative but entertaining. As in the real trial the verdict was for the plaintiff but only a half penny was awarded. I believe I enjoyed the book more in this second reading than in the first, maybe because I now know it was based on a true story. I read this as an audio book downloaded from Audible. I enjoyed the melodious voice of one of my favorite narrators John Lee, who did his usual great job narrating the book.
Queen’s Bench Courtroom Number Seven (QB VII) is a master fictionalization of the Dering v Uris libel suit. Uris divides the book into four gripping sections. One is the story of Polish physician Adam Kelno, a brief review of his childhood and the anti-Semitism of Poland at the time. Then goes into his capture and life in the Jadwiga concentration camp. The book then goes into his life after the war in England and Borneo and after 20 years his return to England. The next part of the book tells the story of author Abe Cady, his childhood, life as a British pilot during WWII his injuries, marriage and writing career ending with the publication of his big book called “Holocaust”. The next part tells about Cady’s hunt for key people that were in Jadwiga concentration camp. The last and most exciting part tells the blow by blow action of the court trial. Uris explains about the pomp and circumstance of the British Court system and British common law. I found this education about the British legal system not only informative but entertaining. As in the real trial the verdict was for the plaintiff but only a half penny was awarded. I believe I enjoyed the book more in this second reading than in the first, maybe because I now know it was based on a true story. I read this as an audio book downloaded from Audible. I enjoyed the melodious voice of one of my favorite narrators John Lee, who did his usual great job narrating the book.
August 26, 2022
Menudo tostón. No me extraña que hoy sea un libro prácticamente olvidado, a pesar del éxito que tuvo en su día (probablemente más motivado por la fama del autor tras publicar "Éxodo").
Una pena, porque el argumento a priori es de interés: un juicio al estilo Nürnberg, a un presunto colaborador de los nazis en la realización de experimentos médicos con judíos en un campo de concentración. Parece difícil que de aquí no salga con facilidad un texto interesante y ameno. Pero no, sobre todo lo de ameno: de ameno, nada. Al menos, desde mi punto de vista.
No me ha gustado nada el estilo del autor. Pero nada. Se va por los cerros de Úbeda, divaga, lo llena todo de tramas paralelas sin el menor interés, las descripciones que mete en plan inciso contándonos cómo es el distrito judicial de Londres o el sistema de justicia británico aburren hasta a las ovejas, y para colmo, parece que le pagan por el número de páginas escritas: el libro es largo, muy largo, demasiado largo para lo poco de chicha que tiene en el fondo. Lo dicho al principio: un tostón.
Al final, ya casi ni te importa que esté basado en un hecho real, que Jadwiga sea Auschwitz, que el Dr. Kelno fuera en realidad el Dr. Dering, o que el propio Abe Cady sea Leon Uris y el libro "Holocausto" sea "Éxodo". Es decir, que toda la novela no es más que un caso real vivido por Leon Uris cuando fue demandado por difamación por el Dr. Dering tras la publicación de Éxodo, y que en base a ese juicio real escribiera esta novela sin más que cambiar los nombres (supongo que para evitar otra demanda). Da igual, porque uno está aburrido hasta las cejas, y sólo quiere acabar el libro. La verdad, las víctimas de Auschwitz no se merecían un escritor tan malo (aparte de misógino, y anticomunista y sionista radical). No sé cómo pudo tener tanto éxito...
Una pena, porque el argumento a priori es de interés: un juicio al estilo Nürnberg, a un presunto colaborador de los nazis en la realización de experimentos médicos con judíos en un campo de concentración. Parece difícil que de aquí no salga con facilidad un texto interesante y ameno. Pero no, sobre todo lo de ameno: de ameno, nada. Al menos, desde mi punto de vista.
No me ha gustado nada el estilo del autor. Pero nada. Se va por los cerros de Úbeda, divaga, lo llena todo de tramas paralelas sin el menor interés, las descripciones que mete en plan inciso contándonos cómo es el distrito judicial de Londres o el sistema de justicia británico aburren hasta a las ovejas, y para colmo, parece que le pagan por el número de páginas escritas: el libro es largo, muy largo, demasiado largo para lo poco de chicha que tiene en el fondo. Lo dicho al principio: un tostón.
Al final, ya casi ni te importa que esté basado en un hecho real, que Jadwiga sea Auschwitz, que el Dr. Kelno fuera en realidad el Dr. Dering, o que el propio Abe Cady sea Leon Uris y el libro "Holocausto" sea "Éxodo". Es decir, que toda la novela no es más que un caso real vivido por Leon Uris cuando fue demandado por difamación por el Dr. Dering tras la publicación de Éxodo, y que en base a ese juicio real escribiera esta novela sin más que cambiar los nombres (supongo que para evitar otra demanda). Da igual, porque uno está aburrido hasta las cejas, y sólo quiere acabar el libro. La verdad, las víctimas de Auschwitz no se merecían un escritor tan malo (aparte de misógino, y anticomunista y sionista radical). No sé cómo pudo tener tanto éxito...
August 9, 2021
Wow. This is the story of Abraham Cady, a Jewish writer. He writes a book about the holocaust. In among all the many pages, he writes one paragraph about Dr. Adam Kelno, a Polish doctor who participated in the atrocities at a concentration camp. Dr. Kelno is outraged and brings a libel suit. And the case goes to court.
However, that is the last third of the book. Uris spends the first two parts introducing you to the two main characters. You travel years and years with these two men as they go through World War II and how they attempt to cope with the horrors that they see.
There are parts that did not age well. Cady is a hard bitten writer who drinks and philanders. I do not like the stereotype of the man that every woman falls in love with even though he admits that he will not end up with her and he's a lone wolf and all that.
Leon gets a little too overbearing in his descriptions of courts and wigs and all that fun stuff. And the court scenes, while very illuminating and descriptive, got a little repetitive.
But it's very important to remember these times in history and the book is very well done.
However, that is the last third of the book. Uris spends the first two parts introducing you to the two main characters. You travel years and years with these two men as they go through World War II and how they attempt to cope with the horrors that they see.
There are parts that did not age well. Cady is a hard bitten writer who drinks and philanders. I do not like the stereotype of the man that every woman falls in love with even though he admits that he will not end up with her and he's a lone wolf and all that.
Leon gets a little too overbearing in his descriptions of courts and wigs and all that fun stuff. And the court scenes, while very illuminating and descriptive, got a little repetitive.
But it's very important to remember these times in history and the book is very well done.
May 13, 2019
The title refers to a courtroom drama, but it takes a few zillion pages for that to start. I think this is a novel that in style and substance might have been much more interesting when it came out, but it feels simultaneously heavy-handed and confused to me. I don't feel like the doctor's character held together well, or that the set-up for the lawsuit even made that much sense. I understand it's somewhat autobiographical (for the author part), so the issue is that reality is absurd, but that's why reality often doesn't make a good story, and this is a novel, not journalism.
July 1, 2007
This was a gripping story that had me at the edge of my seat. I keep trying to write a review for this book, but the words can't do it justice. A must read.
October 7, 2021
What a fantastic book! I'll be honest - I picked this book up because I am doing the alphabet challenge and I needed a Q title and a U author and this book came up. This is the exact reason I do the alphabet challenge every year. I probably would never had read this book otherwise and it was so good! It is very cleverly written (no spoilers) so I will just say it kind of pulls the rug out from under you. In a genius way. It involves WW2, a concentration camp and a court case. That is vague enough not to give anything away. This was written so well. I HAD to know what happens. I love that in a book. It is well worth reading! Thumbs up!
April 9, 2014
...this is a book I read for my Contemporary Novel class in high school and I need to re-read it again now with an adult mind. I remember it's impact on me then....I can only imagine it's impact NOW...but I need to re-read this for my kids too. For someday...they will read it too.....
Excellent opportunity to read this book again...only now with an adult mind. It's probably been 25 years since I read this novel for a Lit class in High School. I didn't recall much either about the book before starting it again...other than that it was about medical experimentation in concentration camps during WWII. I remember being really shocked while in high school...and feeling like the world is/was/can be a scary place. Now that the years have given me some extra time to study up and gain that worldly wisdom, the book took a different hue to me. It seemed much more rich this time. I was surprised to see that Leon Uris himself was involved with a libel case taken against him. I'm interested in reading Exodus, which was the source of that case. Apparently, he wrote this book after that experience...
HOWEVER....all in all....this is a TRAGIC story. No one wins. And no matter how ugly, painful and degrading history is...it needs to be told....
Excellent opportunity to read this book again...only now with an adult mind. It's probably been 25 years since I read this novel for a Lit class in High School. I didn't recall much either about the book before starting it again...other than that it was about medical experimentation in concentration camps during WWII. I remember being really shocked while in high school...and feeling like the world is/was/can be a scary place. Now that the years have given me some extra time to study up and gain that worldly wisdom, the book took a different hue to me. It seemed much more rich this time. I was surprised to see that Leon Uris himself was involved with a libel case taken against him. I'm interested in reading Exodus, which was the source of that case. Apparently, he wrote this book after that experience...
HOWEVER....all in all....this is a TRAGIC story. No one wins. And no matter how ugly, painful and degrading history is...it needs to be told....
May 8, 2014
Extremely well written, though the details of what went on in a Nazi prison camp are gruesome to say the least. This story is based on Uris' own court case over the book "Exodus."
An amazing tale!
An amazing tale!
January 27, 2024
Courtroom novel about a fictional libel case involving a book naming a former inmate of a concentration camp during the holocaust, accused of sadistic medical treatment of sick inmates. QB VII (Queens Bench Courtroom VII) is fairly well written and interesting.
August 5, 2009
Second time with this book ...Leon Uris is one of the best authors I have read, so I wanted to retread some of his books. This one did not disappoint.
January 17, 2021
One of those books I read a zillion years back and remember liking but not all that much. I think it was its righteous tone that put me off, of who was right and who was wrong, and each side presenting his case. Although this was resolved in the end and we find out who is lying and who isn't, it may not have been the book for me at that time. I think I just found Leon Uris's form of writing a little stifling. (Later attempts with other novels did nothing to assuage this feeling!)
May 6, 2020
This was the book that made me stop reading Leon Uris.
After having read Exodus, Mila 18, Mitla Pass, Trinity, Topaz, Battle Cry and Redemption I had come to enjoy Uris (though his obvious biases were sometimes excessive, even for 18 year-old me).
But this book just pulls the rug out from the audience in such a contrived way that it was the last book I ever finished by him. The (spoiler?) twist at the end was a cheap cop-out, like waking from a dream.
A few years later I picked up The Haj but found the anti-Palestinian rhetoric insufferable, even for a supporter of Israel like me. Uris' obsession with Zionism and exagerated good-versus evil leaves much to be desired. It really only suits the tastes of teenagers who share the same black/white morality.
After having read Exodus, Mila 18, Mitla Pass, Trinity, Topaz, Battle Cry and Redemption I had come to enjoy Uris (though his obvious biases were sometimes excessive, even for 18 year-old me).
But this book just pulls the rug out from the audience in such a contrived way that it was the last book I ever finished by him. The (spoiler?) twist at the end was a cheap cop-out, like waking from a dream.
A few years later I picked up The Haj but found the anti-Palestinian rhetoric insufferable, even for a supporter of Israel like me. Uris' obsession with Zionism and exagerated good-versus evil leaves much to be desired. It really only suits the tastes of teenagers who share the same black/white morality.
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