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76 of 79 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine, gripping war novel, November 4, 2002
"Battle Cry" was Leon Uris's first novel and it's by far his best. Set right after Pearl Harbor, it's the story of the Marines in the Second World War and of one squad of Marines in particular, led by (and narrated by) Mac, a crusty old sergeant who has seen generations of boys pass through his command.
The story moves quickly through basic training to combat, and comes to a shattering climax with an all-out battle against the Japanese forces in the Pacific. As much as the story Uris tells so compellingly, we are held by his characters: Danny Forrester, the all-American boy; Andy the Swede, hating women indiscriminately until he meets the woman of his dreams far from home; Levin from Brooklyn, who knew what he had to do, and did it magnificently; Shining Lighttower, the Navajo, who really didn't want to go back to the reservation after all, and Sam Huxley, their colonel, who wanted glory for himself and his boys at any price, even if the price included all their lives.
Technically, Uris isn't a very good writer, but he is one helluva storyteller, and one of his greatest strengths is in plain dialogue between his characters, which shows up to much better advantage here than it did in his later books. It's in the dialogue that his characters come vibrantly alive; we understand how a disparate bunch of 18 and 19 year olds, kids like anybody else, can throw their lives away in battle rather than face the possibility of a defeat which would be worse than death. Uris shows us through his characters the men who made the Marines what they are.
Judy Lind
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29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Leon Uris' "Battle Cry", April 24, 2007
This review is from: Battle Cry (Mass Market Paperback)
An outstanding piece of WWII historical fiction. Unlike other great works of this genre' (Herman Wouk's "War and Remembrance" for instance), this tale is not told from the perspective of the colonels and generals, but rather as experienced by the U.S. Marine sergeants and privates.
The tale thoroughly and patiently follows a group of young men from the train stations where they left their hometowns, through boot camp and training, and onto the beaches of Guadalcanal and Tarawa atoll where they fell in combat. Uris did not all neglect the issue of back home wives and girlfriends, who are so very important to men isolated so far from home.
His first novel, Uris wrote this from his own experience. He was a WWII enlisted Marine combat veteran in the Pacific. First published in 1953, this book was written while memories were still fresh. In a way, it's a bit dated, with terminology and (superior) social values from an America of yesterday. On the other hand, Marine and Navy veterans will recognize the jargon and behaviors that are still in use today. Tradition.
A reviewer has criticized the slow opening pace. I disagree. The device was used to well acquaint the reader with and help him/her to grow to know and love the players, just as these Marines loved their "buddies".
I noted in the author's epilogue that he strongly and repeatedly disclaimed any connection of the fictional officers in his story (he even names them) to any real life personalities he had served under. Glaringly absent was a similar disclaimer regarding the enlisted men in his story. I infer from this that many of the colorful enlisted characters of the book might be representations of Pfc Uris' actual wartime colleagues. A memorial to them, if you will. Interesting.
Uris used an unusual and successful style technique in "Battle Cry". The tale is sometimes written in third person narrative, and at other times narrated in first person by a veteran sergeant in the battalion named Mac. But it's really about the teenage boys that did most of the fighting . . . sometimes hand to hand. Again, Uris was not in a hurry and patiently let the story play out. At times it is slow and monotonous, as was the wartime Marine life. At other times the action is overwhelming. Writing realistically from life experience, the battle scenes are not an organized test of marksmanship between two opposing teams . . . the fighting is chaos. This is the kind of book that provokes the reader to alternately laughing out loud, cheering, or weeping.
This is not a cheap blood and guts war story. It's a great tale of courage, leadership, brotherhood and humanity - Well told.
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41 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book with the Comic Book Title, May 28, 2006
This review is from: Battle Cry (Mass Market Paperback)
At first, I thought a book called "Battle Cry" might be fairly reminiscent of the comic strip, "Sgt. Rock and His Howling Commandos of Easy." In that, I was disappointed, which means I was very relieved.
This book is a surprisingly good war story of the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine (Pogey Bait) Regiment. From the call to arms to their decimation on a Pacific Island invasion, you learn about the backgrounds of several of the marines in the Communications section of their battalion.
Uris demonstrates the knack for bringing characters to life where you feel their fears, hopes, dreams, and in this case, their intense esprit de corps.
I have a few qualifications for giving a five-star rating:
Do I still have the book?
Yes.
Would I ever pick it up, and read it again?
Yes.
Was I sorry that I came to the end of the book?
Yes.
I have only read two of Uris' books; I'm glad that this was one of them.
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