From The Shelf

BEN HUR - Before the publication of GONE WITH THE WIND in 1936 BEN HUR was the best selling American novel. Originally written in the 1870's by Lew Wallace, BEN HUR is the fictional story of Judah of the house of Hur, a jew who is dead set on getting revenge against the Romans. What's interesting about this book is how it weaves together Judah's story in and around the Christ story. The novel starts off with the Christmas story, and follows the shepherds and wise men as they make their way to Bethlehem. Then as the story continues we meet Judah. Due to an accident against a Roman official Judah's home is then confiscated, and his mother and sister are captured and thrown in prison. Judah himself is sent off to become a slave. And of course after all this Judah vows revenge and to set his family free. The classic scene from the book (as well as the movie) is of course the chariot race in Antioch, but Judah also witnesses the crucifixtion of Jesus. Judah in fact thinks "the king of the jews" is more of an Alexander-The-Great-type who will wipe Rome off the face of the Earth. It is only in the end does Judah realize who Jesus really is. Anyway, this is a pretty interesting historical fiction novel. At times I found it interesting, especially in the beginning with the journeys of the three wise men and shepherds all told in narrative form. But at times this novel can be a hard read thanks in part to Wallace's wordiness. Some descriptions go on for a couple of pages before anything ever happens thus making the novel tedious to get through at times. Overall though I thought this was a good read.