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100th out of 757 books
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3,450 voters
Ben-Hur
by
Lew Wallace
Judah Ben-Hur lives as a rich Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 1st century. His old friend Messala arrives as commanding officer of the Roman legions. They become bitter enemies. Because of an unfortunate accident, Ben-Hur is sent to slave in the mines while his family is sent to leprosy caves. As Messala is dying from being crushed in a char...more
Paperback, 428 pages
Published
May 1st 2005
by Elm Hill Books
(first published 1880)
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Apr 21, 2013
Jon
added it
5 stars
Due to the acquisition of GoodReads by Amazon on March 28, 2013 and my existing and continuing boycott of all things Amazon, the review I wrote after reading this book now resides, safe and secure, at my blog. You can read it by following this link: http://bit.ly/XPOfvX
Due to the acquisition of GoodReads by Amazon on March 28, 2013 and my existing and continuing boycott of all things Amazon, the review I wrote after reading this book now resides, safe and secure, at my blog. You can read it by following this link: http://bit.ly/XPOfvX
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The first sign that I should not have read this book was the discrepancy in hours between the abridged and unabridged versions on audible. Unabridged: 21 hours, Abridged: 3 hours. I bought it anyway and soon discovered why. There's about 15% story and 85% fluff in Ben Hur. It is, hands down, the best argument for editing I have ever read.
For example, there was a section in the beginning where two men embraced. That's all we need to know, right? No, no. Of course not. We have to hear that they t...more
For example, there was a section in the beginning where two men embraced. That's all we need to know, right? No, no. Of course not. We have to hear that they t...more
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Went to a BYU education week class on finding good books to read. A woman in the class recommended this one. One of her favorites. I look forward to reading it and then watching the movie which Sally has highly recommended.
I loved this story. It was a bit of a challenge in the beginning. There is a lot of detailed description of clothing, customs, etc. Wallace addressed the reader and would try to put you in the location he was describing. It took some patience, but I began to really enjoy it....more
I loved this story. It was a bit of a challenge in the beginning. There is a lot of detailed description of clothing, customs, etc. Wallace addressed the reader and would try to put you in the location he was describing. It took some patience, but I began to really enjoy it....more
INCREDIBLE! I found this book to be on the same par as Les Miserables. The story begins with the birth of the Christ Child and a detailed depiction of the journey of the Three Wise Men (what could have happened), and ends with the Crucifixion of Jesus. In between these two world changing events is the story of a man (Ben Hur) from a wealthy family who is deeply betrayed by a Roman friend. He ends up in the bowels of a ship as an oarsman – a grueling job. Ben Hur’s life journey is described in gr...more
One of the best historical novels I ever read. It is definitively a masterpiece of the genre together with Sienkewicz's Quo Vadis. I love it and I can recommend it to everyone that would like to read a decent historical novel.
The only bad thing is about the edition from Adevarul that I had. It had several typos and also some pages where the content is printed slightly to the right or to the left of the page. In the end, you can read it well from the respective edition, but definitively such thin...more
The only bad thing is about the edition from Adevarul that I had. It had several typos and also some pages where the content is printed slightly to the right or to the left of the page. In the end, you can read it well from the respective edition, but definitively such thin...more
A fantastic story of love, betrayal, revenge, family and Christianity.
The story takes place from the time that Christ was born to a few year after his death, yet it follows a character named Judah who has been wrongly convicted as an assassin by the Romans, betrayed by his best friend no less. This is one amazing journey that the hero takes to carry out a plot to seek out revenge on his once close friend turned enemy.
One thin that stunned me while reading is how vivid Lew Wallace wrote the sce...more
The story takes place from the time that Christ was born to a few year after his death, yet it follows a character named Judah who has been wrongly convicted as an assassin by the Romans, betrayed by his best friend no less. This is one amazing journey that the hero takes to carry out a plot to seek out revenge on his once close friend turned enemy.
One thin that stunned me while reading is how vivid Lew Wallace wrote the sce...more
This is the second time I've read this book. The second time I read an edited and abridged version. Both were good. The second time I was not as moved as the first. I think that the description of Christ as blue-eyed with auburn hair and rather feminine in appeal just turned me off. The description of Mary having golden hair and blue eyes ... also implying that she was probably lily white turned me off !! The story is compelling and moving, however.
The book begins with the story of the wise men...more
The book begins with the story of the wise men...more
Needless to say that the book is much better than the movie, and when it comes to Ben Hur, that is definitely saying something. While the famous scenes in the movie are replicated from the book (that being the chariot race and the sea battle), there is much more to the book than there is to the movie (though the theme is the same in both). The book is actually called Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It may seem that Christ is only a bit part in the book (and in the movie) but his presence in the...more
Story about Ben Hur (House of Judah) who devotes time to avenging the Romans. He accidently drops a roof tile on the roman governor and his family is sent away. He becomes a slave and eventually a Roman Citizen. Ultimately, the story winds up being more of a discussion of whether Christ comes to earth to be a political king or a king that saves souls. Apparently, it is the latter.
The book itself is compromised of a variety of different styles and appears to have been written in a variety of diff...more
The book itself is compromised of a variety of different styles and appears to have been written in a variety of diff...more
I remember watching the movie as a kid; Charleston Heston playing Ben Hur. I remember a chariot race, leprosy and Christ going to the cross; all in all a good movie but only remembered in highlights. The book has adorned my library for a long time and I’ve always planned to read the book behind the story. I have now done so and must admit that either I slept through much of the movie or it didn’t follow the story written by Lew Wallace very diligently.
The story is divided into eight books. The...more
The story is divided into eight books. The...more
This is probably one of the worst books I've read in a long time, and it's the only one I can think of whose movie adaptation was actually better. For one thing, it was incredibly long, which would have been fine if it weren't for the fact that there seemed to be entirely too much extraneous information that was written in in order to satisfy the author's devotional mindset. And for another, the book is sorely lacking in the historical accuracy department. I don't mind if there are minor details...more
Both a historical and allegorical novel, Lew Wallace combines a thoroughly Christian viewpoint with wonderful storytelling to present a truly great read. The characters are archetypes, larger than life and extremely sympathetic; the setting is grand and sweeping as befits a religious epic; the action is exciting and intriguing. The writing reveals a poignant attachment to the legal and military glory of pax romana while at the same time rejecting it's brutality in favor of a more humble and lovi...more
Oh, those free classics on the Kindle... getting me to read something I never would have picked up otherwise! Being a Hoosier, I've heard of Lew Wallace's genius many times. A friend gave my daughter an old comic book of Ben Hur. I read the comic and realized I didn't know much of the story at all. I guess it was only the chariot race I had seen multiple times. I was pleasantly surprised by the novel and extremely disappointed in the movie after reading the book. Although the novel is SLOW to st...more
Ben Hur is not a book for lazy readers. If you think you can worm your way out of a book report by watching the movie, for example, you'll likely fail; the book is vastly different than the film version.
While the film is condensed and jumpy, the novel prefers to let the action take a back seat to character development and examination of cultural and social customs. In fact, it's amazing just how much they cut from the book. It's sad, really. There were some interesting devices at work, including...more
While the film is condensed and jumpy, the novel prefers to let the action take a back seat to character development and examination of cultural and social customs. In fact, it's amazing just how much they cut from the book. It's sad, really. There were some interesting devices at work, including...more
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A great book, if you have the patience. Lots of chapters exist just to give historical background, so don't expect something as fast-paced as the movie version; however, some parts of this book are simply amazing. The chariot race is one of the most exciting passages in all of literature (George Lucas' pod race can't even touch it), and the passages about leprosy are some of the most heart-rending. It also does a great job of painting a clear picture of who exactly Jesus was, as well as showing...more
A Tale of the Christ, just as the title says. It's much different from the movie. The life and mission of Christ are woven into the story. Ben Hur, a Jew, survived three years as a galley slave, and he kept his devotion to his Jewish heritage, even though he was adopted by an influential Roman. He survived a chariot race in which he got revenge over a Roman who had been a childhoood friend, but had later betrayed him.
The book depicts the wicked domination of the Romans, and the hope of the Jews...more
The book depicts the wicked domination of the Romans, and the hope of the Jews...more
Sep 13, 2009
Tiffany
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who likes epics and histories
This book took me so long to read, and yet, when I was coming to the end, I was not happy to be finished it. This book has profoundly sat in my memory of BEST BOOKS EVER. And that is something, coming from an Athiest, and this book is, by proxy, about the birth of Jesus and then his life later on, as seen through the eyes of Ben-Hur. I loved the historical aspect of it, and it really gave me so much insight into those times, way more than reading the Bible ever gave me. I could feel the era arou...more
I think Lew Wallace would agree with me that the Charlton Heston movie is better. But still, this is a really great book. It's same story albeit with a broader context than the MGM version: While both chronicle the lives of Ben Hur and Jesus, born at the same time, in close proximity, the novel gives us way more family history (Judah Ben Hur/Jesus Ben Joseph) and comparison of the two lives than the movie. But it's all really interesting stuff. What I found most impressive is that that Wallace,...more
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Ben-Hur is a Biblical tale of betrayal and revenge set during the time of the Christ.
Judah Ben-Hur is a wealthy Jewish Prince who is betrayed by his childhood friend, the Roman Messala, and during the course of the narrative, Ben-Hur’s path runs parallel, and crosses, with that of Jesus Christ.
I found this novel to be a bit dated and over description but hugely enjoyable. Wallace suggests the foundation for the birth of modern Christianity and rather than being preachy he has just told a damn g...more
Judah Ben-Hur is a wealthy Jewish Prince who is betrayed by his childhood friend, the Roman Messala, and during the course of the narrative, Ben-Hur’s path runs parallel, and crosses, with that of Jesus Christ.
I found this novel to be a bit dated and over description but hugely enjoyable. Wallace suggests the foundation for the birth of modern Christianity and rather than being preachy he has just told a damn g...more
Okay, people who read this book should keep in mind that Lew Wallace is a historian: meaning he feels the need to give historical background, specific customs, detailed descriptions of dress, and accurate and, again, detailed decription/historical information about the setting of each scene. That, said one should expect some slow reading, especially for the first part. Nevertheless, he does achieve a pretty adventurous and some times action-packed story. I admit that I found myself often saying,...more
It's been years since I read this. It was slow going in some places - my problem with writers of the past. Overall, the book was great, but it was a 'read once' for me.
Not a bad book, with a good story, but sometimes too preachy. The first 60 pages were really unnecessary and drawn out, while the last ten were horribly abrupt. Still, an entertaining enough tale of ancient Rome, very well-written in parts (though in others, a little too much detail about the scenery is given). A lot more emphasis on religion than in the abridged version I read, which tends to drag it down just a bit--the religion might have worked better as a backdrop to the main story rather t...more
Currently reading on my B&N Nook.
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According to many sources, Ben-Hur was the most popular novel in 19th century America, and it has never been out-of-print. This almost seems an understatement.
Granted, the first third or so was, I admit, tough going because Wallace loved to create verbally the "mises en scenes" in detail. In addition, he seems to have written in a purposefully archaic style of English that might have made King James scratch his head. And no...more
************************************
According to many sources, Ben-Hur was the most popular novel in 19th century America, and it has never been out-of-print. This almost seems an understatement.
Granted, the first third or so was, I admit, tough going because Wallace loved to create verbally the "mises en scenes" in detail. In addition, he seems to have written in a purposefully archaic style of English that might have made King James scratch his head. And no...more
I had really been looking forward to reading this book, but getting through it was a bit of a challenge. Lew Wallace's writing style is about 50% description, and 5o% story. I succumbed to the temptation of skimming.
It has some good ideas and themes, and it is very Victorian in its morality. The characters, however, seem very shallow, not complicated like real people. For some reason, the writing style reminds me of Gene Stratton-Porter
This was a best hit seller when it was published in 1880, bu...more
It has some good ideas and themes, and it is very Victorian in its morality. The characters, however, seem very shallow, not complicated like real people. For some reason, the writing style reminds me of Gene Stratton-Porter
This was a best hit seller when it was published in 1880, bu...more
I really enjoyed reading the novel that inspired one of my favorite movies! The story is very different from the movie versions. The movie hits the highlights, but so much more happens in Ben Hur's life! It's a spiritual journey for Ben Hur and many of the other characters in the book - the language of the story is very Biblical as well. The famous chariot race is just as exciting to read about in the book, and there is a most beautiful description of the Christmas Story at the very beginning of...more
I was curious to read this book. Lew Wallace wrote part of it while he was governor in Santa Fe, I've always enjoyed the movie, and it also seemed appropriate reading for Christmas time. I found it a very enjoyable read, and could easily see why it was so popular in its day. Lots of description of exotic locales, dusky maidens, powerful sheiks and Romans--basically everything one could wish if one is a "Sword and Sandals" movie or novel fan. The description is much more lengthy and detailed than...more
I debated about giving this a five star, because like so many classics from over a century ago, it's slow reading for those of us who are used to soundbites and Twitter and fast, fast, action, action.
In fact, like my other favorite classics like Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice I had to watch the movies first before I could tackle the book.
But even if you know the plot, this is still an amazing book and you will get details and nuances out of it that make it just as suprising and intense as se...more
In fact, like my other favorite classics like Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice I had to watch the movies first before I could tackle the book.
But even if you know the plot, this is still an amazing book and you will get details and nuances out of it that make it just as suprising and intense as se...more
A wonderfully, well-written classic! I absolutely loved experiencing the adventures throughout its pages. It is definitely one of my all-time favorites.
Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew, son of a wealthy prince of Jerusalem, suffers much - the loss of his home, the disappearance of his family, and the disgrace of his name. To top it off, he was sent to the galleys to serve as a slave due to unjust punishment for an accident. Over the course of the years, he befriends a Roman tribune, who adopts him as his o...more
Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew, son of a wealthy prince of Jerusalem, suffers much - the loss of his home, the disappearance of his family, and the disgrace of his name. To top it off, he was sent to the galleys to serve as a slave due to unjust punishment for an accident. Over the course of the years, he befriends a Roman tribune, who adopts him as his o...more
incorporating the story of a Jewish prince and the upcoming of the Christ in a very delicate but extremely enjoyable manner, as much a fiction this novel has been, it cant help but enlighten those who have no background on the foundations of Christianity. i must say that i found it rather long and redundant in more than an occasion due to the author's narratives which, surprisingly doesn't get you out of the story's plot like most narratives do, but even which cant help but bore the hell out of...more
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Lewis "Lew" Wallace was a lawyer, governor, Union general in the American Civil War, American statesman, and author, best remembered for his historical novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.
From Civil War Biography:
Although he would have much preferred to be remembered as a highly successful military hero, Lew Wallace has been thwarted in this ambition and is best known as an author. Born in Indian...more
More about Lew Wallace...
From Civil War Biography:
Although he would have much preferred to be remembered as a highly successful military hero, Lew Wallace has been thwarted in this ambition and is best known as an author. Born in Indian...more
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“The architect had not stopped to bother about columns and porticos, proportions or interiors, or any limitation upon the epic he sought to materialize; he had simply made a servant of Nature - art can go no further.”
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“The happiness of love is in action; its test is what one is willing to do for others.”
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