I am preparing for a little trip away next week. I have all the essentials sorted out already. My hotel is booked. I know what I want to go and do and see (Tate Liverpool to see Magritte exhibition, Blundell Sands to see Gormley's Statues and do some early Xmas shopping). And, last but not least, I have found some addresses for second hand book shops that I can go and visit! I have not booked my train ticket yet but that is on the cards for later on tonight... or tomorrow evening. A girl addicted to books has to have priorities!
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Fatherland - Robert Harris
I am not sure I would go as far as to call it "stunning" as apparently The Times did at one point in history but this one definitely is a good read! The book is blessed with a good mix. Let me explain.
The story is set in an alternative reality where Germany has won the Second World War. Peace with England and America has been achieved and Germany rules most of Europe with an Iron fist. Well apart from the bit that borders on Russia. There are some skirmishes going on there and things might be worse than the people of the Proud Germany Nation are told but we don't like to talk about that.. ehm, I mean the Fuhrer does not like people talking about it... so we don't.
The world that Harris is based partly in fact. it is based on his interpretation of what the world might have been like if the Germans had won he war. He has set it not too far away from the victory as the story plays out in 1964 so it does not feel too modern. It feels like I would expect a totalitarian state to feel in 1964. The society we find is sober and controlled. There is to be a large government influence in people's lives and the place feels controlled, organised and (somehow fittingly) a bit dreary.
The story starts several days before the Fuhrer's Birthday and starts with a corpse. From then on the plot leads you up one garden path and down the other before it reveals what it is actually really about. At first we are led to believe it is about murder, then it seems it might be art fraud and in the end it turns out to be about the Final Solution that Hitler had planned for the Jewish population of Europe.. probably the world if he would have had his way. As the story is presented each of these options come along and they all seem equally plausible. I even thought when it went towards the Final Solution Plot that perhaps that was another red herring and it was all about making money of art illegally obtained during the War. It seemed a more comfortable thought to have. The body at the start of the book is not the only one we see. there are several ones and apparently the killing has been going on for a long time. These men are killed for what they know and what they might tell. The story of the Final Solution is based on fact but Harris has brought his own artistic interpretation in to develop it more and make it into a good book plot. It works for me. The historic facts give the story a good solid basis and the added poetic license used by Harris sits well within that.
The characters are a bit predictable. March is the dogged detective. He may seem casual and not very imposing but he never shows you all his cards and he notices more than you think. March is divorced and his son is more fond of his new uncle who tows the party line than his own father. There is the female foreign journalist who becomes March's lover. She is a free spirit who shows March what the free world is like. She is also a pain in the backside for March and seems to only be after a good story. However, she becomes involved in the story and ants to help March get it out to the world. Naturally, becoming personally involved with March is essential for that. Globus is a brute. He is described as one and behaves like one. He is the enforcer. Most of the other police officials we meet are brutal, dedicated to the Party and would never think of stepping out of line. Only Arthur Nebe has a bit of character. He is one of those guys that has managed to stay alive and in a position of power for years. He seems to be made of Teflon as not hing bad has ever stuck to him. Not a bad way to be in a totalitarian society. March has a partner he works with (Jaeger( and he is the dumber half of the investigative team.. well that is what we are made to believe at the start. Mr Jaeger turns out to like his toast and knows which side the butter goes. That is really the only surprise in the characters.
What saves March as a character is the fact the he seems to be a bit of a rebel and he seems to still have the power of individual thought in a totalitarian society. He does not join the right groups, does not attend the right parties, he certainly does not bow down to the right party officials. He does not live the right kind of life. You feel that deep down he has doubts about the country he lives in, about how they won the war and about what his country has become. He is not sure he likes the way it treats its people. There is doubt in him about the State in general and about the state of affairs his life is in. He feels that he is not being told the truth and that he deserves to know.This is what drives him to find out what is going on with the murders, it is what leads him to discover the truth and it ultimately leads him to his death. The moment he is caught he knows he will be interrogated. He knows that most likely he will die and he seems okay with this. He goes through all of it so he can keep the prying eyes of the investigators turned onto him and away from his journalist lover. He needs to give her enough time to get to the border and out of Germany with the incriminating papers that will expose the German government and its plans for the Jewish People. She is his only hope to ensure the rest of the world learns the truth about the German plans. We never know if she makes it. Like March I hope at she did.
So, although the characters are not always that great the story is good and it moves along at a nice pace. The fact that the nation is preparing for Hitler's birthday adds an extra pressure to the investigative work and keeps the story moving along. March is by far the best character of the bunch and makes up for the mainly stereotypical other characters. He is a hero you can identify with and you want the best for him. You kind of know that that will not happen but there is at least the glimmer of hope that the story got out and his death will not have been in vain.
Title: Fatherland
Author: Robert Harris
386 pages
Arrow
ISBN NR 0-09-926381-5
Books to be read: 73
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