The Book Depository The Order of the Day by ERIC VUILLARD
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Price: £8.99
Brand: The Book Depository
Description: The Order of the Day : Paperback : PAN MACMILLAN : 9781509889976 : : 03 Oct 2019 : A gripping and compelling fictional account of the key meetings and events which led up to the outbreak of World War Two: how egos flourished, diplomacy failed, and a few powerful men brought Europe to the brink of disaster. For fans of H Hh H and To Die in Spring. The Book Depository The Order of the Day by ERIC VUILLARD - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9781509889976
MPN: 9781509889976
GTIN: 9781509889976
Author: S Riaz
Rating: 5
Review: I have had this short book on my 'tbr' list for a long while and, to be honest, I was slightly put off by the number of low star reviews. I knew it had won the 2017 Prix Goncourt book prize, but then often I tend to be put off books that win prizes. I haven't read a Booker prize winner since Hilary Mantel and haven't been enticed by long, or shortlists either, so it sat unread until his weekend, when I finally gave it a try and i was utterly blown away. This begins on the 20th February, 1933, when twenty four industrialists enter the palace of the President of the Assembly. Men whose names are inextricably linked to their companies, to industry and finance. Names like Opel, Krupp and Siemens. There to meet the President of the Reichstag, Hermann Goring, before the upcoming elections on March 5th. To have their egos flattered, hands shaken, to meet the new Chancellor, Adolf Hitler To be warned that the weak regime needs to be ended, that unions can be elimated, that they can make a profit, it they put their hands in their pockets... This is a series of short vignettes, which has, at its core, the annexation of Austria, but is about the Policy of Appeasement, the inability of men to stand up for what is right at the cost of their own careers and which takes us from the court at Neuremberg to Chamberlain hosting a lunch for Joachim von Ribbentrop (to whom, I must admit I was unaware, he was also his landlord as Ribbentrop rented one of his own properties). In the run up to war, of course politicians - still with WWI very much in their memories - wanted peace, but this shows the cost of cowardice, not only to Europe but to many of those personally involved. I thought it was brilliant and it has reminded me that, if I am intrigued by a book, I should give it a try. Even if others are not so impressed, it may become a favourite and I am sure this is in my top ten reads of the year.
Author: RichardC
Rating: 1
Review: Peculiarly written or translated, very drawn out, shallow and with a sense of unentitled grandiosity. The author takes many pages to reach one pertinent event or issue, a number of things get unnecessarily repeated, and overall the plot is very 'thin' and anticlimactical, with the book certainly not delivering what it was hyped to do in some reviews. The whole 'book' could have been written in about 40 pages. All the 'infill' - meant I imagine to give some sort of authoritative 'atmosphere' falls flat in my opinion, and the often overly intricate language used smacks of self-importance or self indulgence by the author rather than displaying any particular literary skill or actual assistance to the reader. While the books have me a couple of small new insights about possible events at that time, it has otherwise been pretty much a waste of money (not much, fortunately) and a waste of time spent reading it looking for much more substance and many more gems or insights which never appeared.
