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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was really dark and I did find reading some of the evidence towards the end difficult. I also struggled to get through the start of the book because i kept forgetting the German names and words. But from the middle point onwards, it was definitely more gripping.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
it is very interesting how the alternative future is NOT the main focus, just the background
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
Interesting but not so exciting. I found it somehow boring.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism
Written in 1992 but more timely than ever!
In April 1964, the discovery of the body of an old man floating in a lake on the outskirts of Berlin sends the police on a dark chase that seems to be tugging on the loose threads of a tightly wound and closely guarded 50 year old conspiracy. And, to be sure, the police procedural, mystery and thriller components of Robert Harris’ FATHERLAND are well written and certainly will be enjoyed by any lover of the thriller or mystery genres. But the reality is that FATHERLAND is an alternate history. The meat of the matter and the real message is Harris’ excruciating (and excoriating) vision of daily life in a 1960s Europe in which Hitler prevailed in WW II. This is a classic dystopian novel that earns Harris a place beside the likes of Orwell and Huxley.
FATHERLAND is compelling, frightening, evocative, thought-provoking and all too possible (if not probable). Contemporary American readers who have just lived through the presidency of a hateful man whose objective to convert the USA to a neo-Nazi Fourth Reich was all too clear should read FATHERLAND carefully and ponder their near-future evolution. Anyone living in a democracy needs to carefully consider the nature of the country that their beliefs, their conduct, their morality and their votes are going to produce. It isn’t likely that Harris intended to create a scene of almost tragic irony when he wrote of an American journalist taking a German police officer to task over the issue of human rights but, now, it is what it is:
“Human rights? … The millions of Jews who vanished in the war … sorry to mention them, but we have this bourgeois notion that human beings have rights.”
Trump, ICE and DHS obviously didn’t get the memo! FATHERLAND? Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
In April 1964, the discovery of the body of an old man floating in a lake on the outskirts of Berlin sends the police on a dark chase that seems to be tugging on the loose threads of a tightly wound and closely guarded 50 year old conspiracy. And, to be sure, the police procedural, mystery and thriller components of Robert Harris’ FATHERLAND are well written and certainly will be enjoyed by any lover of the thriller or mystery genres. But the reality is that FATHERLAND is an alternate history. The meat of the matter and the real message is Harris’ excruciating (and excoriating) vision of daily life in a 1960s Europe in which Hitler prevailed in WW II. This is a classic dystopian novel that earns Harris a place beside the likes of Orwell and Huxley.
FATHERLAND is compelling, frightening, evocative, thought-provoking and all too possible (if not probable). Contemporary American readers who have just lived through the presidency of a hateful man whose objective to convert the USA to a neo-Nazi Fourth Reich was all too clear should read FATHERLAND carefully and ponder their near-future evolution. Anyone living in a democracy needs to carefully consider the nature of the country that their beliefs, their conduct, their morality and their votes are going to produce. It isn’t likely that Harris intended to create a scene of almost tragic irony when he wrote of an American journalist taking a German police officer to task over the issue of human rights but, now, it is what it is:
“Human rights? … The millions of Jews who vanished in the war … sorry to mention them, but we have this bourgeois notion that human beings have rights.”
Trump, ICE and DHS obviously didn’t get the memo! FATHERLAND? Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss