O'Hara's Choice

By: Leon Uris

Narrated by: Jack Garrett

Two decades after the Civil War, first-generation Irish-American Zachary O'Hara, son of a legendary Marine and a force of a man in his own right, finds himself playing a critical role as the very existence of the Marine Corps is being decided. If he can help persuade the Secretary of the Navy that the Marines will be crucial to America's security in years to come -- all the while hefting a heavy, secret weight in his heart -- he'll save the Corps and make his career.But there's an obstacle in his path that this warrior hadn't planned on. Amanda Blanton Kerr, the daughter of a ruthless industrialist, is on a mission of her own; passionate, obstinate, and whip-smart, she's an heiress poised to blaze a trail for all women.

O'Hara's Choice is the story of the inevitable collision of these two handsome, fighting spirits, in which getting their souls' desires could jeopardize everything they -- and their parents before them -- scraped and struggled to achieve.

O'Hara's Choie

This paticular book is great. It is especially excellent for those that want to know about the "Old Corps". The story does remind me of Web Griffin. Many interconnecting people - well woven. Kept me interested.

Technical Difficulties

The book was a bit disjointed and superficial (unlike so many other Leon Uris books which I have really enjoyed.) My biggest complaints, however, were with the recording: 1)some sections seemed to be spliced in out of order--making things quite confusing and 2) on several occasions, I could hear someone laughing in the background.

Disappointing

This is a love story with relatively small ties to the USMC. As a champion of other Leon Uris novels, this was by far my least favorite. If you want a love story this is for you. If you are looking for USMC in action, this is sorely missing.

Not usual

Wasn't particularly interesting. Story kept losing me, wasn't stringed up well & couldn't identify with any of the characters.

Anachronistic, 70s B.S

I’ve heard great things about Leon Uris since childhood. After listening to this, I suspect he was MAGNIFICENTLY overarrated and/or a cocaine-addled editor destroyed the book with laughable (even hilarious) anachronistic dialogue and catastrophically awkward memes.
The 1890s, cigar-chomping plutocrat which had easily identifiable de-humanizing characteristics is used as the nearly all-powerful villain.
There is ZERO humanity. Sometimes people need to appear as props even in good storytelling, but not the person who occupies 33-50% of the spirit of the story. He was de-humanized to the point of being an animated sack of leather—a psychic punching bag.
Of course, all the women were provided absolution and the main male character was cleansed by his association with minority victims and his ostensible erotic appeal to the gay (I think) author.
The premise had enormous potential. I know it’s a lot of work to make excellent literature that rings true, and this could have been saved by the elimination of the anachronistic stuff (“kickass” was not a term used in the 1890s, gor example). Between the shitty leftist stereotyping and 1970s cokehead banter, this book sucked. I kept listening in the hopes that maybe the end would justify the “means” as redemption. I’m only glad I finished
because I will be much more cautious anout, and possibly avoid, Leon Uris books.
Unless you’re curious about bad editing, garbage military history, and comical homoerotica, avoid this title.