I've been wanting to read a novel by Leon Uris for a few years now. I decided to give his novel, Topaz, a try! I ended up listening to the unabridged audio version of Topaz by Leon Uris and narrated by David de Vries.
Listening time for Topaz by Leon Uris is 11 hours, 8 minutes.
I like cold war, spy thrillers and Topaz by Leon Uris fits the bill in spades for this category. Overall, I like the plot, storyline, and character for Topaz. Leon Uris is a master story teller and definitely writes a layered and detailed story.
David de Vries is an excellent narrator. I'll have to look into other books he has narrated.
My only complaint is that women aren't always portrayed in the most positive light in this novel. Topaz by Leon Uris was published in 1967. So the female characters seem very stereotypical for the time.
The following is the plot summary for Topaz by Leon Uris from Audible:
A #1 New York Times bestseller, Topaz follows French intelligence chief André Devereaux and NATO intelligence chief Michael Nordstrom.I am giving Topaz by Leon Uris a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.
On the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis in Paris, 1962, Devereaux and Nordstrom uncover Soviet plans to ship nuclear arms. But when nobody acts after sharing his findings, Devereaux becomes the target of an assassination attempt and soon realizes the plot extends far beyond Cuba - and himself.
A thrilling and well-paced novel filled with Cold War intrigue, Topaz features two agents on a journey around the world to save NATO and themselves. A subsequent film based on the novel was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1969.
Until my next post, happy reading!
The plot sounds great. I have not read Uris but I have heard such good things about him. I had also heard that he had issues with his portrayal of women. Folks attribute to the time but most authors that I have read from that era did not have that many noticeable issues.
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering the same thing you pointed out about the author's portrayal of women... Was it the times or was the author misogynistic or a combination of the two? I don't really know. I just wasn't pleased at times with how the author portrayed women at times in Topaz.
DeleteYou finished! And overall liked it. That is great.
ReplyDeleteThe spy thriller part was well done... Leon Uris's discussion of women, not so much.
DeleteHi Lisa, I haven't seen you around here for awhile. Are you on vacation? Hope all is well.
ReplyDeleteThank you for checking in with me, Judy. Currently dealing with a health issue (complex regional pain syndrome) that effects my right forearm/hand/fingers. So typing blog posts has been too difficult to accomplish on right now.
DeleteI have three blog posts coming up next week that I worked on before my flare up occurred... So you'll see something soon. I'm so behind on my blog reviews.