Mitla Pass

Written by Leon Uris

Narrated by Angela Dawe and David de Vries

Gideon Zadok arrives in Israel with every intention to research a new book, mend a broken marriage, and improve his dysfunctional family. But as political tensions escalate and his family is evacuated, Zadok asks to follow Israeli paratroopers to secure Mitla Pass and finds himself in the midst of one of the largest global crises of the twentieth century. A sweeping novel of love, passion, and freedom, Mitla Pass stands as an epic look at modern Middle Eastern history and is quite possibly Uris’s most autobiographical work.

From Library Journal:
Against the backdrop of the 1956 Sinai War, Uris provides a riveting portrait (possibly autobiographical) of a man caught in personal crisis. Gideon Zadok, best-selling novelist and successful Hollywood screenwriter, has come to Israel with his family to research a new novel and to shore up a crumbling marriage. But he jeopardizes that by starting a passionate affair with a beautiful Auschwitz survivor. Zadok is a man wavering on the edge of a breakdown. As the political crisis escalates, and his family is evacuated, Zadok asks to accompany Israeli paratroopers on a desperate mission to seal off the strategic Mitla Pass. The Uris name will make this book much in demand, and if it is not as much of an epic as Exodus or Trinity, it has in Zadok Uris’s most fascinating character.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: May 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543663150

Leon Uris

<p>Internationally acclaimed novelist Leon Uris ran away from home at age seventeen, a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, to join the Marine Corps, and he served at Guadalcanal and Tarawa. His first novel, <em>Battle Cry</em>, was based on his own experiences in the Marines, which he revisited in his final novel, <em>O'Hara's Choice</em>. His other novels include the bestsellers <em>Redemption, Trinity, Exodus, QB VII,</em> and <em>Topaz,</em> among others. Leon Uris passed away in June 2003.</p>

Reviews for Mitla Pass

[Joe Lehrer · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Thought this book would be more about the suez crisis. Ended up telling a story about Gidden's ancestors.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I usually really like Leon Uris's books but this is the second one that I have read recently that didn't seem as high a caliber as his earlier books. Gideon is an American Jewish writer who served as a Marine in World War II. Coincidentally, Leon Uris was a Marine in World War II and saw battle in the same places as Gideon. Is this autobiography posing as fiction? I suspect it is although I don't know that Uris was at Mitla Pass. In 1956 Gideon is present in Israel when the Suez Crisis erupts. As a Jewish American he has been given many privileges by the Israeli government. He is also the lover of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion's secretary, Natasha. Gideon is given the opportunity to go with the Lions (an elite military unit) to close off Mitla Pass so the Egyptians can't get through to the Sinai. Although he has never jumped out of a plane before he decides to go. He lands badly and hurts his hip. He could have been evacuated with other injured soldiers but he elects to stay and during the several days the Lions are holed up outside of Mitla Pass he reviews his life and his family's history. The Lions wait for Colonel Zechariah to lead his troops to them so they can be assured of defeating the Egyptians. Interestingly, Wikipedia reveals that Colonel Zechariah in the book is Ariel Sharon in reality. There is lots of interesting stuff here but I felt it jumped around too much. One chapter might be in 1956, the next 1949, the next 1910 and then maybe back to 1956 briefly before delving into the First World War. There was also a number of different narrators besides Gideon which made the book seem disjointed. I also found Gideon to be a non-sympathetic character because of his treatment of his wife Val. He says he regrets cheating on Val but he continues to see Natasha. He says he is upfront with Val but then he sneaks off to a hotel room with Natasha. I suspect that Uris was a womanizer and this comes out in Gideon. I've lost some of the respect I always felt for Uris but his novel about the Warsaw uprising, Mila 18, is still one of my favourite books.