HHhH: A Novel Paperback – July 23, 2013

The most important step to enjoying "HHhH," the fantastic debut novel by Laurent Binet, is the same as the most important step for enjoying a plane ride, a scuba dive, or a bondage S&M session: you must trust your partner. "HHhH" is the story of Laurent Binet trying to tell a story of two World War II assassins on a mission to kill a devious Nazi. It's the story of the rise of that devious Nazi (Reinhard Heydrich), the fall of Czechoslovakia, and the birth of the Final Solution. It's a trip through Binet's mind, with all the back alleyways of an old Prague neighborhood and enough asides to tire a reluctant Dutch prince. At once a treatise on historical fiction, a postmodern meditation on the role of an author, and a gripping suspense yarn with one of the simplest of plots (two guys try to kill another dude), "HHhH" is a book you need to pick up and read, like, right now.In the first few pages Binet admits he doesn't want to condemn our brave assassins to the world of the "vulgar character." But what, Binet asks, is he supposed to do? Should he "...drag this vision around with me all my life without having tried, at least to give it some substance." Throughout the story, Binet grapples with how to best tell this story. Truth be told, I have always been turned off by the hijinks and trickery of meta-fiction. The sort of safety net it provides - I'm playing a joke on the reader but if it doesn't work, perhaps that's part of the joke - is what irritates me, but the fact that Binet comes out and says that he is not embracing meta fiction as much as he is beaten down by it, that this story is as much his as it is his characters - that type of sincerity is rare and invigorating. Yes, Binet will interject himself into the story. In the end, this is a story of a man trying to figure out how to tell a fantastic story without obscuring it with the haze of fiction. You have to trust his vision and just enjoy the ride.The story begins with the author's first awareness of the plot, charts the rise of Reinhard Heydrich to the top of the insidious SS, and maps out the evolution of the Final Solution - and how much of the Nazis' most monstrous plots seemed to have Heydrich at the center of them. In the beginning, Binet will show his research and erudition, documenting everything known about the beginnings of Heydrich and our two assassins. He will recount anecdotes, discuss the training of the assassins, and where each of the players were at different turns of WWII history. At turns hilarious, informative, and gripping, "HHhH" was really tough for me to put down. One highlight from the author's research for me was a previously unknown story regarding Heydrich's hobby as Luftwaffe pilot, and another with the Ukranian national soccer team.Some of the criticisms of "HHhH" state that Binet masquerades as a non-fiction book that will from time to time slide back into fictional creation - inventing a scene at Auschwitz, discussing Himmler's reaction to a certain event that he has no historical basis for (then, in a fit of postmodernism, wavers on whether to include said reaction), or how Heydrich feels about Albert Speer - but I believe these criticisms are off base. This is a story of Binet deciding how to tell a story, and though he does invent occasionally throughout the pages it is not a deal breaker for me. However, I was slightly surprised that in parts of this book Binet seems to lambast Jonathan Littell, author of "The Kindly Ones." Binet does not love TKO like I did (as unpublished parts of the manuscript which appeared on The Millions certainly prove), and doesn't believe in the fictional creation of characters in a historical setting. That's what Binet can't handle - he knows that Littell has invented some, and thus he doesn't know what to believe and what not to believe. This has struck some readers as hypocritical, as Binet has done the same thing on a smaller scale - he is still a novelist after all, not a documentarian. Binet says that "creating characters to understand historical fact is like fabricating evidence." Of course, this is where Binet is off base, as Littell is not only trying to understand historical fact but also tell a story of Greek justice, the guilt of a murderous state, and the voice of genocidal perpetrator.But I am getting off track. As I have said throughout, Binet has written a masterful novel. He has attempted to tell the story of real people, real fighters, real monsters, real murder, real massacres, and to do that he turned them into fiction. "Unfair," Binet writes, "but there you go." And in converting them to fiction, he produced an amazing addition for any literary bookshelf.

"HHhH" is a well written but unusually formatted historical fiction about an actual event that is worth knowing about. The story has an easy flow and is easily comprehended. The story changes scenes quickly and has 257 chapters in about 336 pages. The novel is built around a plan to assassinate a Nazi Official during World War II. Reinhard Heydrich was a high ranking Nazi Official completely committed to the so called "final solution" of mass murder. The general story is well known to students of WWII.This novel first called to my attention by a very serious reader who felt it is one of the best books he had ever read. He is very well read but was unfamiliar with this story. To him this was a true mesmerizing page turner. The reason I mention that is that I did know the real story and although I enjoyed the book, I was not held in suspense and did not enjoy the book as much as my friend. Therefore how much one enjoys the book may be affected by one's fore knowledge.What makes the novel so unusual is that the author integrates his own experience of writing the book into the story. He writes a passage and then talks about his own experience writing the passage. The novel has been described by others as "metafiction". I am uncredentialed as a student of literature and I am not sure what is meant exactly.In summary I like this novel very much. I did not enjoy it as much as some other readers. As stated this may be because I already was familiar with this chapter of World War II. I only state in case a prospective reader also already knows the story. The author's own experience in writing the book is integrated into the book. One may or may not enjoy that. Thank You...

I had this on my shelf for quite some time (and I absolutely fell in love with it the first time I read it) but I admit, I picked it up when I needed some additional research material for the project I was working on. Reading it the second time was probably even better than the first, and I definitely owe the author a review.The novel (even though it’s so extremely well researched that it can easily be used as non-fiction given that you are already familiar with the subject matter and can easily separate fact from fiction) is brilliant. Simple as that. It’s vivid, snappy with its short and straight-to-the-point chapters, hilarious and tragic at the same time. It deals with what I personally consider the most prominent assassination in WW2 history - the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich - yet, it goes far beyond the simple enumeration of facts and dry retelling of a familiar story. By the end of the first half of the novel, you feel like you know Heydrich personally - his habits, personality, past and present, good and bad (well, mostly bad, and Mr. Binet can be rather ruthless at times with his “character,” but he does it with such a delightful ease that it feels like he picks on his friend whom he doesn’t particularly like but can’t stop hanging out with). By the end of the second half, you get to know the two “heroes” - Kubiš and Gabčík - and you get to know them so well that they become living and breathing people and not some faceless historical figures, in whose honor the plaque in Prague was created. Speaking of Prague, Binet’s descriptions of it are incredible!I absolutely adored the composition of the novel itself and the way the author “speaks” to his readers, which makes the narration so much more personal. His fascination with all three - the two protagonists and the antagonist - is palpable and his passion for history and its tiniest details is worth admiration. Witty and direct, this historical novel certainly should find its way to every history lover’s bookshelf. Highly recommended!