Harry Turtledove’s The Great War: A WALK IN HELL (Book Review by DDE)

The scope is large: the entire theater of World War I on North American soil. This scale is typical Turtledove. The story here is more vast than a few carefully crafted characters could contain. As a novel reader, one is tempted to wish for a tighter focus. One may want to delve deeper into the tender psyches of several of the more interesting characters, such as Jonathan Moss the flying Ace, or Jake Featherston the artillery Sergeant, or Anne Colleton the Mistress of pillaged Mosslands Plantation, but the theater of WWI in America requires a broad cross-section of humanity; and as such, necessarily, we must be content with the briefest snippets of each character’s adventure as part of the grander scheme of the entire drama. So, going beyond the perceived missing characterization, this novel succeeds at what it attempts. It purports to be an alternate history novel of WWI fought right here in America. Reading A Walk in Hell gives one a great feel for the war that never was. The mindsets of the principles are ably represented. The people may be shallow but they are realistic portrayals of early twentieth century people. We get to experience the war from the point of view of people on, and behind, many lines of battle, and on both sides of the conflict. The theme here is that people, though from many a varied background, are very much alike. The reader can empathize with most of the characters.

The entire affair has an air of plausibility due largely to the fact that Turtledove never deviates far from actual historical events. The war in Europe continues as before, and the technological advancements of the weapons of war progress at a pace coinciding with those of the real war. We see the first use of tanks to breakthrough the stalemate of trench warfare, and airplane advances promise to alter the war’s outcome as planes become more than just aerial reconnaissance devices.

The characters, while necessarily stereotypes, are consistent with the period, with there racial biases, and vengeful tendencies toward the enemy. Our personal contemporary experiences, with the persistent prevailing animosity between the North and the South, lend credibility to the feelings the characters express toward such political antagonists as depicted in this book, the U.S. and the C.S.A., who have fought not just one civil war, but now are engaged in their third period of hot aggression.

A consistent theme throughout all of Turtledove’s Great War books, and The Guns of the South for that matter, is unjustified racial discrimination. More often are whites depicted as people of dubious substance than are blacks. Turtledove does a commendable job of giving reasons for this discrimination in the minds of the white characters, both North and South, and some characters are seen to grow in their empathy for the plight of the Black man.

The experienced Turtledove reader will be immediately engaged in the scope of this novel, enjoying the shifting perspective between the various character vignettes that comprise the structure of the book. Turtledove unfolds his story chronologically even thought told through the eyes of many diverse characters. This chronological structure helps the reader keep track of the grand progress of the war throughout the novel despite following the action through many characters on many different fronts. This diffusion of focus can be unsettling unless one grasps the broader panorama of the world Turtledove is trying to convey. Once that broad panorama is understood the experience of letting it unveil before you is quite enjoyable.

This is a very plot driven novel despite the diffuse focus on many different characters, the plot being the slow plodding of a war. This book is recommended to those who can hold a complicated story firm in their heads while gaining only glimpses of the lives of characters.

OPTCS – 77866 High marks for thought provokability, and plot.

Doug Eigsti 2004