Escape from Egypt

by Sonia Levitin

When Moses comes to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land, Jesse, a Hebrew slave, finds his life changed by his growing faith in God and his attraction to the half-Egyptian, half-Syrian Jennat. Reprint.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Christian Fiction, Historical, Jewish, High School

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

About the author

Sonia Levitin is a German-American novelist, artist, producer, Holocaust Survivor, and author of over forty novels and picture books for young adults and children, as well as several theatrical plays and published essays on various topics for adults. Her book Incident at Loring Groves won an Edgar Allan Poe Award.

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sonia Levitin has written excellent books. Journey to America is a classic of Jewish historical fiction. This is not excellent, by any means. It is religious, which I am not comfortable with. It is a poor story. You are never altogether sure how the two ended up with each other. There is too much back and forth with the Israelites and God. Even if all that part was based on the biblical story, there was just too much uncertainty. The big reveal over the family story just didn't seem that big by then. Perhaps because by then I was getting too bored to really care. The best part of the story was the description of the 10 plagues that hit the Egyptians and how Pharaoh changed his mind each time. The section with the safe crossing of the sea by the Israelites was really exciting. But when Levitin went to her created story, it was just too complicated, too dispiriting, too confusing. I think Levitin was trying to make the point that no matter what, you should believe in God. I didn't find it convincing. I also am not too sure, if that were her theme, why she had Jesse's father continue without punishment when he clearly was not a good person. She seemed to be saying a genuinely bad person who doesn't deny their impure motives is better than a pious person, who has doubts. I have no problem with books with gradations of truth. However, here the truth seems to contradict other truths in the same story. Even that can be acceptable if the author is trying to get the audience to realize that things are more shades of grey than black and white. I don't get the feeling that is what was happening here. The ultimate problem is that there were just a number of points where the story was just plain boring. I notice that neither local library system has this book any more, and I can see why. Not recommended. It gets two stars for the few sections mentioned above that were good.

[JoAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reread, though I don't remember much from the first go around. Picked it up again for Lent and it ended it up better than I remember.

Bare bones premise is "star-crossed teenaged love in the time of Moses". There's a lot of recognizable moments; the plagues, fleeing Egypt, parting the red sea, and all the trouble in the desert. Behind the love drama is the struggle to believe, to have faith, and how to follow. There are quite a few heavy moments, and interesting to see the views from the ground, from all the followers.

I like how the main point of view switches from the main Israelite boy and his half-Egyptian girl. Both have their own journeys to make, and it's rewarding to see it play out.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I randomly picked this up from my library's children's fiction section wondering if it would be good historical fiction to read to my 10-year old. It definitely leans more toward a young adult book, as there is quite a bit of adult content, nothing offensive or inappropriate and much of it told in a way that would go over kids' heads, but I would only recommend for high school readers or very mature middle schoolers. It was a good retelling of the Exodus story and beyond. The author made it a lot more personal than just reading it in the Old Testament and it kept my interest to see what would happen with the various characters.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This is a beautiful retelling of the biblical story of Moses and the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. Whatch events happen from the perspective of two young adults who did not cause the change but were certaintly affected by it. This book is romantic, dramtic, and emotional. It is well-written. The reader is bound to fall in love with both characters."

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I had a nickel for every Exodus retelling I've read about a male Hebrew slave in a romance with an Egyptian slave girl who follows him on the Exodus, which was kind of an over-stuffed mess and includes an irrelevant subplot of the main character learning that their father isn't their biological father I would have two nickels.

Anyway, this isn't the worst book that I've ever read, but it actually might be one of the worst written. There are books that I hate more (like this third Exodus retelling, which is ALSO about a Hebrew slave falling in love with an Egyptian but is otherwise dissimilar), but I can look at those and think that yeah, this terrible story is probably what the author was going for. In contrast, this feels like a first draft. I'm honestly baffled that the writer, editor, etc. all looked at this and thought that it was ready to publish. I'm really tempted to give it one star, but there are bits that really shine, telling me that this could have been good if more effort had been put in.

First off, this story is a romance. A very horny romance. I'm not saying that a religiously-themed book has to be devoid of sex, but...c'mon guys, take a cold shower. Actually, it's a problem because I don't feel like Jesse and Jennet have much reason to like each other besides each finding the other hot. I kept hoping that Levitin would surprise me and have them not get together, because they really don't seem compatible. Practically every interaction ends with a fight and Jennet claiming that she now hates Jesse and will never speak to him again, only for them to obsess about each other every moment that they're apart. Even when something more interesting was happening, like the aftermath of the Sinai revelation, it always has to circle back to "what does this mean for the Jesse/Jennet ship?"

Levitin does try to make the romance about more than physical attraction. The problem there is, practically every character is horribly inconsistent. Jesse is the worst with this—is he cautious or impulsive? Sullen or mischievous? Devout or struggling with his faith? The answer is "yes" to all of these questions. Some (note: not all) of the side characters are better, but it feels like Jesse's mom Devorah is the only one with a logical character arc. Not a complete one, but still.

It's particularly funny/annoying because there are several times when a character will flip opinion or personality, and the story itself will lampshade it. So Levitin noticed that this was a problem, but just...didn't bother to fix it.

We also have a love triangle, since Jesse is betrothed to his cousin Talia. The "cousin" aspect aside, I feel like she's better for Jesse than Jennet. But the catty fighting over him gets old quickly, especially since either of them could do better.

There's a side romance between Jesse's cousin/best friend Avi and Jennet's friend Shepset. This is one of many parts where I really wonder what Levitin was even going for. It's framed as if Avi is "in love" with her, and the fact that he doesn't mind the scars on her face is supposed to indicate that it's not skin-deep...but then, the main draw for him seems to be that the rest of her is hot, and he chooses to just ignore the fact that Shepset's defining character traits are "sexually promiscuous pagan." I think maybe this was supposed to be the bittersweet romance where Levitin acknowledges the couple's incompatibility, but if so, it feels unfinished—at the end of the book, Shepset has stayed with the Moabites while pregnant with Avi's child, and Avi does not comment on this fact. I think Levitin forgot that he should.

This ties into the whole problem I have with the third act, where Jennet, Avi and Shepset run away from the Israelites. Jesse, who has been obsessed with Jennet this whole book, doesn't even react to it, and thinks about her, like, once before she comes back into the story. Instead, the next several chapters are all about his daddy issues. It's like Levitin just got tired of the story she'd been writing...which, to be fair, so was I...so she just threw it out to do something else. And the thing is, I actually think this Jennet-less portion had some stuff that could have been really good, if it had been set up better instead of being such an abrupt pivot.

Throughout the book until this part, Jesse has had an uncle named Rimon, who is Avi's father and has uniquely bad characterization. His core trait is being really devout, but Levitin can't seem to decide if he should be a wise mentor or a crazed fundamentalist. So...she does both! Not even that he switches around like the other characters, he's just both at the same time. At one point he beats Avi almost to death, but it's weirdly characterized like he's the victim here, because after all, he did it to stop Avi from worshiping the Golden Calf! (Avi was not, in fact, about to worship the Golden Calf. I honestly don't know if this was supposed to indicate Rimon misunderstanding the situation, or if Levitin just forgot what she wrote earlier.) I feel like Rimon could have been a really nuanced, tragic character if he was written better, but he's not, so here we are.

Anyway, all of a sudden, Levitin decides that Jesse and Rimon are super close. He loves Rimon like a father, despite the fact that this hasn't been the case for the first 200ish pages of the book. Again, it feels like this could have worked, because Jesse's own father is an abusive asshole like Rimon to his own son, but it falls flat because it comes out of nowhere and lasts for one chapter. Rimon's death is explicably said to be the worst thing that ever happens to Jesse, including the death of his mother, the death of his baby sister (which he feels personally responsible for), and the death of a different uncle.

Then we get a bit about Jesse and his own awful father, which entails moral dilemmas that—say it with me—could have been interesting if they were set up better. It also fails because Nathan has always been loathsome, so the big reveal that he's done loathsome things doesn't really add much. This would have worked better if Jesse and Nathan had been closer, if he had (consistently) bought into Nathan's ideas about keeping your head down and sucking up to those in charge, only to learn, in this scene, what exactly that entailed. Also, him forgiving Nathan at the end feels underdeveloped, since we don't see the aftermath, and comes off like another case of waving away parental abuse.

Aside from all of these problems, the writing style itself is just shoddy. Characters state their thoughts with no real subtlety, we get repetitive scenes, and there's a particular problem where, instead of showing us things as they happen, we just get them described after the fact. That's actually how the book opens: Jesse and Jennet already know each other at this point, are already "in love," and we just see Jesse walking home while thinking about something that happened between them that day. Why not start the story an hour earlier, so we see it as it happens? At another point, someone tries to murder Jennet, but she's telling this story to Shepset after she gets away, so there's no tension about whether she's going to live or what she'll do after she escapes. This happens repeatedly, even with major plot points.

And more to the point? This book makes the Exodus sound miserable. Does Levitin realize that the Hebrews are supposed to be wrong every time they complain about being better off in Egypt? I think the "God works in mysterious ways" message at the end could work, but it doesn't make up for how depressing the rest of this story is.

There are some good parts, mostly when it focuses on the religious angle with as little of the OC drama as possible. I liked this take on the Sinai revelation, showing how that would affect a person and how it leads into the Golden Calf incident later. I liked that Jennet seemed totally "converted" afterwards, but actually needed more time to completely throw off a pagan outlook. There were little bits of potential, but not enough to redeem the book overall.

[GenreGroup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jesse is a Hebrew slave, and Jennat is half Egyptian. They are from different worlds, and their paths should not have crossed, but they did, and now they are both following Moses to Canaan, the Promised Land for the Isrealites. Jesse and Jennat both learn a lot about who they are, where they come from, and their individual faiths and beliefs on this Exodus to the Promised Land, and these lessons will always stay with them.

This book was interesting for me because it reminded me of my Catholic school when I was in elementary and middle school. The whole story of Moses leading his people to their Promised Land was interesting to me, but it was even more interesting reading about it from the perspective of someone who might actually have been there (even though it is not told in the first person point of view). I was able to imagine how I might have felt if I were in their situation.

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

[MJGDS Library]

Reviewed by Zoe M.

"Escape from Egypt" is a very interesting book about when the Jews are escaping from Egypt. There are two main characters. The first main character is Jesse. Jesse is a Hebrew slave and is an apprentice for an ornament maker. The other main character is Jennat. Jennat is a high ranking maid and is also an apprentice for an ornament maker. Jesse loves Jennat although Jennat despises him. One day, while they are in the desert, Jennat comes to realize that she loves Jesse. Then, Jesse's mother and sister die so he is all alone wirh his father who doesn't love him. Jesse learns a horrible secret about his father. Then, Jesse and his cousin have to go save the Jews from a horrible massacre.

I would recommend this book to a friend.

[emma grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book on an interlibrary loan, knowing I wanted to read it for school. The spine said "Children's" on it, which I assume means it is from the childrens section. This is most definitely a young adult book, bordering on adult. There was nothing bad, persay; but it did focus the topic of lust quite a bit, so I would recommend for more mature readers.
I had never read any historical fiction realating to this time period before, so that was quite interesting...

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book as a child (upper elementary) and remember loving it. I don't remember anything about the book except one scene where the girl hides a bunch of idols in her dress. I am curious to reread it and see what I think about it now.

My 5-star rating is based on my childhood recollection of loving this book. I was very into all things Egypt at the time.

[713Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

From this book I've learned that escaping from egypt in moses's care and traveling through the desert for fourty years feels like you've been reading it for fourty years. Or more. I actually lied. It should be on my currently reading shelf because I couldn't finish it.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember checking this out at my middle school library when I was younger and loving it. I found the setting of the Exodus Bible account incorporated with the Hebrew/Egyptian love story to be a great one... Definitely going to add this to my home library and re-read.

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thouth that this was a really good book. I really enjoyed it because it was about the Exodus, which as of right now is my favorite book in the old testiment of the bible. I also enjoyed it becasue it had told both sides of the story. It talked about the Egyptians and the Jews.

[Sarah Motley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I thought at first was going to be a cute Young Adult, historical fiction love story ended up being a very insightful book about man's motivations and our relationship with God.

[Stephanie Ricker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grabbed this audiobook version because I remembered reading this book as a kid and wanted to see how it held up. I recalled that during my first read, I had enjoyed the story and was intrigued because I hadn't encountered biblical historical fiction before.

Kinda wincing at kid-me's taste, now. Without the appeal of novelty (since I've read a LOT more historical fiction since then!), there's not much to recommend. The characters are, without exception, completely unlikeable. The romance, such as it is, has nothing to do with love and everything to do with hormones, and both characters waffle back and forth so often and treat each other so terribly that I was honestly surprised they ended up together. What should have been the climax of the novel is told in brief, dry fashion related many years after the fact so that it's entirely robbed of any impact.

I also have mixed feelings about the portrayal of belief in God. All of the events and miracles of the Exodus are described fairly closely to the biblical account, but are framed such that none of the Israelites seem to actually believe in or truly worship God; they grudgingly obey occasionally because they don't want to get zapped, but that's it, even though they witness incredible things. On the one hand, I can see the realism behind this; I think most of us would balk at some of the things God asked of the Israelites if we didn't have the context of history to make plain what the "right" answer is and would try to rationalize. On the other hand, the constant sullenness got to be straight-up depressing, and God comes off as a jerk. The book (rather hastily) tries to redeem the impression it conveyed during the whole book towards the very end, but it felt somewhat rushed and forced when nothing led up to it until that point.

[Lilian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found an old copy of this when I was younger, and the storyline stuck with me so I finally dug up another copy. This woman is a talented writer. I will say that some of the themes are way too mature for the age group the book is marketed toward. But the quality of storytelling itself deserves accolades. It's hard to pull off a time period this far back and still make everything feel so vivid.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great narrative about the Israelites exodus from Egypt-- read it if you want to understand the Bible book of Exodus in a deeper way!

[Amanda Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it to the kids, I had read this in grade school, still a great book. We loved it. Moses, God, faith.

[Sarah]

started off promising but soon fumbled

[Waylon Gipson · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jesse, an Israelite slave, and Jennat, a half-Egyptian, half-Syrian slave girl work together in Memnet's household. They are attracted to each other, though Jesse is promised to Talia. Soon, both of them are embroiled in the Israelite's cries for freedom through Moses, the subsequent exodus from Egypt and their wanderings in the wilderness. Though Jennat believes in the Egyptian gods, she leaves Egypt with the Israelites and comes to believe in God. Jesse and his family struggle to understand God's commands and His purpose and ultimately their faith.

Love this book. The love story was well written without being too dramatic, but what I felt was really well written was the internal struggle of Jesse with his feelings toward Jennet and Talia and his confusion regarding God, Moses and his faith. He doesn't follow blindly, but questions and considers and finally comes to his own understanding. Also, some interesting writing about the Egyptian culture and the treatment of and attitude toward their slaves.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well i Love it! read it three times.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good book. Historical fiction with some romance. Kind of scary in some parts--if you read it, you'll know what I mean.

[Cws]

JAR5-Lev

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

great Christian novel--good example, neat character growth, about Exodus

[Laurie D'ghent · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really intrigued by the plotline, but got sick of how racy it was. Yes, concubines were real. No, I don't want to read about a nasty old guy and a 15-year-old girl.

[707Maeve W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. Social Studies Read Aloud

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm gonna have to read this again.. It was a real long time ago...

[Belle Meade School]

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