May 28 2009
Contest Winner, Second Place: Ben-Hur
Review by Raynie C., Age 16
Ben-Hur, written by Lew. Wallace, is an incredibly powerful story packed with emotion, action, and history. After reading this book, it felt as if I just walked out of an immensely impacting sermon on Good Friday. The vivid re-creation of Christ’s death made me feel as if I was one of those spectators at the foot of the cross. I thoroughly enjoyed Ben-Hur because it left me with an indescribable image of Christ’s ministry, death, and the salvation he left for us to receive.
In the beginning of this wonderful book, Ben-Hur is taken from everything he knows on the false account of attempted murder. When Ben-Hur regains his freedom, he stops at nothing till he finds his beloved mother and sister and takes victory over the man who cost him everything, Messala. During his search, he comes along a few encounters with the Messiah before his ministry, little knowing that this man was going to the answer to all his problems. Ben-Hur wins a horse race giving him victory over Messala. Finally, after that goal was completed Ben-Hur sets out to find his family. After years of searching, he finds them; however they could not embrace each other because they were in the final stages of leprosy. Thankfully, Ben-Hur had heard of the Messiah and his mother and sister are healed. After Ben-Hur witnessed the death and resurrection of Christ he becomes a Christian and serves Christ for the rest of his life.
“Religion is merely the law which binds man to his Creator: in purity it has but these elements- God, the Soul, and their mutual Recognition; out of which, when put into practice, spring Worship, Love, and Reward.” Honestly this quote is probably one of my favorite quotes in Ben-Hur. Reading Ben-Hur was such a joy because Lew. Wallace had tons of wise and profound sayings in there. Along with that, Wallace practically painted a picture so vividly of every new scene that it was constantly impossible not to be lost in the story, Wallace’s writing contained lots of biblical history, which was interesting because it gave you an example of what was going on around the life of Christ. These are just some of the writing techniques that let me fully enjoy Ben-Hur.
In conclusion, Ben-Hur is an outstanding book, which I think everyone should read once in his or her lifetime. I fully enjoyed it and would gladly read it again.
Rachel’s Note: This winning review combines an interesting plot summary with a review of several writing techniques which Lew Wallace used to tell his classic story. Raynie points out — and praises — a technique that is not commonly used today: that of filling a book with “wise and profound sayings,” or using your novel to openly teach something. Great job, Raynie, and congratulations on your win!
