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Jen Padgett Bohle's Reviews > Child 44
Child 44
by Tom Rob Smith
by Tom Rob Smith
In Child 44, Tom Rob Smith has created a dystopian novel akin to Orwell's 1984 or Atwood's Handmaid's tale, except that, unfortunately, The Stalinist Soviet Union is not a fictional vision (well, and Atwood writes better). Smith's novel is seductive and magnetic because its two central concerns, the Draconian and absurd nature of Stalin's policies and the protagonist's search for a macabre serial killer, intersect to form more reversals of fortune and fate than even Britney Spears could dream of. While these fluctuations create suspense and ultimately a well-deserved catharsis, they also detract from the brutal realism that seemed to be at least one of Smith's aims. Some incidents just seemed too primed and ready for a Hollywood stunt double. (And I believe Smith conceived of this as a screenplay first).
The end is, not to spoil too much, a cheery, feel-good crowd pleaser that allows one to end the novel without despair and thus, seems to lighten the impact and negate the descriptions of Orwellian nightmare world. My suspension of disbelief simply will not extend to dozens of merciless killings for virtually nothing, while the protagonist, who is perceived as the government's most wanted throughout the second half of the novel, is spared.
The prose is simple and a little unremarkable, but at many points, the author's ingenuity in planting clues about the killer and people's political alignment make up for this. The characters and their relationships lack subtlety, and Smith mostly seems to direct readers: these are the good guys and these are the bad guys, something like the Indiana Jones approach to communists. Leo, of course, as the protagonist, is the exception, but Smith doesn't manage to penetrate his psyche quite enough, nor that of his wife.
This might be a masterpiece of suspense and perhaps of the so-called blockbuster fiction, but I'm not ready to brand this a literary masterpiece. Child 44 will be a brilliant movie.
Despite the shortcomings --- enjoy this novel as a solid, intriguing, plot-driven historical mystery. I haven't stayed up all night in quite some time to finish a book, but Child 44 wouldn't let go.
The end is, not to spoil too much, a cheery, feel-good crowd pleaser that allows one to end the novel without despair and thus, seems to lighten the impact and negate the descriptions of Orwellian nightmare world. My suspension of disbelief simply will not extend to dozens of merciless killings for virtually nothing, while the protagonist, who is perceived as the government's most wanted throughout the second half of the novel, is spared.
The prose is simple and a little unremarkable, but at many points, the author's ingenuity in planting clues about the killer and people's political alignment make up for this. The characters and their relationships lack subtlety, and Smith mostly seems to direct readers: these are the good guys and these are the bad guys, something like the Indiana Jones approach to communists. Leo, of course, as the protagonist, is the exception, but Smith doesn't manage to penetrate his psyche quite enough, nor that of his wife.
This might be a masterpiece of suspense and perhaps of the so-called blockbuster fiction, but I'm not ready to brand this a literary masterpiece. Child 44 will be a brilliant movie.
Despite the shortcomings --- enjoy this novel as a solid, intriguing, plot-driven historical mystery. I haven't stayed up all night in quite some time to finish a book, but Child 44 wouldn't let go.
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