Set in Berlin, 1964, on the eve of Adolf Htler's 75th birthday, who had been in power for thirty-one years and had brought the Second World War to a winning end. A summit is arranged for the festivities between the Fuhrer and U.S. President Kennedy. The novel doesn't offer us a very detailed "alternative history" of the Second World War, which perhaps would have been the easy way out for a lesser writer. Instead, Harris smartly teases us with little glimpses at how Germany could have won the war while still losing its collective soul.
The plot revolves around Xavier March, a former U-boat skipper who has joined the Berlin Kriminalpolizei, which has been under SS control since the mid-1930s. On a rainy April morning, March has been called to investigate what seems to be a routine incident: a corpse has been found in the Havel River near the area where high Nazi party officials have their mansions. This corpse's identity is none other than Doctor Josef Buhler, one of the earliest Nazi party members and former state secretary in the General Government, the part of Poland directly annexed by the Third Reich during the war. Before long, March (who is not a Nazi party member, just a dogged investigator) will follow Buhler's seemingly routine death down a dark and winding path that will lead him to Germany's darkest and best kept secret of all.
For a debute novel the story wasn't too bad, and certainly was a page turner. But I have a problem with it.
Fatherland read more like a history thesis, and the history buff in me was overjoyed at the detail and thought that had been put into it. However, the writer in me was disappointed. Yes, March was clearly the main character but I felt cheated. There was a lot of telling throughout the story, and not enough showing. The characters were cardboard cutouts. It lacked detail, which was what made it a downer for me.
How about you, have you ever read a story by an author you idolised and then be disappointed with it?
The plot revolves around Xavier March, a former U-boat skipper who has joined the Berlin Kriminalpolizei, which has been under SS control since the mid-1930s. On a rainy April morning, March has been called to investigate what seems to be a routine incident: a corpse has been found in the Havel River near the area where high Nazi party officials have their mansions. This corpse's identity is none other than Doctor Josef Buhler, one of the earliest Nazi party members and former state secretary in the General Government, the part of Poland directly annexed by the Third Reich during the war. Before long, March (who is not a Nazi party member, just a dogged investigator) will follow Buhler's seemingly routine death down a dark and winding path that will lead him to Germany's darkest and best kept secret of all.
For a debute novel the story wasn't too bad, and certainly was a page turner. But I have a problem with it.
How about you, have you ever read a story by an author you idolised and then be disappointed with it?
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