HHhH
by Laurent Binet
- Percentage of approved critics who have given this book a positive review.
Critic Rating
77%
Critic Reviews: 28
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- User rating from iDreamBooks & iTunes
Reader Rating
58%
Reader Ratings: 134
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Synopsis
Laurent Binet’s HHhH, winner of the Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman, is “a work of breadth, and absolute originality” (Claude Lanzmann)HHhH: “Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich”, or “Himmler’s brain is called Heydrich”. The most dangerous man in Hitler’s cabinet, Reinhard Heydrich was known as the “Butcher of Prague.” He was feared by all and loathed by most. With his cold Aryan features and implacable cruelty, Heydrich seemed indestructible—until two men, a Slovak... more
About Laurent Binet
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- All Critics: 28
- Positive: 23
- Negative: 5
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The Independent | 27 May 2012
Despite his fussing about the nature of historical fiction, this is mesmeric stuff; history brought to chilling, potent life.
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The Guardian | 16 May 2012
...he marshals and deploys his materials with exceptional dramatic skill.
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AV Club | 11 Jun 2012
Laurent Binet’s award-winning debut novel, HHhH, is fascinating, compelling, and frustrating, for reasons too intertwined to be separated.
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The New York Times | 27 Apr 2012
... the result is a gripping novel that brings us closer to history as it really happened.
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Kirkus Reviews | 1 May 2012
Binet deserves great kudos for retrieving this fateful, half-forgotten episode, spotlighting Nazi infamy, celebrating its resisters, and delivering the whole with panache.
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The New Yorker | 21 May 2012
“HHhH” is certainly more interesting than most of its conventional rivals, but it also seems shallower than its more distinguished rivals.
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Vol. 1 Brooklyn | 1 May 2012
I really don’t know how to praise this book further than to say that it changed my conception of the possibilities of literature.
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Time | 25 Apr 2012
...the book’s quirky, clever, stunt-yness is typical of what tempered with uneasiness my enjoyment of this otherwise smart and accomplished book
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Newcity Lit | 16 May 2012
...a higher standard for any historical fiction or nonfiction than you’ll ever encounter again.
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Chicago Tribune | 24 Jun 2012
Laurent Binet tackles the story of a Nazi and the two Czechoslovakian war heroes who set out to assassinate him and writes a marvelous, charming, engaging novel.
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Reader Dad | 24 Apr 2012
HHhH is an extraordinary piece of work, a book that sets out to be a historical document and ends up as something completely other.
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The Telegraph | 3 May 2012
And it is conventionally successful too, as both a gripping thriller and a moving testament to the heroes of the Czechoslovakian resistance.
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The Star | 2 Jun 2012
...all these elements are handled with great skill, even though Binet strives to keep his writing as simple, direct and unaffected as possible...
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Dog Ear Discs | 2 May 2012
HHhH is moving, terrifying and gripping in equal measure, it’s a must for fans of the “genre” even if the story is told in a rather staccato fashion.
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Fanzine | 21 Jun 2012
The true dilemma of HHhH doesn’t seem to be the accuracy of historical fact but rather the aestheticization of heroic and tragic acts, if we can use these terms.
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Tony's Book World | 20 May 2012
Some might think these authorial intrusions would distract from the story, but for me they added a certain veracity and charm to the telling.
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Publishers Weekly | 27 Feb 2012
A perfect fusion of action and the avante-garde that deserves a place as a great WWII novel.
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Just William's Luck | 1 May 2012
This doesn't mean that the book is without successes, only that they were limited for me.
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Suite 101 | 10 Jun 2012
HHhH is a wonderful document to an important and heroic act and a beautiful, engaging insight into the writer’s process.
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Book Oxygen
...this book... joins the ranks of significant, original literary responses to a period in history which continues to defy belief and challenge the power of words to express.
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The Sydney Morning Herald | 28 Apr 2012
It has its flaws, its occasional weaknesses of tone and style, but Binet handles his inherently dramatic subject with intelligence, originality and poise.
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Straight.com | 13 Jun 2012
Binet sets up flimsy, outdated binaries between truth and fiction, and then spends the rest of the book nervously biting his fingernails and generally giving capital-H History way too much credit.
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Words Without Borders
HHhH is a witty and thought-provoking exploration of how stories are constructed, historically, literarily, and biographically.
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Literary Review
What makes the novel unendurable, aside from the banal narrative devices, is - certainly in translation - the thesaurus of platitudes...
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Washington Independent Review of Books
A gripping, panoramic historical thriller, HHhH is also a critique of the concept of historical truth and a meditation on the novel as a literary form.
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The Australian | 16 Jun 2012
Here he proves himself a great writer of suspense, effectively ratcheting up the tension ...
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Killer Nashville | 13 Jun 2012
A seemingly effortlessly blend of historical truth, personal memory, and Laurent Binet’s remarkable imagination...
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The Star | 2 Jun 2012
It’s something of a shame that he so often expresses this as disappointment and mistrust of his abilities, because HHhH is brilliant.
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