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richardwells 's review for:
HHhH
by Laurent Binet
WOW!
This is an absolutely riveting tale of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a.k.a., Man of Steel; a.k.a., The Blond Beast; a.k.a., Hitler's Hangman. Heydrich was a shining star in the power echelons of the Third Reich, lunch with Der Fuhrer, museum visits with Goring, etc, etc. After having organized the SS (enough to consign him to the lowest depths of Tartarus,) and provided the blueprint for the final solution, he was promoted and sent to Prague to Nazify Czechoslovakia. He did a great job of it, proud of his carrot and stick approach, and was about to be transferred to Paris (a plum assignment,) where he would work his magic on the French (absurd on its face, but that's the way the Nazi's rolled.) He never made it. On orders from the Czech provisional government in London, three assassins were parachuted into Czechoslovakia, and against all odds completed their mission. Not without huge repercussions, however. Hitler was more than incensed, insanely angry, would be an understatement, and had entire villages (Lidice for one) razed and all it's inhabitants, including the animals shot down and plowed under. The assassins held out as best hey could, but met their ends after an epic battle of Resistance v. SS in Prague's cathedral. Seven partisans held off 800 stormtroopers for days. As usual with reality based high espionage, just about everything that could go wrong went wrong, but not the end result of one dead Heydrich.
I believe this work is called a "metafiction." I think it's my first real encounter (except for mid-career Mailer, who might have given birth to the form,) and it swept me away. In metafiction (if that's what this is,) the writer is the narrator, who is almost a character with an omniscient view, and is just short of able to inject himself into the story. I suppose in a more meta world he could also change the course of the story, but as this is a history, Mr. Binet sticks to the facts, though not without many humorous, philosophical, and authorial asides. The whole book is pretty much like listening to a good storyteller weave a great story. He sucks you in, pops you out with an aside while you buy another round, and then sucks you right back in. Fascinating. Amusing. And mind-blowing.
If I were a rich man (da da da da, etc.,) I'd be bidding for the rights to this one. In the right hands, this great book could be a helluva movie.
This is an absolutely riveting tale of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a.k.a., Man of Steel; a.k.a., The Blond Beast; a.k.a., Hitler's Hangman. Heydrich was a shining star in the power echelons of the Third Reich, lunch with Der Fuhrer, museum visits with Goring, etc, etc. After having organized the SS (enough to consign him to the lowest depths of Tartarus,) and provided the blueprint for the final solution, he was promoted and sent to Prague to Nazify Czechoslovakia. He did a great job of it, proud of his carrot and stick approach, and was about to be transferred to Paris (a plum assignment,) where he would work his magic on the French (absurd on its face, but that's the way the Nazi's rolled.) He never made it. On orders from the Czech provisional government in London, three assassins were parachuted into Czechoslovakia, and against all odds completed their mission. Not without huge repercussions, however. Hitler was more than incensed, insanely angry, would be an understatement, and had entire villages (Lidice for one) razed and all it's inhabitants, including the animals shot down and plowed under. The assassins held out as best hey could, but met their ends after an epic battle of Resistance v. SS in Prague's cathedral. Seven partisans held off 800 stormtroopers for days. As usual with reality based high espionage, just about everything that could go wrong went wrong, but not the end result of one dead Heydrich.
I believe this work is called a "metafiction." I think it's my first real encounter (except for mid-career Mailer, who might have given birth to the form,) and it swept me away. In metafiction (if that's what this is,) the writer is the narrator, who is almost a character with an omniscient view, and is just short of able to inject himself into the story. I suppose in a more meta world he could also change the course of the story, but as this is a history, Mr. Binet sticks to the facts, though not without many humorous, philosophical, and authorial asides. The whole book is pretty much like listening to a good storyteller weave a great story. He sucks you in, pops you out with an aside while you buy another round, and then sucks you right back in. Fascinating. Amusing. And mind-blowing.
If I were a rich man (da da da da, etc.,) I'd be bidding for the rights to this one. In the right hands, this great book could be a helluva movie.