This is an oldie but a goodie. I have to give the back story on this book before I go into my review of the book. I was given this book the summer I turned thirteen, right before my Bat Mitzvah. My family had made the decision to make Aliyah (move to Israel and obtain citizenship) and this was to be our last summer in the States. I arrived at camp that summer and my parents gave me the book to read while I was there. Having been an avid reader from childhood, it was not shocking that my parents would hand me a 600 page book to read at camp. But because of my anger at being 13 and being forced to move to the other side of the world, I threw the book into the bottom of my trunk and there it stayed until I got home from camp.
It must have gotten packed with my books going to Israel because there it was when I unpacked three months later in Jerusalem. I threw it on the shelf and ignored it as I settled into life in a new country. At some point that year or the next year, I picked up the book and rifled through it. I immediately was drawn into the exciting story. I think what made it more real for me was that I was travelling to the same sites that were being discussed in the book. Massada? I've been there! Huleh Valley? Check! The King David Hotel? We sat in their lobby yesterday! YMCA? I went swimming there! And thus began my love affair with the book Exodus. Now I must put it out there, I will NEVER watch that movie again. In fact I forced my parents to turn it off when we watched it when I was fourteen. Quite simply, Hollywood cannot do justice to such an amazing piece of historical literature and I used to dream of recreating the film using all the real places in Israel and actors that had been unheard of before but were TRUE Israelis and Brits and Americans (none of that crappy accent stuff!)
So since I read that book over fifteen years ago now, I have read and reread it and every single time I have gleaned something new. The story is a magnificent story beginning with a boatload of Holocaust surviving children trying against all odds to get into Israel. These children have seen the worst that humanity can do and all they want is to live in Israel, the Promised Land, where they can control their own destinies. But, as historically happened, the British, who ruled the region at the time, did not want to piss off the Arabs living in the community. This isn't the first boatload of Jews trying to illegally enter Palestine and it most certainly wasn't the last. But it is a powerful image to have 300 children who grew up in concentration camps stage hunger strikes and take a stand that they ARE in control of their destiny.
Exodus starts on the island of Cyprus but spans Europe, America, England, and of course, Palestine-soon to be known as Israel. It is a true tale of love, heroism, life, death and longing.
It had been several years since I'd read Exodus and I was feeling somewhat nostalgic so I picked up my nice, new hardback version of the book. But something wasn't right, the book was bulky and the pages shiny and slippery. So I found my original copy:
At this point, dog-eared and duct-taped, covered with stains and a slight musty smell. I've been rereading it for about a week now and I really should know better than to read in public places, especially this book but I have cried more times in the subway this week than probably in the entire two and a half years I've lived here.
If you've been to Israel, if you may ever go to Israel, if you are a history buff, read this book!!!!
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