The Haj

By: Leon Uris

Narrated by: Neil Shah

Leon Uris retums to the land of his acclaimed best-seller Exodus for an epic story of hate and love, vengeance and forgiveness. The Middle East is the powerful setting for this sweeping tale of a land where revenge is sacred and hatred noble. Where an Arab ruler tries to save his people from destruction but cannot save them from themselves. When violence spreads like a plague across the lands of Palestine - this is the time of The Haj.

©1984 Leon Uris (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

I now understand...and it's terrifying.

Uris is known for his ability to put actual events,people and philosophies into a "fictional " form. He has done it again here and anyone who thinks that the Western world can come to a meeting of the minds and achieve a lasting peace with the Arab world is delusional. Uris takes you on a walk through history through the eyes of an extraordinarily likable character. He sees and often internally battles with his own culture. In the end, you have seen what molded the events in the Middle East, understood the how and why's, and come out with the frightening understanding that it can't and won't ever change. I think we all have suspected it, but now we know why. Very well written and performed. A gripping story.

Racist

This book might be able to be excused if it was written in the 1950's, but it wasn't. The Arabs in this are portrayed in a way that would be unacceptable for any other group (for example, Jews or African Americans). Leon Uris is a good writer, but that makes the racist piece even worse. I can't even call this historical fiction since it is so biased against Arabs that it's hard to imagine whatever else he wrote about being true. Neil Shah did an excellent job narrating this book.

The haj

This book met my expectations. The narration was very good. I like leon uris writings. A good depiction of the arab nations.

Fantastic!

If you really want to understand the culture, religion, and politics of the Middle East and why hatred continues, this novel covers it all. Nothing has changed since it was written. The narration was brilliantly done.

Formation of Israel through an Arab youth's eye

Leon Uris wrote a stunning and moving tale of the formation of Israel as seen by Israelis and pro-Israelis, Exodus. The Haj turns things around and is a tale of the same event as seen through the eyes of an Arab youth. Both were written by Mr. Uris. History can be seen as a source of learning and improving, or it can be seen as a time that draws us back and prevents progress. Exodus was written as a representation of learning and improving, The Haj was a representation of a culture stuck in the past. Both books bring out emotion and food for thought. Exodus is a positive; The Haj is a negative.The Haj is replete with horror and despair. Exodus, while being tense, is uplifting and hopeful.

Mr. Uris develops his characters fully and in detail. Although not history books, they were well researched. It must be difficult for an author to maintain a neutrality towards his subject. I felt pain and sorrow for the Arabic family in The Haj; they were stuck in the grip of their cultural history.

Tha Haj opened my eyes to a part of the world of which I know so little, yet a part that is in the news so often. Yes, I recommend reading it. This was a long book, but the reader were wonderful.

Excellent, Excruciating, Tragic

A raw and difficult book to read, but helpful to understanding an "honor-bound" culture.
A painfully riveting saga.

Great story

This was one of the most interesting thought provoking novels . The narration was awesome.
Great job

Helps Westerners Grasp an Understanding

The Haj is a book that needs to be heard/read by all. This book is an eye opener. It takes you back to around 1922 up through the 1960s. It confirms what many of us have suspected in our gut. In the Middle East, things are different. There is a level of hatred that is different. It is celebrated. Lying to the infidels is permitted, encouraged and a part of Islam. And all the sins that the westerners partake of . . . fornication, adultery, homosexuality, drunkenness, all these also exist in the Middle East. Men there regularly engage in these behaviors. And they kill their wives and daughters when they catch them in the same. This book is written in a way that is unbiased. A Jew and an Arab are friends, trying beyond all hope to help their own people . . . and for the first time I am understanding why there cannot be peace . . . why all attempts at democracy have failed and will always fail . . . why there is little hope of salvaging a people and a land so intent on hatred and self-destruction. And all those who have entered there hoping to bring peace and reconstruction, have instead brought home their own broken soldiers, who carry the wounds of war for the remainder of their lives.

I wanted so much to like this book...

Other work by this author have been far more compelling and the narrator doesn't do the book any favors!


It took great self-discipline to finish it.

masterful

Leon Uris masterfully crafted a story about cultures, ideals snd boundaries..A great listen. Pertinent to our times as we look at some roots of present problems.