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Title: Fatherland by Robert Harris ISBN: 0-06-100662-9 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 15 May, 1993 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.3 (113 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Horror of the will!
Comment: In 1964, after achieving domination over all but the United States, excluding parts of eastern europe that remain obstinate, the Thousand-Year Reich prepares to celebrate Der Fuhrer's 75th birthday. But it's business as usual for SS Detective Xavier March, as Deighton would say. In the short-hand traditional for publishers, March investigates a suspicious death seemingly unconnected with the fact that in 1964, Deutch Uber Alles is the rule. But March, who once drove U-Boats for the Kriegsmarine, is a hunter by habit, and refuses subtle (and not so) hints to dismiss any suspicions. While a patriot, March's hunter's instinct foster suspicions that remain, much as he had been in the war, slighlty submerged - suspicions over the fate of Germany's Jews, the seeming perpetual resistance to German rule in the occupied and distant East and the wealth of data on human morbidity provided by experimentation on political prisoners in concentration camps. Estranged from his wife and son, March is in no mood to file things away. With the help of a visiting journalist (a beautiful and plucky American, ofcourse), March's investigation takes him to darkened archives and the offices of high ranking Nazis very much alive in a fully drawn and frighfully convicing world.
"Fatherland" excels not only because of what it does, but what it doesn't. The author resists the temptation to create the post-war Nazi hegemony by detailing its conquests with anything more than subtle clues (V-3 missiles launched at NY keep America out of the war; U-Boats are now nuclear powered, hinting at German nuclear achievements parralleing America's; the complicity of non-concquered governments like those of President Joseph Kennedy, happy to lay blame for genocide firmly on the wartime Soviet regime). The biggest twist is that while established history remains a mystery, the mystery on March's agenda quickly becomes no mystery at all: the corpse (ironically identified as a founding father when his sole criminal record arises from a 1922 arrest in a beer hall in Munich) is found outside a converted schoolhouse on the Wansee. When the dead man's connection to that location stems from a meeting there of high-ranking nazi's in early 1942, historically adept readers will realize that an even more monumental crime - the crime of the century - is involved. March remains appropriately dim, creating one of the finest examples of deductive police work through investigation - Harris refuses to allow the slightest intrusion of our history into his hero's thinking. Instead, March tracks down the other famed Nazis who met suspicious ends and follows a trail that leads him to a Swiss bank. I'm not sure whether current attention to war-time mangement of Swiss banks was around when "Fatherland" debuted, in either case, Harris' treatment seems ironic, if not prescient - the accounts weren't left behind by jews and other Nazi victims, but by disloyal Germans possessed by the insane fear that (huh! ) Germany might lose the war.
Harris also avoids the urge to recreate the dark gods of the Reich and name drop (Goering, Goebbels, Himmler and most of the Discovery Channel's usual suspects are long gone.) Albert Speer doesn't appear, but the author's drawing of undivided Berlin - monumental and insecure - gives the architect more charachter than a few lines of dumb dialog. Heydrich appears, but only to add more mystery - it's never clear if his aid to March masks fear of joining the other mysteriously dead Nazis, or a subtle warning to drop the case. (Does anybody really want to get a career boost from a former SS Intelligence Chief?)
Best of all are the people who populate the vibrant Thousand-year Reich. No revisionist or apologist, Harris nevertheless seems to object to any simplified answer holding all war-times Germans culpable for the holocaust - his Germans seem not slightly cowed by fear of their regime yet honestly ignorant of their victims' fate. While a U-Boat ace in 1943, March unknowingly kept warm against the bitter North Atlantic in socks sewn with hair from dead Jews. In the 1990's, we're kept warm with our own complacency on history, and its immutability. Harris is telling us otherwise - wake up!
Rating: 4
Summary: Sophisticated thriller set in a post-war Nazi Europe
Comment: In 1964, winning World War II and achieving domination over all but the United States, the Nazi's Thousand-Year Reich prepares to celebrate Der Fuhrer's 75th birthday. But it's business as usual for SS Detective Xavier March, a U-Boat vet turned police detective. With the holiday looming, March investigates a suspicious death seemingly unconnected with the alternate history of 1964 in which, Deutchland Uber Alles. But March's experiences prowling the North Atlantic have molded him into a natural hunter, and he refuses subtle (and not so) hints to leave the case alone. While a patriot in SS Black, March's instinct's foster suspicions that all was never right in the Reich - over the seeming perpetual resistance to German rule in the occupied and distant East, how knowledgeable German doctors are on the science of how people dies, and mostly (though also most quietly) on the subject of those missing Jews. Estranged from his wife and son, March is in no mood to file things away. With the help of a visiting journalist (a beautiful and plucky American, of course), March's investigation takes him to darkened archives and the offices of high ranking Nazis very much alive in a fully drawn and frightfully convincing world.
"Fatherland" excels not only because of what it does, but what it doesn't. The author resists the temptation to spell out exactly how the Nazis came to win the war, preferring instead to drop tantalizing hints (The Nazis responded to Hiroshima by launching V-3 at NY - thus keeping America out of the war; U-Boats are now nuclear powered, hinting that Dr. Heisenberg finally got it right; remaining nations outside of the Reich's control are happy to lay blame for genocide firmly on the wartime Soviet regime - renowned as it is for its brutality). The biggest twist is that while established history remains a mystery, the mystery on March's agenda quickly becomes no mystery at all - to us: the corpse (ironically identified as a "founding father" when his sole criminal record reveals an arrest in 1922 in a Munich beer hall) is found outside a converted schoolhouse on the Wansee. When the dead man's connection to that location is linked to a meeting there of high-ranking Nazis in early 1942, historically adept readers will realize that March is on the verge of discovering the Reich's guilt for a far larger crime - the crime of the century. March remains appropriately dim, creating one of the finest examples of deductive police work through investigation - Harris refuses to allow the slightest intrusion of our history into his hero's thinking. Instead, March tracks down the other famed Nazis who met suspicious ends and follows a trail that leads him to a Swiss bank. I'm not sure whether the controversy over Swiss banks was as well known when "Fatherland" debuted, in either case, Harris' treatment seems ironic, if not prescient: the Swiss accounts in Harriss's book weren't left behind by the Nazis' victims, but by disloyal Germans possessed by the insane fear that (huh!) Germany might lose the war.
Harris also avoids the urge to recreate the dark gods of the Reich simply by dropping names (Goering, Goebbels, Himmler and most of the Discovery Channel's usual suspects are long gone.) Albert Speer doesn't appear, but the author's drawing of undivided Berlin - monumental and insecure - gives the architect more character than a few lines of dumb dialog. Heydrich (the guy killed by Partisans) appears, but only to add more mystery - March is never sure if Heydrich is actually helping him out of fear of joining the other mysteriously dead Nazis, or marking him for death.
Best of all are the people who populate the vibrant Thousand-year Reich. No revisionist or apologist, Harris nevertheless avoids simple villainy for the inhabitants of the Reich of 1964 - his Germans seem not slightly cowed by fear of their regime yet honestly ignorant of their victims' fate. While a U-Boat ace in 1943, March wore sock not knowing that they were sewn with hair from dead Jews. In the 1990's, we're kept warm with our own complacency on history, and a sense of its immutability (we've watched too many documentaries and war movies to even consider the possibility of Nazi victory). Harris tells us otherwise!
Rating: 5
Summary: Fantastic novel with a delicious flavor of history
Comment: I loved this book! It was recommend to our class by a professor, and I went out to check it out. Not only is it a fascinating study of Nazism and the fun "what ifs" of history, but it's a riveting mystery full of excellent characterization, suspense, and rich details of what life in Germany (and around the world) might have been like had the Nazis won WWII. The book tantalizes you with details, making you want more. We have the unique perspective of knowing what actually happened, but the way Harris writes still makes us read faster and faster to get to the wonderful end, so that we can satisify our curiosity at last.
March is a brilliant character, full of personality, and the perfect contrary SS-officer. The book seems so realistic that's it's obvious Harris did his homework, and you feel as if you are really living in that time. It's scary in that the book makes you think that this is how life could have been--how stupid and naiive people could have become--had the Allies lost.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in German history, WWII, the Holocaust, or just wants a good detective story...the novel is written well-enough that even someone who knows very little about history can get a lot out of it.
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Title: Enigma by Robert Harris ISBN: 0804115486 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Archangel by Robert Harris ISBN: 0515127485 Publisher: Jove Pubns Pub. Date: February, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Pompeii: A Novel by Robert Harris ISBN: 0679428895 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 18 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Sands of Sakkara by Glenn Meade ISBN: 0312971087 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Snow Wolf by Glenn Meade ISBN: 0312962118 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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