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A review by travistn
The Ventriloquists by E.R. Ramzipoor
2.0
I feel like it is hard to learn how to write from "Great books." They are hard to breakdown, to deconstruct, to take apart and see why they worked in the way that they did. Many great works end up working like a rolex watch, a smooth movement of time without the engineering being noticable.
On the flipside terrible books are not much help either. They are obvious in their flaws. Mary Sue style protagonists, ridiculous plot points, etc. combine to show what happens when many decisions are wrong.
This book is in the middle. It has some good points, but makes some mistakes and I found myself more interested in how it was created than what the plot was doing.
There is a frame story element to this that I feel works as a detriment to the novel. It removes a layer of suspense from a main character. It is also confusing because there are times when the narrator of the story states they do not know what happened when they were not in the room, yet other times we got whole chapters and interior thoughts of characters whom the narrator was not around. It was very confusing.
Very early on in this book, I was reminded of the Aaron Sorkin TV show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." That show began much like this book with other characters telling us how funny and talented the main character was. It did not work for the show, and I don't think it really worked here. "Show don't tell" is a classic narrative axiom for a reason.
Overall this book felt more like a polished first draft that needed some hard questions from an editor.
*******Spoilers below*******
One of the main problems with this book is the lengths it has to go with the Nazis. The subplot of them entrapping members of the residence to create their own fake resistance newspaper is outlandish and only serves to create an extraneous countdown because the resistance members next decide the fake paper should be published in 2 weeks to mark Armistice Day in November.
The books' Nazi blackmail actually does a disservice to the real people who were involved because it takes their choice out of their hands. They feel like they are going to be arrested and killed anyway after working for the Nazis so they are "free" to create the spoof and go out on their own terms.
The reality is that these were resistance members that CHOSE to write this knowing that puts a target on them and that they would be disappeared for their actions. That was much heroic and idealistic than being "given" the 2 options (create a fake paper for the Nazis, a spoof for the public)
At another point the Nazis raid the resistance HQ, then just let our heroes continue. I thought that could have been an interesting angle. The writers could have been willing to sacrifice themselves for "a joke" but what about others? Was it worth it for them? The book does not know how to deal with that question so the other people taken in the raid are just forgotten about by both the author and the heroes.
In general it seems that the Nazis in this book make dumb/ridiculous/illogical decisions and that takes away from their threat/power. They were horrible people, they were monsters they killed millions. (I don't think they would let a prisoner decide which other prisoners could leave with him.)
There are plenty of roadblocks in secretly printing 50,000 copies of a fake newspaper and get it out under the occupier's nose. Simple logistical questions like where to get the ink, paper, presses and money to pull off the trick pile up throughout the rising action. The book however seems to find solutions that rival more Ocean's 11 than reality. At one point the Nazis decide to AUCTION off a key piece of intelligence, the list of places that sell their propagandist newspaper!
HUH??!?!?!?
I am willing to bet the real way the Belgium resistance got that information would make a good story, but instead we get the auction and a later contrived scene at a brothel for the heroes to acquire that piece of the puzzle.
At one point, the book would have us believe our intrepid band of heroes are able to concoct a disagreement between Churchill, Roosevelt, and the RAF. How did they do it from central Belgium? If the Nazis could access the high-level communications of the Allies why was that not being used for their own gain?
How do that Allies win the war if a telex machine in a small Belgium town can get documents on Churchill's desk?
Again a simpler explanation would fix these problems.
Realistically, the Belgium resistance did have contacts with the RAF, and they did raid the day after, possibly in connection with the publishing. However, the book's fantastical explanation takes away agency from the real people who did this. Someone risked their life to contact the RAF and tell them to attack when they did. That person was heroic.
By the end of the book, I saw that there was a really good story here. There were heroes and the idea of giving up your life to create a spoof mocking an authoritarian regime is a compelling story. However, this version of the story we never really see the characters grapple with it.
The ending is a letdown.
If the central question of the novel is "Would you die to make fun of your oppressors?" then having several of the made up characters escape deus ex machina style undermines that choice. In real life around 30,000 Belgian resistance members were captured by the Nazis and more than half died in camps or were executed.
I realize that this review is coming off more negatively that even I had anticipated. The style is good the dialogue is believable and there is a sprout of a really good story/book here, it just needs pruning.
A final quibble, the version of the book I read had no picture, or scan of the real paper. I went online to read the real thing. I was disappointed that the few snippets in the book were the ones from wikipedia. Why not give readers a full translated version as an appendix?
On the flipside terrible books are not much help either. They are obvious in their flaws. Mary Sue style protagonists, ridiculous plot points, etc. combine to show what happens when many decisions are wrong.
This book is in the middle. It has some good points, but makes some mistakes and I found myself more interested in how it was created than what the plot was doing.
There is a frame story element to this that I feel works as a detriment to the novel. It removes a layer of suspense from a main character. It is also confusing because there are times when the narrator of the story states they do not know what happened when they were not in the room, yet other times we got whole chapters and interior thoughts of characters whom the narrator was not around. It was very confusing.
Very early on in this book, I was reminded of the Aaron Sorkin TV show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." That show began much like this book with other characters telling us how funny and talented the main character was. It did not work for the show, and I don't think it really worked here. "Show don't tell" is a classic narrative axiom for a reason.
Overall this book felt more like a polished first draft that needed some hard questions from an editor.
*******Spoilers below*******
One of the main problems with this book is the lengths it has to go with the Nazis. The subplot of them entrapping members of the residence to create their own fake resistance newspaper is outlandish and only serves to create an extraneous countdown because the resistance members next decide the fake paper should be published in 2 weeks to mark Armistice Day in November.
The books' Nazi blackmail actually does a disservice to the real people who were involved because it takes their choice out of their hands. They feel like they are going to be arrested and killed anyway after working for the Nazis so they are "free" to create the spoof and go out on their own terms.
The reality is that these were resistance members that CHOSE to write this knowing that puts a target on them and that they would be disappeared for their actions. That was much heroic and idealistic than being "given" the 2 options (create a fake paper for the Nazis, a spoof for the public)
At another point the Nazis raid the resistance HQ, then just let our heroes continue. I thought that could have been an interesting angle. The writers could have been willing to sacrifice themselves for "a joke" but what about others? Was it worth it for them? The book does not know how to deal with that question so the other people taken in the raid are just forgotten about by both the author and the heroes.
In general it seems that the Nazis in this book make dumb/ridiculous/illogical decisions and that takes away from their threat/power. They were horrible people, they were monsters they killed millions. (I don't think they would let a prisoner decide which other prisoners could leave with him.)
There are plenty of roadblocks in secretly printing 50,000 copies of a fake newspaper and get it out under the occupier's nose. Simple logistical questions like where to get the ink, paper, presses and money to pull off the trick pile up throughout the rising action. The book however seems to find solutions that rival more Ocean's 11 than reality. At one point the Nazis decide to AUCTION off a key piece of intelligence, the list of places that sell their propagandist newspaper!
HUH??!?!?!?
I am willing to bet the real way the Belgium resistance got that information would make a good story, but instead we get the auction and a later contrived scene at a brothel for the heroes to acquire that piece of the puzzle.
At one point, the book would have us believe our intrepid band of heroes are able to concoct a disagreement between Churchill, Roosevelt, and the RAF. How did they do it from central Belgium? If the Nazis could access the high-level communications of the Allies why was that not being used for their own gain?
How do that Allies win the war if a telex machine in a small Belgium town can get documents on Churchill's desk?
Again a simpler explanation would fix these problems.
Realistically, the Belgium resistance did have contacts with the RAF, and they did raid the day after, possibly in connection with the publishing. However, the book's fantastical explanation takes away agency from the real people who did this. Someone risked their life to contact the RAF and tell them to attack when they did. That person was heroic.
By the end of the book, I saw that there was a really good story here. There were heroes and the idea of giving up your life to create a spoof mocking an authoritarian regime is a compelling story. However, this version of the story we never really see the characters grapple with it.
The ending is a letdown.
If the central question of the novel is "Would you die to make fun of your oppressors?" then having several of the made up characters escape deus ex machina style undermines that choice. In real life around 30,000 Belgian resistance members were captured by the Nazis and more than half died in camps or were executed.
I realize that this review is coming off more negatively that even I had anticipated. The style is good the dialogue is believable and there is a sprout of a really good story/book here, it just needs pruning.
A final quibble, the version of the book I read had no picture, or scan of the real paper. I went online to read the real thing. I was disappointed that the few snippets in the book were the ones from wikipedia. Why not give readers a full translated version as an appendix?