Reviews

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace

jkarran_17's review

adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A masterpiece of 19th century fiction

dotreadsbooks's review against another edition

4.0

When I was describing this book to my husband, my best explanation was that it reminded me of a Musical movie. There are parts with action but there are even more parts where the main characters are sitting around in deep conversation, theorizing about God and the meaning of life. In the description of the book, Ben Hur is described as a man after revenge but I thought he handled the hard things in his life with grace and patience. One aspect I loved about this story was since it was written in 1880 there was a slow pace that people of my day just can't even fathom. There is time to walk through parks, ride a camel for days, be in love with someone you barely know and rarely see face to face. Oh, and the description of Jesus was just awful. The author describes him as what we see in very old paintings. A Jesus with feminine features and woeful eyes. But, his actions spoke his authority as God and he changed the whole course of Ben Hur's life. This I can appreciate.

halynah's review against another edition

5.0

POSSIBLE SPOILERS
I haven't read the books of Andrea Randall before (though I intend to change that), but Charles Sheehan-Miles is one of my favourite authors and just plain genius, so I expected the book to be amazing. It was. Not only amazing, but also emotionally complex, achingly beautiful and, thanks God, with happy end (I can't make myself read The Last Hour, because after having accidentally read the last chapter, I cried so hard, that now I literally am afraid of that book, though I'm sure it's brilliant).
The setting of the book was great - a pure bliss for those, who play any musical instrument or just love classical music. I liked Savannah, hate-loved Gregory, and absolutely abhorred Karin (who doesn't deserve pity, just disdain - that woman just couldn't take no for an answer). I didn't like James - he poked his nose into their romance too much and set Gregory up with that horrible woman, Karin.
I loved the way the main heroes expressed their love - it was truly beautiful. I definitely highly recommend this book and it would be great, if the authors decided to write a sequel, featuring some secondary character from this book,- Marcia, for example, because such a great musical setting begs to be continued!

novelideea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

cynthialwho's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

crazysecondname's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

3.0

ja keine ahnung
der anfang war voll gut und dann hab ich irgendwo den faden verloren
glaube das größte problem war dass die kapitel nie auf ner neuen seite angefangen haben und ich dadurch kein endgefühl hatte so.
und dann wars auf einmal weiß nich wie viele jahre späte aber es wurde nie direkt erwähnt und es war verwirrend...

also es war nich schlecht aber meins wars nich

chilotte's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

witchqueen5's review against another edition

3.0

While the plot in itself was interesting, the way the book is written can really put you to sleep. The amount of useless descriptions was immense! Also, I feel that the voice of the narrator was pretty condescending when addressing the reader, as if it could not follow the plot by itself, only with guidance from the narrator.

emmajonesgill's review against another edition

5.0

This is a surprising 5⭐ because I had no interest in really reading (or in this case listening to) the book, nor any drive to watch the film adaptation.

The story isn't mind-blowing in what would be considered mind-blowing by today's standards, but it's an easy to follow story that flows nicely together. I felt for the characters, and (as someone non-religious) didn't find the religious aspects too forced.

It was a quick listen, the audiobook I chose was less than 3 hours so I'd definitely recommend reading this. I think I'll have to watch the film adaptation too, to see if I enjoy it from a film students perspective.

erincataldi's review

2.0

FINALLY! This is one of those books that I thought would never end. It would go from super exciting to boring as all get out and it took me until the chariot race to even really get into it. It's cool that it was written by a Hoosier and was the first piece of fiction to be blessed by the pope, BUT... that's about it. It was written very prettily, I suppose but it won't be one I ever re-read or recommend to people. Unless they love historical, religious reads. Kinda wish I had just watched the movie.