Review by mrsaltyauthor - Fatherland

mrsaltyauthor 's review for:

Fatherland by Robert Harris

5.0

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Fatherland is a novel that has been compared to George Orwell's 1984 and very clearly shows its structure and beats are influenced by the older book. That said having read both I honestly prefer Fatherland to 1984. While both have strong writing and imagery, for me Fatherland is a much stronger book for grounding itself in an Alternate History setting where the Third Reich won World War 2. The deliberate parallels to the Cold War and grounding both the seeds of revolution and the roots of authoritarianism in real history creates a depth in a single novel that can feel farfetched in a fictional government with only one novel to explore the world. I noticed that some readers were vexed by the fact that the novel feels like an Englishman writing Germans (which is exactly what the book is), I found the rapidly globalising context of the novel a compelling reason for the evolution of German culture even as the victors of the Second World War.

Content Warnings