Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ

There is a lot to like in this book. The story is in depth and enthralling, the characters are interesting, and it's clear the author cared greatly for them. The plot is well known, due to the movies, but what surprised me was how different the book is to what's on film. There's more characters, more sub-plots, and a different structure all together. It does have some flaws to note. The language is anachronistic to modern readers, with lots of 'thees' and 'thous' thrown in, that can take a bit to get used to. Wallace also has a habit of describing everything in great detail, to the point that you could cut out a quarter of the text and still tell the same story. I guess it's somewhat excusable since he was writing before TV or movies, and description was the only way to paint an image, but to a modern reader it will come off as excessive purple prose. Some may also be surprised to learn that you don't actually meet Ben Hur himself until seventy ages in, that the first part of the book is a retelling of the nativity story. And given the prominent role Jesus plays in the book, folks who have problems with religion or God may not be onboard with the story. There is also a good deal of melodrama, as was common in late 1800s novels.The good stuff outweighs it. Ben-Hur is a fascinating character, an innocent subjected to huge punishment for a crime he didn't commit, torn by a desire for revenge, and constantly pulled between the lure of power and the lure of faith. He both hates the Romans, yet was saved by and adopted by one. Similarly the Jews are generally sypmathized with, but they're also examined for their role (The High Priest's particularly) in the crucifixion. So Wallace doesn't present either side in simplistic moral terms, and goes to lengths to make both sides fully human. Wallace makes the characters interesting and easy to relate with, even given the differences in language between then and now, and the tendency of his characters to take in soliloquys. You do feel for them. Overall, this was a good read, deserving of it's classic status.

If you are familiar with the movie, then this is not restricted to that. It starts out as a compendium of different tidbits about the days of Jesus of Nazareth thus mirrors the theology of the time when it was written. We have learned a lot since then and have different ideas about the history of that era. We don't try to cram together everything from Mathew, Luke, Christmas Cards, Hallmark specials, etc. Still if you want a snapshot from the days when they did then this is a good historical example. The style is readable. So it is enjoyable for a book over a century old. I would recommend it for that reason.

Ben-Hur, a historical novel by former Civil War general Lew Wallace, was published in 1880. The best-selling American novel of the 19th century, it combines a Count of Monte Cristo-esque revenge tale with a retelling of New Testament accounts of the life of Jesus Christ. Those who think they are familiar with the story from seeing the award-winning film adaptation will be surprised at how much Wallace focuses on the latter subject matter at the expense of the former. The book opens with an extensive rehash of the story of Christ’s birth, from the meeting of the Magi through the Nativity. Wallace loads his narrative with vivid descriptive details of the clothing, architecture, food, animals, and multicultural peoples of the Middle East. All this ethnographic and archaeological detail adds to the authenticity of the story. This realism is negated, however, by Wallace’s decision to pepper the book with supernatural phenomena, from choirs of angels to the miraculous healing of the sick.Judah Ben-Hur is the son of a wealthy aristocratic Jewish family in Jerusalem, then part of the Roman Empire. A Roman boy named Messala is his closest childhood friend, but as the two reach manhood their differing races and faiths set them at odds with each other. When the Roman governor of Jerusalem is injured in an accident, Messala deliberately accuses Ben-Hur of an assassination plot. Ben-Hur is condemned to be a galley slave for life, and his mother and sister are taken away, he knows not where. While spending years in chains, he vows that someday he will have his freedom, reunite with his beloved family, and wreak his vengeance upon Messala.Much like The Count of Monte Cristo, Ben-Hur is the beneficiary of a great deal of unbelievably good fortune and uncanny coincidence in his epic quest for retribution. Wallace attributes his hero’s dumb luck to the will of God. I prefer to think of it as romantic license on the part of the author, which can be forgiven for the sake of a good story. What can’t be forgiven, however, is the plodding pace with which Wallace proceeds through his narrative. The lead up to the climactic chariot race takes forever, and in the end one discovers it wasn’t really worth the wait after all. Ben-Hur’s love interest is a beautiful Egyptian temptress whose sole purpose is to spout interminably long folk tales and creation myths. Throughout the book Ben-Hur and his supporting cast engage in debate after debate about the nature of Christ and what his title of “King of the Jews” really signifies. The way Wallace weaves the life of Christ into Ben-Hur’s story is clever at first, but eventually the book just devolves into a nearly verbatim recitation of the Gospels, a story the reader has likely already heard.It’s possible to write a historical novel dealing with religious and theological themes in a way that appeals to an audience beyond the devout. Henryk Sienkiewicz proved that with Quo Vadis. Wallace, on the other hand, is clearly preaching to the converted. The fictional story of Ben-Hur is an admirable creation, but it’s opaquely obscured by the heavy-handed application of Christian dogma. It’s hard to even find a moral lesson here, other than simply, “Believe in Christ.” Wallace could have used the story of Ben-Hur to make a powerful statement about forgiveness or redemption; instead, he just paraphrases scenes from the Bible. Thus, the more devoted you are to the Christian faith, the more likely you are to enjoy the book. Readers simply looking for an epic adventure of the ancient world would be better off turning to Sienkiewicz’s Quo Vadis, Gustave Flaubert’s Salammbô, or Gore Vidal’s Creation.

The past is another country, isn't that the phrase? This is also set in another country, culture, philosophy, religion, etc. The writing is well done, the story compelling, and well worth your time.

A book I thought I would never read nor have any reason to read. I was do wrong. I will never forget the vision into the times of Christ and his last days this book gave me.

With yet another film of this to shortly grace cinema screens throughout the country it is good to see that this story is being kept alive, although for most I should think that they have not read the book before, and the mention of Ben-Hur conjures up the famous chariot race, which everyone seems to enjoy.Lewis ‘Lew’ Wallace wrote more than just this novel, although it seems to be the only one most of us have heard of or read, and as his second book this was the one that brought him fame. Although arguably falling into the Christian Fiction genre to be honest this will probably appeal to most as its themes are universal. A bestseller in its day this still has the power to conjure up the Middle East, its landscape and history, along with the Roman Empire and a certain person called Jesus.Starting off with the Magi meeting to follow the star to Bethlehem to see the Messiah, Jesus as such makes a few appearances throughout the book, with a major appearance near the end. We follow Judah here, who is the Ben-Hur of the title, as his family falls upon hard times due to an accident which sees Judah being charged with attempted assassination, and the betrayal of a former friend.Throughout this tale the themes of betrayal, love, loyalty, compassion, honour, faith, vengeance and greed constantly raise their heads, making this something that is very easy to read. Although Wallace at the time had never been to Italy or the Middle East when he wrote this he did do a lot of research and thus what he creates with regards to the landscapes is quite good and detailed, making them really come alive. If you haven’t read this before and are coming to it for the first time this should be quite a treat to read, and you may possibly notice in certain parts where inspiration was drawn from, and indeed the author was quite free in expressing what books gave him ideas and techniques to write this. Since its publication and success this has also gone on to inspire many other authors, as it still does today, and as for us the general reader this is a story that you will want to come back to every now and then to re-read.In all this has a bit of everything, from slower more cerebral pacing, to outright action and adventure and is always a joy to read.

With yet another film of this to shortly grace cinema screens throughout the country it is good to see that this story is being kept alive, although for most I should think that they have not read the book before, and the mention of Ben-Hur conjures up the famous chariot race, which everyone seems to enjoy.Lewis ‘Lew’ Wallace wrote more than just this novel, although it seems to be the only one most of us have heard of or read, and as his second book this was the one that brought him fame. Although arguably falling into the Christian Fiction genre to be honest this will probably appeal to most as its themes are universal. A bestseller in its day this still has the power to conjure up the Middle East, its landscape and history, along with the Roman Empire and a certain person called Jesus.Starting off with the Magi meeting to follow the star to Bethlehem to see the Messiah, Jesus as such makes a few appearances throughout the book, with a major appearance near the end. We follow Judah here, who is the Ben-Hur of the title, as his family falls upon hard times due to an accident which sees Judah being charged with attempted assassination, and the betrayal of a former friend.Throughout this tale the themes of betrayal, love, loyalty, compassion, honour, faith, vengeance and greed constantly raise their heads, making this something that is very easy to read. Although Wallace at the time had never been to Italy or the Middle East when he wrote this he did do a lot of research and thus what he creates with regards to the landscapes is quite good and detailed, making them really come alive. If you haven’t read this before and are coming to it for the first time this should be quite a treat to read, and you may possibly notice in certain parts where inspiration was drawn from, and indeed the author was quite free in expressing what books gave him ideas and techniques to write this. Since its publication and success this has also gone on to inspire many other authors, as it still does today, and as for us the general reader this is a story that you will want to come back to every now and then to re-read.In all this has a bit of everything, from slower more cerebral pacing, to outright action and adventure and is always a joy to read.

This is an excellent book and well worth the read. Running parallel with Jesus' life is that of a young man from a princely Sadducee family. There is tragedy, the need for revenge and yet ... along the way the young man meets unknowingly at the time with Jesus while both were still young and the memory comes back to him much later on when he again witnesses Jesus' compassion for others - yet still he expects this young 'King' to come in military form to rid them of the Romans. The young man - Judah - meets one of the Wise Men during his journey through life and along with an old servant of his father's they have quite a lot of influence on him. Ultimately, as Judah stands at the foot of the cross, realisation dawns and he commits his future to Christ.

This is a pretty good yarn considering how long ago it was written Iin the 1800s). Lew Wallace must have been very well read or had a fertile imagination. It has rather too much description in it for my liking but I'm pressing on with it. The book is a bit like the film with lots of extra little stories, as are most adaptations. The big set pieces from the film are in the book but there are lots of little strands running through which are not in the film. A good read.

I have only had this book for a day. It will take a long time to read because it is very poorly formatted.Words are broken at unusual points at line ends, for example: on one page the word 'camel' is split thus at the end of a line: came next line l. Even when changing the print size over and over again it still happens only with different words.As I say, it's all in the formatting, and for me that has really spoiled the book.