Quote:
Originally Posted by astrangerhere
While I agree with many of you that the book was not all it could have been, consider a different perspective.
The novel was written 20 years ago.[...]
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How far we have come in 20 years (even if it is not yet far enough) is yet another reason why I find the situation he faced in alternate-Princeton lacking: why should Michael have been expecting so much better? It is almost enough to have me wonder if the England where the story started (where Oily Moily was a band) was more advanced in this sense that the England where the story ended (assuming it to be our world), perhaps Steve and Michael are in for some unpleasant surprises.
I quite liked how the romance was handled. Okay, it was not that subtle, but I thought it was actually better than many other thrillers that throw in an obligatory "love interest" for the heterosexual hero.
You may be right that he was looking for a plot to sit his gay romance in, and there were some clever elements to this one. And maybe the combination of "about Hitler" and "by Stephen Fry" was hoped to be irresistible (it has certainly kept the price up). But I for one would have started with higher expectations if it wasn't about Hitler ... which should segue nicely into my response to latepaul's post (coming soon).