With regret, on page 206 of Leon Uris's The Haj, I stopped reading. In my review of his Mila 18, I said that the story outweighed the politics, philosophy and history, and that balance kept me reading. In The Haj, the balance tilted away from story and more toward politics, philosophy and history. Although the story was interesting, there wasn't enough of it. IMHO.
I had however dog-eared a couple pages before I quit. Let's take a look.
1) In the things-that-make-you-go-hum category: "To an Arab, humiliation is the ultimate punishment." (page 121) Leon Uris knew that when he wrote the book in the 1980s; did the planners behind Abu Ghraib know it, also?
2) "Men and women were locked into lifelong roles from which there was no chance of change or escape. My father explained that only through blind acceptance could one expect to get through this life without going mad." (page 122) Sort of like Republicans?
I do plan on keeping this one, though. I sense it could help my understanding of Middle East history, and I may someday give it another try.
