Although not all my reviews are spoilery, which I do not consider this one to be, here is a little warning just in case.

This may also contain subjects of a sensitive manner - it's a book about Nazi Germany.

Review Written: 22nd October 2012

Fatherland by Robert Harris

It’s something that shouldn’t be imagined and yet when it is made into a fiction novel, suddenly it’s an interesting concept. A taboo that shouldn’t be explored yet you can’t quite put the book down. Robert Harris imagines a chilling end to the Second World War; an ending where Nazi Germany are declared victorious.

Xavier March is an investigator working for the Kriminalpolizei (criminal investigation agency) as Nazi Josef Buhler is found dead, his body washed up and discovered by young Hermann Jost. March soon enters a world of political scandal and bites off more than he can chew. More deaths of high ranking Nazi officials are being discovered and questioned entering March into a dangerous game as the Gestapo warn the Kripo to close the investigation. With the help of American journalist Charlotte “Charlie” Maguire, whom March has a relationship with, the two try to discover the meanings behind the murders without being caught.

March is a half hearted member of the Nazi regime – he refuses to join the Party like many men of his age earning the distrust and disrespect of his ten year old son Pili, whom I disliked from the start. Pili was the perfect example of someone who had been brainwashed by the party’s ideas. I liked Charlie; she was a strong woman, in a world where equality for all regardless of sex, colour, race or religion has failed to be achieved.

It was scary seeing the imagined Europe if Germany had won. Harris used actual plans the Nazis had drawn up in the event of their victory making the story seem lifelike. The focus on England was interesting – they were speaking German as a second language, driving German cars, listening to German radios etc. The King of the Country is Edward VIII and Queen Wallis Simpson with George VI, Princess Elizabeth and Churchill hiding in Canada. America, having never entered the war, keep a neutral eye on events – President Joseph P. Kennedy (father of 35^th President of the United States John Kennedy) is keen to build relations with Germany, and is portrayed as being anti-Semitic.

Which brings me to the point of the book. The Jewish population of Europe have been sent East; that is all anyone knows. All records of the Holocaust have been removed and as a quote in the book, from Himmler himself says, ‘This is a page of glory in our history, which has never been written and is never to be written.’ In this book, it hasn’t been. It’s chilling. You get extracts about life in Auschwitz from Nazi visitors and they are horrific.

There is no set ending. It is left to the reader to make up their own ending. I am a sucker for a happy ending and that is how I like to imagine it. However, the tone of the book would make the likelihood of this ending very unrealistic.

NEXT REVIEW: KATHRYN STOCKETT’S THE HELP (I have read this book before and the review will be in a different format as I have to write a book review for one of my university classes, The African American Experience, so it will be more intelligent...I hope!)