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shimmer's review
N is a big, complicated alternate history of WWII in Australia told in multiple modes and styles from the Pynchonesque to magical realism to inserted documents to slapstick(ish) comedy.* It's set in the past but very much engaged with the present as the large cast of characters (politicians, artists, soldiers, spies) get caught up in the incremental creep of fascism and oppression accepted one moment's expediency at a time. The juxtaposition of voices, styles, and experiences creates a panoramic sense but Scott never loses the intimate, individual presense and pathos of his characters despite so many moving parts to keep track of and to keep the reader engaged. As others have noted elsewhere, it does get a bit too “tidy” at the end, tying things up perhaps more insistently than I felt like I needed, but that approach took on a gravitas of its own that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise, so I wouldn’t call it a complaint.
It isn't the easiest book to get your hands on in the US but it's worth the effort (and interlibrary loan was able to find it for me). I'd love to see a US publisher bring it over (that's you, editor friends). I suspect an equivalent novel written about the US or UK instead of Australia would get far more attention, acclaim, and international republication, which is a shame.
* In particular, there's a cameo by Douglas MacArthur that manages to turn one of his most famous lines into an absolutely hilarious gag. I laughed so hard I got some funny looks on the subway.
It isn't the easiest book to get your hands on in the US but it's worth the effort (and interlibrary loan was able to find it for me). I'd love to see a US publisher bring it over (that's you, editor friends). I suspect an equivalent novel written about the US or UK instead of Australia would get far more attention, acclaim, and international republication, which is a shame.
* In particular, there's a cameo by Douglas MacArthur that manages to turn one of his most famous lines into an absolutely hilarious gag. I laughed so hard I got some funny looks on the subway.
wtb_michael's review
4.0
Massively ambitious, comprehensively researched and frighteningly plausible alternative history of Australia during WWII. A key independent in a narrowly held government dies, and in the chaos of a hung parliament, a viciously right-wing government siezes power, before negotiating a truce with the invading Japanese. The story unfolds from about five main angles: from the perspective of artists, politicians, soldiers, dissidents and public servants, with the threads occasionally interweaving, but mostly telling separate pieces of a grand story. The pace is slow - I feel like it could have dropped 100 pages without losing much (e.g. sections told from the perspective of a cat!). In the author's notes he acknowledges dropping a whole other strand of the story to keep things at a managable length, but I still felt like it dragged in a few places.
The last few pages make explicit the allegory with modern-day Australia's inhumane and unjust treatment of refugees - it seemed a bit unnecessary to hammer home this point, which came through relatively clearly anyway - the whole book is a warning about how easily populations are manipulated through fear and unncertainty. For all my minor issues, it's wonderful to read something this self-consciously BIG - I'm surprised it hasn't made a bigger splash.
The last few pages make explicit the allegory with modern-day Australia's inhumane and unjust treatment of refugees - it seemed a bit unnecessary to hammer home this point, which came through relatively clearly anyway - the whole book is a warning about how easily populations are manipulated through fear and unncertainty. For all my minor issues, it's wonderful to read something this self-consciously BIG - I'm surprised it hasn't made a bigger splash.
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