Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)One of the major problems with this book is hinted at by the mixed messages on the cover. I found it (in a library) shelved under nonfiction, history of WWII while the back cover copy describes it as a 'novel'. The confusion is understandable. Albright begins with real historical events (the Russo-Japanese War, and the early stages of the Pearl Harbor attack) although in a superficial and novelized format. Then at the point where the Japanese attack in reality broke off and went home, Albright postulates further assaults both in the air and on the surface. Unfortunately, the left turn into alternate history isn't all that well marked. I spent quite a bit of time after the shift into fiction wondering if Albright had his facts wrong or if my previous reading on the subject had missed something.
The author information in the hardcover edition mentions that Albright, then a serving Army officer, was present at the Pearl Harbor attack. While this credential commands respect for him personally, it is of little help to him as a novelist. Since (past a certain point) the book is fiction, it demands the fiction writer's craft of drawing readers into the story. While Albright uses the tools of fiction -- directly quoted dialog, physical description of characters with speaking parts -- they aren't really handled adeptly. His idea might well have been better served by an essay format without the foray into fiction.
(Another problem, one in no way Albright's fault, is that in the years since his book appeared "alternate history" has become a lively fictional genre populated by talented storytellers such as Harry Turtledove. The genre has developed smooth methods of handling narrative problems -- such as conveying the real history, the alternate history, and the point where the two diverge, to readers all without tedious lectures -- which Albright was trying to solve entirely on his own. This unfortunately means that although alternate-history buffs would be the ideal audience for this work, they are also the audience most likely to judge it harshly.)
Unfortunately this book falls between two stools -- it's not quite a historical account of Pearl Harbor, and not quite a what-if novel on the same subject.
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