MALLAST 2

A multigenerational series installment that weaves together the lives of two families who migrate to America from Prussia in the 19th century.

This book, which is more of a prequel than a true sequel to Prevost’s Mallast (2012), takes readers back to the Mallast brothers’ youth in a Prussia riven by inequality, enlivened by revolutionary ideals, and haunted by intimations of a major war brewing involving Prussia, Denmark, and Napoleon’s forces. Siblings August, Carl Julius, and Edward spend their early years on a farm, constantly beset by both the worries about impending conflict and everyday difficulties of poverty. Carl Julius tires of this life and immigrates to the United States in 1865 in search of the ample opportunity and freedom rumored to await people there; later, his brother Edward follows him across the sea. Prevost goes on to tell the stories of a dizzying cast of characters over decades as family members strike off on their own and establish farms, families, businesses, and lives far from one another, only to reunite years later. Over time, the Mallasts and the Steffens—another, similarly restless Prussian family—are united by marriage. The author’s ample archival and historical research is impressive in scope. However, it doesn’t find a suitable place in the dialogue of Prevost’s characters, who lack emotional depth and often seem more like talking textbooks than real people. For example, Edward spends too much time explaining the military tactics of Otto von Bismarck, and another character spends time relating the economic ramifications of interchangeable parts. Descriptions of occasional moments of interest, as when Carl Julius disguises himself on the sea voyage to America as he flees a military-service mandate in Prussia and when a husband and wife have a violent confrontation over infidelity, feel like simple reportage, with sparse detail and few hints about the characters’ feelings.

An ambitious work that prioritizes historical background over character and plot.