If you’ve been checking out the Book Reviews, you’ll know I’ve been reading alot of Harry Turtledove lately.
It started with his alternate history Civil War novel The Guns Of The South. Almost exclusively, though, its been the books in the Timeline-191 universe. That’s one reason I looked forward to reading In The Presence Of Mine Enemies, because I was interested in seeing what Turtledove was like when he wasn’t writing about the Civil War and American history.
I finished the book yesterday evening, and it was an interesting read to say the least.
The book itself is about life in a 21st Century in which the Third Reich won not only World War II, conquering all of Europe, including England and Russia, but also won World War III, conquering and effectivevly destroying as a world power the United States. Its difficult to determine what the point-of-departure for Turtledove’s story is, but it seems that, in this world, the United States never entered World War II (presumably there was no attack on Pearl Harbor) and effectively sat out the war long enough for the Germans to win in both the East and the West. But the book isn’t about world politics in a Nazi dominated world, its about what it would be like to be a Jew living in the heart of the Third Reich 60 years after the conquest of Europe.
Of course, these are not Jews who are living openly as such. They live in secret, pretend to be perfect Aryans, and, in an effort to keep their religion alive, share their secret with their children when they reach 10 years old. Turtledove tries to show us what it would be like to try to live in a society that had as one of its central principles the beleif that you are an enemy that must be destroyed.
The story principally unfolds as the story of the family of Heinrich and Lise Gimpel and their three children, one of whom turns ten as the book opens and thus learns her true identity as a Jew. As she struggles with this new knowledge, we learn, in bits and pieces, what is happening in the rest of the world. And, when the reigning Furher, named quite ineptly, after a certain former head of state in Europe, dies, we begin to see the beginnings of what looks like it could be reform in the Third Reich and a new birth of freedom.
In some ways, this book suffers from some of the same weaknesses as Turtledove’s other books. There is far too much repetition of plot elements and character traits — we don’t need to know more than once, for example, about the pedicatrician who can’t operate a coffee maker, or how Heinrich’s co-worker has the hots for the cute blond secretary. The most annoying parts of the book for me, though, came in the long, drawn-out bridge-playing scences between the Gimpels and Heinrich’s co-worker and his wife. They did very little to advance the plot and, quite honestly, mean nothing to me because I know next to nothing about bridge. Its obvious Harry is a birdge player, or has at least researched the topic well, but he shouldn’t have assumed that his readers would have the same familiarity with the subject. More than once, the plot slows down needlessly because of this.
As the book unfolds though, the excitment builds. There is a threat to the Gimpel family that looks like it could bring their whole world crashing down. And there is a political sub-plot that is part Tiananmen Square, part the fall of Communism circa 1989, and part Gorbachev-Yeltsin. In the end, there are significant changes in the Third Reich but still not resolution for its remaining Jewish citizens who must continue passing there secret along, hoping for the day when they can live openly again.
While I wouldn’ t count this among Turtledove’s better books, it was still an enjoyable read and painted enough of a picture of a 21st Century dominated by Nazi Germany to make me glad that this particular version of history never came to pass
