lawinbehold's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
storymi's review against another edition
4.0
Een boek over de aanslag op top-nazi Heydrich.
En tegelijkertijd een boek waarin de schrijver reflecteert over het boek dat hij aan het schrijven is.
Ik vond het echt een goed boek. Ik had verwacht dat het een superzwaar boek was, maar ik las er juist heel snel doorheen. Ook door de korte stukjes denk ik. Ik vond het kijkje achter de schermen van de leiding van de nazi's interessant en ook hoe hij reflecteerde op hoe subjectief het eigenlijk is om een historische roman te schrijven. (af en toe irriteerde die stukjes ook wel trouwens, dat je dacht: ga nou gewoon door met het verhaal! maar meestal vond ik het vooral interessant) en als hij naar de eindscène toewerkt wordt het echt episch. Heel blij dat ik het gelezen heb en veel respect gekregen voor mensen die het aandurfden om in het verzet te gaan.
Aanrader!
En tegelijkertijd een boek waarin de schrijver reflecteert over het boek dat hij aan het schrijven is.
Ik vond het echt een goed boek. Ik had verwacht dat het een superzwaar boek was, maar ik las er juist heel snel doorheen. Ook door de korte stukjes denk ik. Ik vond het kijkje achter de schermen van de leiding van de nazi's interessant en ook hoe hij reflecteerde op hoe subjectief het eigenlijk is om een historische roman te schrijven. (af en toe irriteerde die stukjes ook wel trouwens, dat je dacht: ga nou gewoon door met het verhaal! maar meestal vond ik het vooral interessant) en als hij naar de eindscène toewerkt wordt het echt episch. Heel blij dat ik het gelezen heb en veel respect gekregen voor mensen die het aandurfden om in het verzet te gaan.
Aanrader!
ncghammo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Genocide, and Murder
josieheadley's review against another edition
3.0
Reminded me of the unbearable lightness of being but like it's worse, the history is very interesting though!
susanw's review against another edition
4.0
Not even sure how to describe this, not really fiction, not really history, HHhH is a combination of both. A telling of the assassination of Heydrich in Prague during WWII, but much more than that. It is the history, the struggle about writing non fiction, and the action, all very well told in short chapters. I loved the aspect of the author as a character, talking to us the reader. I would definitely recommend but it definitely isn't for everyone.
marco5599's review
4.0
I was already familiar with Operation Anthropoid, saw some of the movie(s) about the whole thing too (Hangmen Also Die!, people!), but Binet has so much more to tell and does it in such a pleasing way. Loose, relaxed and emotionally charged. It's like listening to someone sitting in a lazy chair, with a good glass of wine, leisurely and passionately telling what happened. Or probably happened. Or might have happened. Not very common when it comes to heavy topics like this one, I guess. Worked for me. Mesmerizing story, vividly written; an excellent novel. And hats off to the people involved. Those on the good side that is.
sarah_dietrich's review against another edition
4.0
I wasn't sure what to expect from Laurent Binet's HHhH and I found that I liked it alot. On the surface it is the story of two resistance members who try to assassinate a high-ranking Nazi during World War Two. Dig a little deeper and you get the enthralling story of Binet researching and writing HHhH - I love this kind of metafiction. I'm interested to see if Binet writes anymore novels, if he does I would certainly like to read them.
bookishwendy's review against another edition
4.0
Though I have somewhat mixed feelings about the "book about a writer writing a book" format here, overall this was a compelling read. As someone who has written (or tried, heh) to write historical fiction, I absolutely get where Binet (or fictional unreliable narrator parallel universe Binet) is coming from as he hems and haws over what episodes and details to include in his "novelization" of Reinhard Heydrich, and how to deal with those awkward gaps in the historical record. I think I either own or have read/seen every book & film he mentions, too, so I had more than a few moments of "finally someone else who obsesses the way I do! I'm not alone!" As the novel ramps up, however, to the titular H's assassination, I found these meta-moments more and more annoying. The narrator places himself in Prague and follows the footsteps of the courageous resistance members to the point of intrusiveness on the immersiveness of the story. At one point the would-be assassins are hiding out and Binet writes "they couldn't sleep...and neither could I," I thought "well who cares about you?" But I didn't stay angry for long. The yarn itself is too interesting.
If anyone is looking for more on the subject without author-self-insertion, writer Jim Shepard wrote an interesting short story about the aftermath of Heydrich's assassination in his collection [b:Love and Hydrogen: New and Selected Stories|382950|Love and Hydrogen New and Selected Stories|Jim Shepard|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1389409877s/382950.jpg|372720]. And if you'd rather go the nonfiction route, [b:The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS|542109|The Order of the Death's Head The Story of Hitler's SS|Heinz Höhne|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309283389s/542109.jpg|529446] by [a:Heinz Höhne|787262|Heinz Höhne|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png] is an extremely thorough examination of the rise and fall of the SS, and includes much more detail on Heydrich.
If anyone is looking for more on the subject without author-self-insertion, writer Jim Shepard wrote an interesting short story about the aftermath of Heydrich's assassination in his collection [b:Love and Hydrogen: New and Selected Stories|382950|Love and Hydrogen New and Selected Stories|Jim Shepard|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1389409877s/382950.jpg|372720]. And if you'd rather go the nonfiction route, [b:The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS|542109|The Order of the Death's Head The Story of Hitler's SS|Heinz Höhne|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309283389s/542109.jpg|529446] by [a:Heinz Höhne|787262|Heinz Höhne|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png] is an extremely thorough examination of the rise and fall of the SS, and includes much more detail on Heydrich.
docpacey's review against another edition
3.0
Meta-historical 'novel', 'infranovel', facts or fiction? Binet injects his struggle with historical accuracy into the story of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the butcher of Prague, by Czech paratroopers in 1942.
The writing is sharp, the story is fast paced, detailed and filled with tension. It's a wonder, therefore, that Binet felt the need to inject himself so completely into it.
Binet's storytelling is crisp, and he builds the suspense nicely as the story reaches climax on the day that two protagonists await their quarry. Heydrich, in his hubris, commutes daily through occupied territory that he has subdued by mass murder, terror and enslavement, in an open car. His doom awaits at the hands of partisans, trained in England, dropped into their own country to be aided by the locals. We meet all of the major players on both sides as they move toward the inevitable collision on May 28th 1942.
The story's narrator, however, is unreliable, as he mixes, in short bursts, his own doubts about the facts he is relating, into the text.
He obsesses about the color of Heydrich's car; about the details of dialogue and whether he can trust his sources as he struggles to add details to the story he is telling.
I found the style and the meta-context to be utterly distracting to an otherwise well told tale. The ultra short chapters were an annoyance as well. As history HHhH was great, as a novel, not so much, thus 3 stars only.
The writing is sharp, the story is fast paced, detailed and filled with tension. It's a wonder, therefore, that Binet felt the need to inject himself so completely into it.
Binet's storytelling is crisp, and he builds the suspense nicely as the story reaches climax on the day that two protagonists await their quarry. Heydrich, in his hubris, commutes daily through occupied territory that he has subdued by mass murder, terror and enslavement, in an open car. His doom awaits at the hands of partisans, trained in England, dropped into their own country to be aided by the locals. We meet all of the major players on both sides as they move toward the inevitable collision on May 28th 1942.
The story's narrator, however, is unreliable, as he mixes, in short bursts, his own doubts about the facts he is relating, into the text.
He obsesses about the color of Heydrich's car; about the details of dialogue and whether he can trust his sources as he struggles to add details to the story he is telling.
I found the style and the meta-context to be utterly distracting to an otherwise well told tale. The ultra short chapters were an annoyance as well. As history HHhH was great, as a novel, not so much, thus 3 stars only.