Will I love HHhH?

Laurent Binet’s debut novel of “metafiction” draws its title from the chilling Nazi saying, “Himmler’s brain is called Heydrich” (Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich), a reference to Reinhard Heydrich, an architect of the Holocaust and one of the most terrifying figures in the Third Reich.

Known as “The Blond Beast,” Heydrich governed occupied Prague through terror, executions, and mass repression. His assassination by Czech resistance fighters in 1942 forms the heart of the novel.

Binet approaches this story in an entirely original way. Rather than hiding behind an omniscient narrator, he constantly steps into the narrative himself, revealing his… show more.

This is a really compelling book, technically a novel that reads like narrative nonfiction. It’s the story of the Czechoslovakian operation to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, director of the Gestapo and a man so evil he stood out for it even among the Nazis. It’s also the story of the men charged with carrying out that mission and Heydrich’s life leading up to his arrival in Prague. Along with all that, it’s the story of how Laurent Binet researched and wrote the book. 

I admit I was skeptical about the meta aspect when this book was recommended to me; it felt… show more.

You’ve heard of Hitler, Goebbels, Göring, Eichmann, and Himmler, but what about Heydrich? One of the masterminds of the terrible “final solution,” he was installed as Protector of Bohemia and Moravia under Nazi occupation and was assassinated in 1942 by two Czech patriots parachuted in by the British. I have visited the church in Prague where they were eventually hunted down and killed, so I knew I had to read this novel, and it is a delightful read. Written in short, snappy chapters, the seriousness of the underlying story is lightened by a playful double narrative with the author’s account… show more.