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| As has been pointed out by others I also wonder if it ever occurred to the people with the skulls on their hats that they might be the baddies |
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Binet takes us through Heydrich's early life, the scandal that got him tossed from the navy and those early rumours of non Aryan blood. The scene then switches to the Munich Agreement where France and England sold Czechoslovakia down the river, wartime Prague, and finally England where the SOE and MI6 are preparing a scheme to either kidnap or kill Heydrich in a manner that is alarming because it seems so unprofessional.
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HHhH isn't quite pure historical fiction because the author puts himself into the book in a way that I for one found to be very engaging. (Other people will be irritated.) We get an insight into Binet's life and why he came to be obsessed by Heydrich. And even if, like me, you know the story of Heydrich's assassination and the terrible reprisals that followed it, I think you'll like the way this narrative gets told. HHhH won the Prix Groncourt for best first novel (although its really more of a biography/history book) and it reminded me of another excellent novel I read and liked in the last year, Killing Rommel by Steven Pressfield, which is the (entirely fictional) tale of an assassination attempt which also turned into something of a debacle.
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Incidentally, as I'm sure you're wondering, HHhH stands for Himmler's Hirn heisst Heydrich which means roughly "Himmler's brain who is called Heydrich."
Incidentally, as I'm sure you're wondering, HHhH stands for Himmler's Hirn heisst Heydrich which means roughly "Himmler's brain who is called Heydrich."
12 comments:
I will certainly get this book, it is a topic I find fascinating. It will be interesting to see how Binet approaches this incredible story. My husband's family originated in Prague. 28 Klemperers from the city died in camps, in transit or at the hands of the Gestapo (and are commemorated in the Pinkas synagogue). I know the 'facts' around Heydrich's assassination well. It is an almost overwhelming experience to go to the church in Prague where the parachutists holed up, and died. The bar opposite is fascinating (good beer too) - named for the parachutists, and commemorating them. Curiously, Stoke-on-Trent, whose museum I work at, has strong links to Lidice, (through the city's MP Barnett Stross who led the 'Lidice Shall Live' campaign) and there will be an exhibition here in September,and a concert - see http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/miners-invited-remember-Stoke-Trent-s-Lidice/story-16582150-detail/story.html
Funny old world, isn't it?
It's a terrific book - and as much a novel as it is a history, given the way Binet questions himself about his right tell the story, the veracity of his research, the truth of memory, etc. Wonderful stuff.
Deb
I've never been to Prague, but I've always wanted to go, not just for the beauty obviously but also because of Kafka. I'd love to see the church and the memorial. Maybe some day.
Dec
And I love the way he reads and interprets other fictional accounts of Heydrich's assassination and still soldiers on with his own. A lot of authors would have given up when the learned just how many novels had already been written on this subject but Binet uses his own doubts and worries as material which I thought was brilliant.
I have downloaded HHhH onto my Kindle - pity I have to go to work tomorrow :)
Adrian - next time you have to come to Blighty, allow an extra 4 or 5 days, and take a budget flight to Prague.. midweek to avoid the stag dos.. there is a great bar where Bill and I drank absinthe at midnight (our budget flight got us in very late, so we skipped the unpacking...). The city IS very beautiful, full of the atmosphere of past sorrows and joys, it pulls your heart strings.
Deb
Yeah, I'd love to go. After reading HHhH the crypt in the Cathedral is a must visit. I like to take a pilgrimage out to Lidice too if I could.
Sounds very interesting. Going to download the sample on my nook and give it a go. Thanks for the info. Off topic: re-watching Madmen on Netflix with my wife (season 1) Bert mentions a novel, Atlas Shrugs, have you read it? Just finished the sample and liked it enough to buy it.
Sean
I've read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand but not Atlas Shrugged. I didnt much care for it to be honest.
Went with the family to see Ice Age 4 and there was a very funny Matt Groening preview cartoon featuring Sally attending the Ayn Rand Preschool.
I'm not a huge Groening fan but it was good.
Seana
He keeps himself busy doesn't he, Matt Groening. If I was him, I'd be taking it easy on some balmy isle somewhere.
Reading going well - considering life is busy.. up to Chapter 45... ok, ok, 'chapters' are short - but still.
Adrian - love the way you define the writing style - I wouldn't call it anything, but I am enjoying it immensely, if 'enjoy' is a suitable verb for such dark subject matter.. I am attempting to write a book, my first (apart from archaeological 'academic' articles on medieval pottery..), a novel based on me..and I've scribbled bits of plot, and the end, and a substantial bit of the beginning, then changed my mind, so two versions of the same 'scene' are there together. Perhaps I can now proudly say these scribblings show 'a confessional postmodern manner under the influence of Michel Houllebecq, Milan Kundera and Georges Perec' - but please don't let that put you off...
Deb
Its an interesting style isn't it? I can see how it could irritate some people but I loved it.
Good luck with the book.
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