In the Presence of Mine Enemies

[zoomar]

I finally have started reading this book, which seems to me to be one of Turtledove's most readable AH efforts in a long time. A tight plot with some real suspense, relatively few character PoV's - all of which are central to the story - and some "cute" plays on names: dying Fuhrer "Kurt Haldweim" was a neat creation which clearly was meant to be understood as Kurt Waldheim in an ATL. Placing a real controversial figure in this alternate history was a good way of making things interesting. One can wonder about the plausibility of the history that lead to the global Germanic Empire, but his way of presenting it was understated and not pedantic. I also liked the fact that life among 21st Germans was affluent, banal, and very normal - a lot like modern western Europe in fact - which was surprisingly effective irony given the fact that they are benificiaries of a massive totalitarian Nazi Empire. Obviously, the central conceit of the book is a Gorbachev-like new Furhrer and the breakup of the Nazi empire, which many people on this board would probably take as evidence of Turtledoves' uncreative take on AH. I think it is both interesting and plausble. And you can't go wrong with the "Jews in peril" theme, which somehow made me care a lot more about these people than most of HT's characters. I could have done without the weekly bridge games, however.

What do others think?

[wkwillis]

The short story was good. The expansion was self indulgent.

[aktarian]

Originally Posted by wkwillis

The short story was good. The expansion was self indulgent.

I was wondering if there is a conection. Suspected so.

[Admiral Matt]

Didn't know there was a short story. I felt much the same way as zoomar. One of the best things of Turtledove's that I've read.

I thought the fastfood situation was hilarious. And yes, the bridge games really were mind-numbing.

[fortyseven]

In Departures, a collection of short stories.

[Nosb]

it was one of the more enjoyable things I've read in a while by Turtledove

[jrittenhouse]

I really didn't care for it at all.

Rittenhouse's Rules of AH #7: Cute anachronisms, especially either obvious mirrors of recent events or off-the-wall and totally ahistorical (Madame Curie as a stripper, Kerouac or Marily Monroe as President of the USA) are grounds for punting a book.

Rittenhouse's Rules of Writing #4: There is such a thing as leaving a short story alone and not trying to force it into a novel.

Rittenhouse's Rules of Writing #12: There's a limit to how many 'bits of business' you can put in a story without boring the pants off the reader. Ten bridge games in the same book better be riveting to be in there and not just a way to up the word count.

[sikitu]

After I just finished that book, let's give the thread a bump...

Overall, I was satisfied with the characters and the story, and would rate this one of HT's better books from the last few years. However, as a native speaker of German, I must mention some not-quite-so-good aspects.

While HT's German is better than that of most other foreign AH authors (and there are really bad examples available), he does not have a talent for German surnames. The "Haldweim"/"Waldheim" thingy is okay, but a Fuehrer called "Buckliger"? Hell, this translates as "hunchback", so it is "hail hunchback" as the Nazi salute? Furthermore, some other names are similarly strange, I would have preferred some more common German names such as Meier, Mueller, Schulze or Schneider instead of "Schreckengost"

And it is not only the names. I already noticed in an earlier book that HT apparently is unaware of the fact that in Germany, Christmas presents are given to the children on 24 December. In this book, his Germans consistently eat English or American breakfasts, and while I might accept that the Nazis introduced all-day schools with school lunches, I do not think that they would have bothered with breakfasts...

[RealityBYTES]

I, too, finished reading this book about three weeks ago.

My feelings are mixed about it. On one hand, HT succeeded in getting me to care about the characters, in particular the Gimpel family. I, too, identified with the "small" moments was feared for them after the SS came down on them. On the other hand, I was bored to tears by the stupid bridge scenes and had expected to see some action scenes as well (that didn't materialize). I was also hoping for more background on this particular ATL, but that was lacking as well.

The negatives outnumber the positives. I cannot in good faith recommend this novel to another person, unless they're looking for a near-zero when it comes to action and an utter focus on characters, in particular the Gimpels.

The more I think about it, ITPOME might have been a better novel had it been set in 1971 — the year America fell to the Germanic Empire. I, for one, would have been more excited to read how a Jewish family might survive through seeing their one last great hope fall to the Nazis. Or put more of a spin on the ATL — have America win the hard-fought war, leading the beginning of the Germanic Empire's collapse. How would the Gimpels have reacted to that? Their fellow German citizens? The questions, and possibilities, are endless.

Gatekeeper

[chunkeymonkey13q]

I thought it was interesting, although maybe not completely plausible, but still it was better than many of his books.

[NomadicSky]

i've never read it myself it sounds interesting though

[chunkeymonkey13q]

It's slightly better than the average turtledove novel, but it's still not an epic.

[Ivan Druzhkov]

I generally thought it was OK, but I had few beefs with the whole idea of Nazi perestroika. You can glance at my ravings here.

[Faeelin]

If there was ever a timeline with Special Circumstances, this was definitely it.

(What, you didn't think Stolle was a native of Earth, did you? He's clearly a member of the Culture).

[fortyseven]

what Culture?

[Faeelin]

Originally Posted by fortyseven

what Culture?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture

[fortyseven]

That's what I figured but I thought there might be another one. I haven't read any Bainks books.

[Ivan Druzhkov]

Originally Posted by Faeelin

(What, you didn't think Stolle was a native of Earth, did you? He's clearly a member of the Culture).

Wait, are we talking about the same guy? You know, the Prussian Boris Yeltsin? Man, where did you get that idea from?