PARTY GAMES

by Hans Hellmut Kirst ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1980

The party is the Nazi party, and the games are the not-very-funny ones played by crude, petty party officials and by a clever young hero--in an awkward, dreadfully written (and/or translated) farce unflatteringly reminiscent of such spirited stage satires as Gogol's The Inspector General. It's 1933 in a small East Prussian town--where the richest men are old Sass the Jew and anti-Nazi Richard Breitbach, father of artistic Johannes and wily Konrad. But the most powerful man in town is dentist Sonnenblum, Nazi party leader, whose daughter is in love with Johannes and whose comely receptionist is the town's femme fatale, pursued by all, including both old Sonnenblum and old Breitbach (they're long-ago chums turned mortal enemies). The central, endlessly repeated joke: in order to confuse and impede the party (and to help his brother wed his true love), Konrad pretends to be a Nazi, commits Mein Kampf to memory, and constantly shakes things up by quoting (usually out of context) the Fuehrer's own ambiguous words. And eventually (helped by papa and Sass) Karl arranges Sonnenblum's downfall and rises to Nazi officialdom. . . while various other lustful, demented Nazis self-destruct. A thin notion--but what makes this virtually all-talk novel appalling rather than just forgettable is the wretched dialogue: everyone--not just foolish characters--converses in nonstop clichÉs (in a single exchange: ""beat me at my own game. . . put this in your pipe. . . straight from the horse's mouth""), including anachronistic ones (""A sex object, that's all I mean to you""). Perhaps in the original German some consistent stage-speech style was projected; here it's just amateurish. On all counts, then, a lame effort which fans of Kirst's very different Nazi-suspense novels will find thoroughly disappointing.

Pub Date: May 1, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1980

Categories: FICTION