Ravings of a Textual Deviant

In the Presence of Mine Enemies is Harry Turtledove’s latest. It’s set several decades after WWII, in an alternate timeline where the United States stayed out of World War II, which the Germans won. Twenty years later, the United States fought against the Greater Reich and lost, in WWIII. Germany and Japan control the great majority of the globe.

The story itself revolves around a group of Jews hidden in Berlin itself. One of the main viewpoint characters is a ten-year-old girl, Alicia, who has only just found out that she is Jewish. The story opens with the death of the ancient Fuhrer Kurt Haldweim, and the acension of a younger, reform-minded Fuhrer.

I found this book extremely difficult to read, because Turtledove has done such a good job of capturing the furtiveness and desperation that intrude on the Jewish characters’ every waking minute. The setting itself is chilling enough, and he’s managed to convey the atmosphere of an established fascist culture so well. The plot didn’t hold a whole lot of surprises for me, but the story is a great ride.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2004 at 9:48 am and is filed under Off the Shelf. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.