O'Hara's Choice (Uris, Leon) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The Royal Society of Paddy O' Hara's Wart-Hogs were the ugliest and most vile men to ever wear the uniform of United States Marines..." (more)
Key Phrases: amphibious warfare, sea duty, naval war college, Horace Kerr, Paddy O'Hara, Dixie Jane (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With this story of a heroic 19th-century Irish-American Marine, the long career of recently deceased bestselling author Uris (Mila 18; Exodus) concludes. Zachary O'Hara, son of a legendary Civil War hero, is the protagonist of Uris's epic adventure, which ranges from Washington, D.C., to Newport, R.I., and from the Civil War to the end of the 19th century. O'Hara grows up on Marine lore and joins the corps as soon as he can, earning a reputation in his own right with hard work and natural ability. When Major Boone affords him the opportunity of a lifetime a chance to save the corps and gain a prominent role in its future he jumps on it. Zach's career takes off and so does his love life, as he falls for the beautiful and headstrong Amanda Kerr. From the outset, though, the relationship is opposed by Zach's Marine superiors and Amanda's stubborn industrialist father, who has other plans for her future. But Amanda suddenly and inexplicably metamorphoses into a cunning businesswoman and pragmatically decides to abandon Zach (whom she continues to pine after). From here, the plot turns aren't plausible. Uris usually connects the many layers of his stories seamlessly; as this novel draws to a conclusion, however, the hasty revelation of family secrets leads to a forced, emotionally unsatisfying ending. Anyone seeking a compelling read should look to Uris's previous works, as this one is certainly the exception to the rule in a prodigious career marked by phenomenal storytelling.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This new work by the author of, most famously among his previous novels, the popular and filmed Exodus (1958), which focused on the founding years of Israel, turns out to be Uris' posthumous novel, for he died in late June of this year. Characteristically for him, it is a visit to historical times; and characteristically of him, historical facts are not seamlessly, fluidly integrated into the story, but, rather, give the narrative a patchwork feel. But there is certainly a compelling quality to the story itself. In general terms, the novel concerns a vital period in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps. Specifically, its characters are the men whom Sergeant Paddy O'Hara saved from the jaws of death during various battles of the Civil War. Sergeant O'Hara was the second marine to be awarded the newly created Congressional Medal of Honor, and every year the men he saved hold a reunion. The year now is 1888, and the group meets with an important item on their agenda: the very future of the corps appears to be in jeopardy. They turn to Paddy O'Hara's son for the corps' salvation, and the plot takes off from there. Despite a leaden prose style, Uris achieves an effective level of urgency in his storytelling to maintain the interest of readers who will seek out the latest (and, presumably, last) work of a popular writer. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (October 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060568739
• ISBN-13: 978-0060568733
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,249,135 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a disappointment, December 30, 2003

By A Customer

Don't bother buying this book unless you feel you must read Uris' last book. Surprised to see it on the half-price table, I bought it from curiosity and finished it out of loyalty, having read 'Battle Cry' in the '50s and almost all his subsequent books. This book has almost no military action, an almost melodramatic plot, and (worst of all for me) the dialog sounds like people speaking in modern times. Having served with the Marine Corps, I found some of the sentiments and attitudes hoaky and the romance between the two main characters (this being a clash of strong wills) was wooden. You'd do better with Ayn Rand. Shortly after starting the book, I noticed that Uris died this year; I'm betting his secretary and a sophomore American Lit major finished it for him. This is a sad way to cap a fine career, one that brought me enjoyment most of my adult life.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Last Dim Hurrah, December 28, 2003

By	Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

From the opening pages of Battle Cry, through Mila-18 and Exodus, Uris develops his fine stories of people in battle. Battle against prejudice, against poverty, against class structures, against themselves. This, his last novel, once more places people in jeopardy. Covering a period from just before the Civil War to the early 1890's, it is a tale of honorable men fighting to save what they believe in, most noticeably Uris' beloved Marine Corps, but also fighting for a chance to live life and love as they wish, to acknowledge the right of all to be free, and for honor itself.

Zachary O'Hara is the model Marine; practically raised within the corps by his father, Paddy O'Hara, a Civil War Medal of Honor hero who, at one point or another, had saved most of the lives of the male characters in this book. Zachary must fight the battle common to children of famous parents, that of making his way in the world out from the shadow of his parent. His external battle takes the shape of drafting policy papers that will show the necessity of Marine Corps as a functioning part of the U. S. Military, both in the present time and in the foreseeable future, as in the late 1880's the general feeling was that the Marine Corps was a body that had outlived its usefulness.

But this battle must take place alongside his battle to be able to love Amanda Kerr, daughter of ship-building magnate Horace. As Zachary is clearly below Amanda's station, marriage would seem to be out of the question - but Amanda herself is a strong-willed, intelligent woman who knows how to broker deals.

With this as the skeleton upon which to construct his novel, it would seem that sure-handed Uris would have an easy time building a strong novel. But perhaps because Uris died before doing the final edits on this work, the novel comes off as somewhat disjointed, characters (especially the minor ones) not as clearly delineated as is normal for Uris, and occasional pieces of text are repeated, something I'm sure he would have eliminated had he had the chance. As it is, there are places that feel incomplete, dialogue that seems to assume the reader knows more than has been presented, and the prime story, that of ensuring the continuance of the Marine Corps, does not seem to carry the sense of urgency and criticality that I'm sure Uris intended the novel to portray. The historical backdrop of both national events and his character's past does not have enough detail to really make this era come alive. The climax of the story comes as something of a surprise, as only minimal hints about it have been set in earlier portions of the novel.

What could have been a strong story of love and nation-building is compromised, leaving only the feeling of what could have been with perhaps another hundred pages and some strong editing. A disappointment from an author who almost never failed to engage both the hearts and minds of his readers.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "O'Hara's Choice", January 30, 2004

By	Dick Clark "dclark282" (SIMI VALLEY, CA United States) - See all my reviews

My advise: read the whole book (it is pretty good), but skip the last chapter. Compose your own ending. Believe me, your ending will be a better ending than the one the author penned.
Being a former Marine, I was satisfied with the treatment of the Marines, in general. The ending, however, was all wrong. It was as if Uris had died (which he did in 2003), and some anti-military feminist finished the last chapter for him.

You've been warned.