Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Caution!, September 12, 2000
Normally, I like reviews that give a short outline of the plot of a book or movie, because without that, you don't know whether you'd like to spend the time. However, unless you're really wavering, I would strongly advise that you to read the book before looking at the reviews below -- Ira Levin is THE MASTER of suspense -- like Stephen King says, his plots work like intricate timepieces -- and for maximum enjoyment you should know as little as possible about the book before you start.Odds are, however, that you already know it's about cloning and Nazis, so I'll go ahead and say this: I put off reading the book for years because I wasn't interested in either of those subjects. But "The Boys" is not what you'd expect at all, and superlatives can't describe Levin's skill. "Couldn't put it down" doesn't touch it. Plus, any gore or references to sex and violence are only what is necessary for the sake of the plot, which is important as far as I'm concerned. And, just like with his other books, this is more than just a roller coaster ride that you walk off of and forget. There's satisfying poetic justice, interesting moral contrast, and important ethical questions raised -- not just the usual pronouncements about weren't-the-Nazis-terrible or isn't-cloning-awfully-dangerous, either. It's one of those books you love to discuss with a friend.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Resurrection of Evil, December 18, 1999
I read this book in 1993. This is a story about cloning that tries to sound scientifically plausible, unlike the clumsy science fiction movies of the 1950s where a magic machine instantly makes a duplicate of a person.In the 1970s Josef Mengele is hiding in South America. He has planned the assassination of 94 elderly men around the world who have to die on certain dates. Yakov Liebermann (based on Simon Wiesenthal) learns of the plan and soon discovers the significance of the murders. Each of the 94 men are the unwitting fathers of a clone: a pale, arrogant boy with dark hair and blue eyes. Liebermann discovers who the clone is, and realizes the terrible consequences waiting to unfold for an unsuspecting world... When this book was first published, it probably seemed far-fetched. Cloning has been in the news quite a lot in recent times. Bill Clinton declared human cloning as an immoral practice, but I'm not sure I agree. Think of the medical benefits. If you needed a blood transfusion, what better donor could you find than your own clone? In "The Boys From Brazil" bringing someone back from the dead is not a simple matter of impregnating a woman with cells from a donor. The clone would have to have the same upbringing as the original, and experience the same things. Even then, there's a high probability that the clone will turn out different. That's why Mengele created 94 clones - to increase the chance of a successful outcome. An outcome with horrifying implications. The novel itself seems to drag in certain points, but it doesn't get monotonous. The ending is both amusing and thought-provoking.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a somewhat dated yet very enjoyable thriller.., December 2, 2002
The Boys From Brazil is probably better known by its late 1970s screen adaptation than the novel by Ira ("Rosemary's Baby") Levin. Since I hadn't seen the movie I thought I'd give the book a try. And I was pleasently surprised.The story is about elderly Nazis in Brazil, led by the ingenius yet wicked Mengele, seeking to clone Hitler. In fact they had done this some years back, cloning 94 genetic equivalents of bad ol' Adolph. Now in the mid-1970s they need to embark on a murderous rampage to fulfill their objectives (..no spoilers here). Bring in an aged Nazi hunter from Vienna and we have a tight, compulsively readable little thriller. Of course we know really that the story deep down is very contrived, even for when it was written (1970s). So I recommend not taking the story too seriously. It is well-written, and there are a couple of most memorable scenes. Bottom line: bio-terrorism and Nazis. Turn off your brain and enjoy.
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