Customer Reviews

Redemption Reissue

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I just read Trinity, then the sequel, Redemption. I plan on submitting this review for both novels.

Trinity is an 800+ page saga about Ireland in the late 1800s early 1900s. It took me a good 100+ pages to get hooked on the book, but once hooked, I raced to finish it. I loved the description of Ireland, the religious conflicts, and the incredible characters. This book is great, read it now.

Redemption was also an 800+ page novel, however, not as gripping as Trinity. The first 300+ pages covered plot that had been described in Trinity. For those readers who read Trinity years ago, this may be a bonus. For someone who had finished Trinity a day prior, I wasn't interested. The book gets a bit more exciting with the description of the war being fought which eventually leads back to Ireland. The book then, unfortunately, wimpers out with a quick, gift packaged ending. I am not sorry I read this book, because it brought a bit more closure on the Irish saga for me...however, Trinity is the more impressive novel.

As a Uris fan and Trinity lover, I ran out to buy Redemption when it was released. What a letdown. It was a Trinity review with some Clancy-like battles that lasted forever. Never thought Uris would put out such nonsense to make a buck.

Written like an incredibly long, high school book report, a mere rehashing of the important events of "Trinity". The book added no more dimension to and seemed bereft of any sympathy towards the characters - I found the characterizations to be flat and uninteresting. The dialogue was incredible and sophomoric - I mean, let's be frank - people getting together to plan the throwing off of the chains of 700 years of oppression aren't going to sit around a table at secret meetings, under cover of darkness, yammering things like, "And forever, nothing of beauty has ever escaped his eye. No leaf, no sound, no drop of rain, no sweet word, no scent. He finds beauty in thunderheads and raging seas, and never a woman has he seen or touched did he not find beauty in. Along with his ravenous craving for knowledge and his fury against injustice, this man has gathered in beauty more fully than any human being I know...." Puh-leeeze. Give me a break - no one talks like this. I am sorely disappointed in this poor attempt at a sequel, but I'll finish it because I'm hoping it gets better (or at least more realistic). I'm glad I read "Trinity" first, because I never would have after reading this.

I read Trinity a few years ago. An emotive book which captured the mood of the times and attitudes of the groups of people involved. A great book. I received the sequel, Redemption, as a gift. After reading roughly one third of the book, I conclude that I will only finish it as a duty to the giver. The 'new events' described in the book (Suddenly it transpires that Conor visited Hubble Manor as a child apprentice and argued with Caroline about who constructed the screen), the lack of historical accuracy being teeth-grinding and the fact that formerly incidental characters are fleshed out to an astonishly irritating degree, are bad enough. The above is only outdone by the author's extraordinary fixation with coupling between whichever characters appear on the page. In the absence of coupling, there is the constant preoccupation with coupling. We find Winston Churchill and Randolph Churchill falling asleep contemplating the breasts of Caroline Hubble. Is the author re-living his puberty?

Aside from this, who actually cares what Atty Fitzpatrick did as a child? Are we interested in how Rory grew up, and although I have not forced myself to read that far into the book, I understand that following Conor's visit to New Zealand and instilling the love of Ireland in Rory, in order to get to Ireland, he joins what was nominally the British Army. Is there no end to credibility stretching nonsense? There are many other questions which cannot fit here. All in all, just a very tedious read.

I received Redemption as a gift, but noticed prior to reading it that Trinity was the first book in the series. So I read Trinity and loved it which made me excited to get to Redemption. What a let down. I can't understand how an author would follow up such a great book with something so awful. It was basically a review of Trinity with a little more detail...boring! Although, I'm glad I got to read Trinity. I hope Uris' other books are as good.

Having read all Uris's books, I was eager to read "Redemption" when it came out. Yes, it was discouraging to realize that much of the book was a poor rehash of a brilliant "Trinity," however, I was literally blown away by the account of the battle at Gallipoli. My grandfather fought there for the Anzacs, and my grandmother told me about his experience of waking up one morning and discovering one of his comrades, who had shared his sleeping bag to keep warm, shot dead. Now, my grandfather has been dead since 1959, but I felt like Uris had personally interviewed him for the book! Wow, does he do his homework, and in addition, he has given me an opportunity to know more about my grandfather than my grandmother could ever tell me. I never realized how miraculous my being here is, since so few made it through that battle. The book is definately well worth reading, and if you have never read "Trinity", it is a must!

Conor Larkin was larger than 'LIFE', Rory Larkin (Landers) was just beginning his. The parallels between the two - father's driving them off to an uncertain future, leading men who could not, or would not, lead themselves, living a cause - Gallipoli and Ireland - they either believed or did out of dedication - are incredible. Agreed - the book treaded water in points but did add detail to those who read Trinity. If you picked up Redemption first some of the most amazing characters would have flown by as a name on a page - Tomas, Freddie Weed, Roger Hubble. The point - a good book, Gallipoli, the Easter rising, the brass of Atty and Caroline. The downside - I wish all 735 pages had been as new, fascinating, historically educational and riveting as Trinity's 900 pages were.

Hate to have to rip Leon Uris, but this book seemed like it was written just to quiet those people who clamored for a Trinity sequel. Either that, or he did it to make an easy buck. After reading this, you would swear he wrote the thing in about a week. The writing on Galipoli isn't bad and this book might be okay if it had to stand on its own. But as the sequel to Trinity, it captures none of the inspiring qualities of the original masterpiece.

I read Trinity in February, 1978, and I loved it.

I have been trying to read Redemption for six weeks now, and am just now fighting the Turks.

The character development that enabled Uris to give us background information on many characters (like Caroline, Seamus, Shelley, Atty) without confusing which characters were his clear focus (Conor, Tomas and Kiltie) is missing here. The book bounces around between too many characters and too many story lines with not enough time devoted to any of them to let the reader know whose stories are the crux of the book.

Perhaps the problem is that Uris goes over already-told Trinity tales and can't get focused on his main characters. Outside of seeing the word "redemption" batted around by different characters, I can't find anything that unifies the stories contained in this book.

Leon Uris is one of my favourite authors, but Redemption was comparatively disappointing to Trinity. It was unfortunate to revisit much of Trinity's story in Redemption, and in a more poorly written style that seemed to exist only to avoid exact repetition than anything else. It did improve somewhat in the second half, but it was somehow spoiled for me. I felt patronized in that I, as a reader, could not be trusted to read Trinity first, or take the "Redemption" portion of Redemption as a novel unto itself. Do read Trinity. Then read the second half of Redemption. I've not given up on Leon Uris by a long shot, though. He truly is a fabulous and captivating author. More often than not, at any rate.