- Title: QB VII
- Author: Leon Uris
- Year Published: 1970 (Doubleday & Company, Inc.)
- Year Purchased: 1990s
- Source: Book Harbor, Westerville, Ohio
- About: QB VII is proof that I do not love (or even like) everything in my collection. There are a few odd volumes I’ve kept on after discovering I really do not like their contents. This is one of those rarities. I don’t object to the flashbacks, legal proceedings or courtroom setting; if I did, I never would have selected this for my initiation into the writings of Leon Uris. That bitch known as hindsight thinks I should probably have started with Exodus or Topaz, but it is far too late now. A few (way too long) chapters in and it was obvious that I would never give the best-selling novelist the chance to prove me wrong. My list of books-and-authors to read is too extensive for that. To the curious: yes, I finished the book. No, I did not slog my way through it over the course of days or weeks, locked in a futile battle of wills. I read it on a rainy, summer Sunday afternoon. A few hours after opening the front cover, the dreaded task (for that is definitely what it amounted to) was behind me. I was just colossally bored. I’m not trying to insult the writer or any of his fans (if you are out there). The long-winded tedium known as QB VII is just not for me. I wasn’t excited or intrigued or pissed off. I never cared, for even a split second, about any of the characters of the outcome of their situations. The entire affair was just one long stretch of dullness, which seems absurd when the plot revolves around a libel trial brought on by an ex-Nazi. I didn’t learn anything, as writer or reader. Come to think of it, that’s a lesson in itself-which is why this book still lives on a shelf in my studio: a bit maligned and unloved, perhaps, but a great reminder of the only literary flaw I find inexcusable. It’s okay if I hate your writing style or loathe your plot or characters. Go ahead and offend me with your point of view. Leave a bad taste in my mouth. Just don’t bore me, or I’ll write a review such as this.
- Motivation: It was fat and cheap. I’d never read anything by Leon Uris, and thought this was a good place to start.
- Times Read: 1 (which is quite enough)
- Random Excerpt/Page 153: “Abe, you’re shouting!” Samantha stiffened, breaking off the assault and quivering and sobbing to blunt male logic. (Ed. Note: Is this male sexist porn?) “It’s the loneliness,” she cried. /”Honey, I…I don’t know what to say. Loneliness is the brother of war and the mother of all writers. He asks his wife to endure it graciously because she will come to know that her ability to endure it can be her greatest gift.” (Ed. Note: Egad.)/”I don’t understand you, Abe.”/”I know.”/”Well, don’t act as if I’m some kind of clod. We have gone through a book together, you know.”/”I didn’t have hands so you owned me. Your possession of me was complete. When I had no sight and we made love you were your happiest because your possession was complete then, too. But now I’ve got my hands and eyes and you don’t want to share me or understand what your end of this bargain consists of. It’s going to be like this till the end of our lives, Samantha. It will always demand sacrifice and loneliness of both of us.” (Ed. Note: Why does this read like a script for a soap opera?)
- Happiness Scale: 5
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea.
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A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 
Haha! It does read like a scene in Days of our Lives or something! Too funny. I will often finish books I hate too. And sometimes I keep them just to spite them. It’s neurotic, lol.
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That’s a good way to put it, actually. I’ve definitely held on to the Uris book out of spite (and also as a reminder of what I don’t like in a book).
A lot of the dialogue is ridiculous, but that excerpt is beyond absurd. I guess I cannot handle that blunt male logic.
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I admire your ability to finish a book you don’t like, especially one with that many pages.
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Thanks! I usually do it out of stubbornness or pride. This book is such an easy read, even though it is kind of thick. I finished it in a few hours.
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