Review of Making History by Stephen Fry

This is the first time I’ve picked up a Stephen Fry novel, and it was an enjoyable, if slightly uneven, experience. Thumbing through the opening pages, I noticed that this book was first published in 1996, which begins to make sense when considering some of the faultlines running through this alternate history offering.

Michael Young is convinced his brilliant history thesis will win him a doctorate, a pleasant academic post, a venerable academic publisher and his beloved girlfriend Jane. A historian should know better than to imagine that he can predict the future.

Leo Zuckerman is an ageing physicist obsessed with the darkest period in human history, utterly driven by his fanatical hatred of one man. A lover’s childish revenge and the breaking of a rotten clasp cause the two men to meet in a blizzard of swirling pages. Pages of history. When they come together nothing – past, present or future – will ever be the same again.

And there you have the blurb. The book contains an intriguing premise – two men decide, for very different reasons, to tamper with history by ensuring the one man responsible for the rise of Nazi Germany is never born. However, the result isn’t what they bargained for… As a former history student, I thoroughly enjoyed Fry’s thorough approach to the historical content and had no problem with the leisurely start. And the conclusion that Fry comes to is certainly thought provoking – I’ve been thinking a lot about the book since I put it down.

Fry successfully establishes Michael’s character as a wunderkind bedevilled with increasing insecurities as his peers are rapidly catching up, if not overhauling his precocious giftedness. Inevitably, given the sub-genre, the narrative timeline is speckled with flashbacks which are ably handled. And it goes without saying that the writing is excellent – actually, that shouldn’t go without saying. Excellent writing should always be acknowledged and I’d be selling Fry short if I just gave a nod in that direction because we all know that the man has an intellect the size of Greece’s overdraft.

So far, so good. The protagonist has been well established, with plenty of depth. We have met with Leo and there’s been a couple of interesting plot twists – and then the novel prose comes to abrupt end and I was confronted with a film script. The action immediately speeded up as I witnessed a major emotional confrontation spool through in this script mode – feeling completely unconnected to the characters. Later in the novel, there is another, longer film script interlude, which also had the effect of alienating me from the action – a real shame as I’d really enjoyed the book up to this point.

I am aware that my extreme aversion to this literary device is subjective – probably connected to the fact that books are my first and major love, while films are okay, I suppose…. However, I did find the film script sections really spoilt the book for me. Having said that, up to the point it all went Courier I found the depiction of the alternate world engrossing and chilling in equal measure. Fry is good at writing minor characters memorably and the flashes of humour helped alleviate what could have been a grim read, given the subject matter.

All in all, it’s an interesting book with a fascinating premise and if you enjoy alternate histories, I highly recommend it. Who knows – you may even enjoy the scripted sections…
8/10

Review of Elizabeth’s Journey 1945 by Renate Shave

This book charts the plight of a set of people not normally considered in the slew of books and films about World War II – German civilians displaced during the fighting. Renate’s moving and unusual story tells of her mother’s efforts to keep herself and her children safe from the advancing threat of the Russian army’s advance through Germany.

In January 1945, with the weather at its coldest, loudspeakers announce that their hometown, Glogau is to be evacuated the following day. Elizabeth is faced with the prospect of leaving their comfortable home in the depths of winter with a five-year-old daughter and her eleven-year-old brother. This book is about their subsequent adventures as displaced and homeless, they are forced to rely upon the kindness of strangers.

Renate’s very straightforward writing style gives us the full impact of this amazing true story and despite her decision to write the story in her mother’s viewpoint, it is a highly personal one as Renate was the little girl. Apart from the sheer interest of reading a war story with such gripping human interest, I also found it unexpectedly moving. Elizabeth’s unassuming courage shines through. On top of trying to keep her family together, she was also constantly worried about the fate of her husband serving with the German military.

However, Elizabeth’s resourceful bravery isn’t the only admirable aspect of this narrative. By 1945, the German population knew the war was coming to an end. Food rationing and shortages of every description were part of daily life – as it was throughout Europe. But in addition, the terrible fear of the Russians and what they would do to the civilians – particularly the women – was an ever-present cloud on the horizon. Danger was all around. People died in the firefight between the Americans and Russians and Renate vividly describes the bombing of Dresden, as the glow in the sky could be seen miles away.

I was half expecting tales of hoarding and the constant fear of violence that a lone woman travelling with two young children must have felt. And yet, in the face of all these destabilising terrors, the vast majority of people encountered by the vulnerable, homeless family were generous, freely offering food and shelter to them – and later, extended their hospitality to Renate’s grandparents when they also had to leave Glogau.

I was struck by the gritted determination to keep everything going wherever possible. Elizabeth was able take the children to safety because the trains kept running. They might have been overcrowded and uncomfortable, but they still cris-crossed the country, even after Germany’s surrender. When the family are in Quedlinburg after the Russians take control, the shops and bakery still open as normal.

Having been brought up on a diet of war films and stories depicting Nazi Germany as the nadir of civilisation, this book revealed another side of the country where a war-weary, beaten populace struggled to maintain ordinary, decent lives. It is an inspiring and thought-provoking read that will stay with me for a long time – and one I thoroughly recommend.
9/10