Customer Reviews

1942: A Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The real "what-if" in Robert Conroy's 1942 is WHAT IF IT HAD BEEN AS TOLERABLE AS HIS EARLIER 1901. I am not going to be nearly as patronizingly polite as the other reviewers here because someone has to tell it like it is.

Simply put 1942 just isn't very good. As "alternative history" goes; it is quite wooden and 2-dimensional. Much of the Japanese dialog read as ill-timed as if one were watching some Japanese monster movie with a cheesy over-dubbed English translation. Too many sloppily composed sex scenes and laughable caricatures of "evil Japanese" as heinous torturers.

Then there is the very glaring poor research scholarship. Mr. Conroy is absolutely clueless when it comes to naval warfare of the period. Only F4F-4 Wildcats (presumably since his model has 6 wing mounted mg's) and A6N "Zeros" are ever featured by name. What? No Val's, Kate's, Dauntlesses, or Devastator's? Wow, this really is an alternate universe! Night CAP patrols and night combat missions? Not even remotely possible with those aircraft of mid-42.

The Japanese super-battleship Yamato is mentioned time & time again but in the closing chapter her sister-ship the Musashi suddenly gets a one-liner cameo as she sinks in the middle of Pearl Harbor from a surprisingly uber-effective US air attack. The only problem is that Robert Conroy imagines that she sailed to Hawaii a month before she was even commissioned and 4-5 months before she completed her shakedown trials. Good god Mr. Conroy, you claim to be a history teacher; feel free to mix in a little research before you sit down to write your next one.

One final ax to grind...

Very poorly imagined tactical and strategic doctrines throghout. No way FDR could have continued to insist on his Europe-First policy with the scenario as described in 1942. The entire West Coast laid bare with the inability of ships to continue to stage and patrol from Pearl? The real panic of our timeline was bad enough but in 1942 Robert Conroy insists that that the Atlantic Fleet would stayed right where it was with an unprotected West Coast. USN fleet carriers sent to the Southwest Pacific? Coral Sea fought almost as it actually was? What? Is the fall of the Hawaiian Islands occurring in a time bubble?

The Japanese bottling up their entire fleet in the cozy confines of Pearl just so it can sneak-attacked by a motley force of SUPER Wildcat fighter-bombers and decrepit Boeing flying boats just defies explanation but it matters not in Mr. Conroy's contrived universe. He simply waves magic wand of pen & paper and all just falls conveniently into place.

Of course Pearl now cluttered by the detritus of TWO destroyed fleets is completely useless to anyone as an operating base.

Be forewarned, save your $10-$15 and avoid this book.

Alternative History novels must be completely logical where "real" History sometime isn't as believable. Robert Conroy creates real people to follow during his novels. 1942 has the Japanese sending the "Third Wave" of attack on Pearl Harbor. The Third Wave destroys the Dry Docks and Fuel Tanks at Pearl. This sets up the logical retreat from Pearl Harbor for the U.S. Navy and for the Japanese to decide to invade Hawaii. The ending which I will NOT spoil for the readers is completely logical and emotionally satisfying.
Readers who have enjoyed Newt Gingrich & William R. Forstchen books "Pearl Harbor-A novel of December 8th" and "Days of Infamy" along with Harry Turtledove's "Days of Infamy (Pearl Harbor)" and "End of the Beinning" must buy Robert Conroy's "1942"!

Alternative history usually diverges at a set point and keeps diverging, becoming more and more unlike our timeline. In 1942, Conroy posits that Admiral Nagumo follows up the original air strike on Pearl Harbor with a raid that takes out the U. S. planes and oil storage tanks - as Yamamoto indeed ordered. The Japanese fleet, with its carriers, planes, and pilots, proceed to conquer the Hawaiian islands.
But then our 'actual' timeline, or perhaps the author's patriotism, at once determined and determining, reasserts itself and orchestrates a return to historical homeostasis and an American victory in the Pacific.
Several factors sabotage the initial triumph of the Japanese military force. The historically accurate ones include the code of bushido, a kind of hubristic honor, that lead the highly trained and irreplaceable pilots to die with their planes because they refused to wear parachutes - even in defiance of direct orders. On the fictional side, a heroic army captain named Jake Novacek leads a guerilla resistance force of military irregulars, Hawaiian natives and Japanese Americans. He contrives to communicate with US forces on the mainland, arranging for supplies and personnel, eventually staging a multi-pronged uprising that reverses the fortunes of war. His work is made easier in several ways: the governing Japanese quickly lapse into self-indulgent behavior; and the more brutal ones, who clearly never read Machiavelli, arouse the hatred of the entire native population, provoking them to rebellion.
Along with all the action, there is an emerging love story between Jake and a young widow. Her harrowing experiences show the face of that war from the woman's perspective. Another love story happens on the mainland between a young officer, Jamie Priest, the sole survivor of the battleship Pennsylvania, and a young woman on the intel team.
As with any really good alternative history, actual historical personages and events are scattered throughout, and actual political pressures are described. One of the mini-storylines is Roosevelt's failing health, and the genuine horror his military advisors feel at the prospect of him dying and leaving vice-president Henry A. Wallace in charge. They may not like their Democratic president much, but Wallace, who admires Stalin, would be their worst nightmare. Another side story details an investigation into the failure of the Mark 14 torpedoes to detonate. Thousands of navy personnel, and millions of dollars' worth of submarines and destroyers were lost because they did not perform as marketed. That's the real world of warfare for you.
Most WWII fiction focuses on the Atlantic front. Conroy has done an excellent bit of work presenting the Pacific side.

Robert Conroy's latest book begins with a premise familiar to fans of alternate history: an extended attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 that not only cripples the U.S. Pacific Fleet, but destroys the fuel bunkers and drydocks as well. Unable to maintain its fleet, the bulk of the U.S. Navy withdraws, leaving the Hawaiian Islands vulnerable to a hastily-assembled Japanese invasion. Their forces quickly conquer the poorly defended island, but the Japanese soon find themselves facing an organized guerrilla movement and an angry America determined to take the islands back.

This is Conroy's fourth alternate history novel, and its structure is similar to those of his earlier works. The story is told through the experiences of a series of characters (most of them fictional), with events moving more rapidly towards what is nonetheless an outcome similar to that of the actual history. It's an entertaining book, yet one which suffers by comparison with Harry Turtledove's "Days of Infamy" series, which developed a similar premise into a much richer portrait of a Japanese-occupied Hawaii. Conroy posits a different set of events, but his characters are not as well developed and the pacing feels far more rushed, both of which cost his novel a degree of verisimilitude that is one of the great strengths of Turtledove's work.

Ultimately, while not as good as his last book, 1945: A Novel, Conroy's latest is a solid entry in the alternate history field, one that shares the strengths and weaknesses of his earlier novels. Nitpickers will find a fair share of flaws, many of which are likely problems with editing rather than research and few of which detract from enjoying the work overall. For its plot, Conroy's postulations on events, and its satisfying conclusion, this is a book that fans of the genre will enjoy.

I was never much a fan of Robert Conway's AH novels. The reasons for this lies with his first ever attempt into the AH genre with "1901," an AH story full of great ideas but bound by terrible execution. The stories end left me with a foul taste in my mouth, with the people over throwing the Kiser after the war with the US goes nowhere, and then blaming the Jews for the loss of the war. So, the argument goes a little something like this. "We, the people of Germany, overthrew the Kiser, because the Jews lost the War!" Do you see how retarded that sounds?

It took me a while to ever get interested in ANYTHING Conway brought out after that, but now, we have his latest venture, 1942.

1942 revolves around the idea of Yamamoto, being present during the strike on Pearl Harbor, thus launching a devastating 3rd strike. After which, the Japanese High Command realize what a sitting duck Hawaii is, and decide to return with an invasion force. Now, for those of you who are a stickler for history will laugh at the idea of Japan invading Hawaii, because anyone who knows anything about the Pacific War will tell you Japan couldn't pull it off. But, we the readers are asked to forget about the logistical nightmare Japan would've faced and wonder what would have happened IF the Japanese somehow magically had the capabilities to pull this off.

Again, this can be acceptable, IF the writer can distract the reader with a good book. However for those of you who are expecting me to savage it, brace you're self for a bit of a shock, because it's not that bad a book; but I do ask it to stay right where it is. Conway doesn't just lock himself into Hawaii, he jumps around a bit, from Admirals and Generals, to PM's and Presidents. This breaks up the action a bit and provides a nice insight as to what happens next. While the occupation of the Hawaiian Islands is the meat of the story, this shifting around to different locations helps the whole AH Occupation theme so that it doesn't wear out its welcome, like Harry Turtledove managed to accomplish in his "Days of Infamy" series.

Another interesting aspect that's explored is because the Japanese have invaded Hawaii, their conquest suffers else where, although not by much, it's nice to see Conway actually thinking ahead.

However, this book isn't without its glaring flaws. The story while short and to the point, seems painfully rushed at some points, and the battles have started and ended before you even realize what's happened. Some characters feel like they've just been tossed in, and there's very little divergence from Our Time Line, almost as if it's just business as usual. Things happen almost parallel to events that happened to us, and it doesn't feel like AH but just our WW2 with different wall paper. The biggest nit pick I have with this book is that the battle for Hawaii for when it's lost to the Japanese and retaken by the Americans is bloody quick. At least Turtledove had the decency to make his battles for Hawaii last a few months, while 1942 by contrast ends the whole thing within a matter of weeks.

So to top it all up, 1942 is okay, but nothing special. This plot has been done before and done better, but if you're a fan of Alternative History then you'll enjoy this book. That is if you can look past it's flaws.

Aloha,Being a Pearl Harbor history buff and living just minutes from Pearl Harbor and Schofield Barracks I was looking forward to reading 1942.I was very disappointed.The book was very amateurish.Getting many military facts wrong.I wonder if any one with a knowledge of WWII military history was asked to check the book prior to printing.Perhaps with a fact check and a rewrite the book would be better.BTW,As to Japanese violence in WWII.Plz research the Rape of NanKing,the Bataan Death March or Unit 731 bio warfare testing for examples of Japanese violence.Maholo

The company sent me a book that was in very good condition.
I would order from this company again in the future. I give
them four stars.

As in the title. Enjoyable, not too deep at all, and quick. Good simple plot.

I caught robert's books at borders years ago and have enjoyed them since. Great writer and his book Red Inferno got me a little emotional. This book is almost as good as that one, I love the writing, and his negative writing towards the Japanese truly shows realistically how they were from the 1930s through the 1940s. Kids now a days don't understand how awful they were, even before the war.... Against their own fellow Asians... For lack of a better word ATM. Buy this book, it's worth the read hands down. Btw I'm a Japanese American.

With every alternate history novel one must suspend belief and be cautious of too much overt criticism given the genre. That is why the Amazon customer reviews offer such a range in their opinion of Conroy's '1942'. There are those that have disappeared into the fiction and those that just cannot accept the quality of writing and the story. I am in the latter camp with a small caveat - it is still an escape but if you want to thoroughly enjoy it - think of it as a comic book.

One of the other reviews (Clueless "what-if") does a fine job exposing issues in logic, character development, and plot so I will not repeat or pile on. However, I will say it starts well with a fairly fresh premise regarding Pearl Harbor and the strategies of Japan and the U.S. It quickly gets extremely clumsy overall and insultingly one-dimensional in its characterization of the Japanese. Conroy attempts to balance this bias with the inclusion of an American traitor but fails. This is my first Conroy and I plan to give him another try with his '1945' which appears to have more favorable consumer reviews.