Customer Reviews

The Separation

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Christopher Priest's "The Separation" breaks from the standard Alternate History templates in almost every way possible, and as a result, is superb addition to the genre. I say this because unlike most alternate histories, which focus on story (specifically timeline) to the exclusion of plot and character development, Priest has taken the opposite approach and written a novel that explores ideas and reality within the framework of an alternate history. His world is a tool (albeit a fascinating, well realized one) used to highlight certain salient elements of his narrative. Moreover, Priest leaves his world ambiguous and oddly uncertain.

This uncertainty begins with the opening pages of the novel, which at first strike the reader as relatively standard alternate history. It is the early twenty-first century in a world where Britain and Germany signed an armistice in the spring of 1941. Priest quickly frames a believable alternate world without bogging down in the details, and the novel seems set to follow the researches of one Stuart Gratton into the origins of this early peace. Intriguing yes, but hardly surprising or unique for an alternate history. However, that quickly changes as Gratton comes into possession of diaries that reveal the story of an RAF bomber pilot, and it quickly becomes clear that these diaries detail the events of our own world.

Thus begins a narrative that weaves back and forth across itself. Through the fascinating lives of J. L. Sawyer, twins who share the same initials, the reader is constantly left wondering what is real and what is imagined. Considering that the reader actually knows which story is true, this is a remarkable accomplishment, and speaks highly to Priest's substantial abilities as a writer.

To delve more deeply into the plot would risk spoiling it, but there are numerous elements to this novel that are worth mentioning. The first is it's presentation; Priest deftly switches from the third to the first person, and often interjects "historical" letters and documents to flesh out the narrative. While in less capable hands, this would come across as contrived, here it succeeds nicely in separating the lives of the Sawyer brothers.

Which brings us to the literary device of the twins; again, in less capable hands, they could come across as hackneyed, but carefully handled, as they are here, they are an essential and fascinating plot element. Aside from the broadly recognized, if not fully appreciated, bond between twins, Priest explores even deeper elements. His twins, despite being two people seem to be bound to only one destiny. Each has his preferred path, but they are mutually exclusive, and immutable. This tension, although never explicitly stated or explored, informs the entire novel, and is key to Priest's ability to keep the reader wrong-footed for quite literally the entire novel.

Finally, this question of destiny brings us to the book's consideration of reality. At times Priest seems to verge on the "multiverse" approach found elsewhere in science fiction; in other words, his world and our own are not exclusive but just two of innumerable possible worlds. Ultimately, however, he backs away from this approach; while not a proponent of predestination, he views history as a force that can be diverted but never meaningfully altered. In this specific instance, he uses Hess, Churchill and other real people to illustrate that other outcomes, no matter how strongly desired, aren't plausible in the face personalities, circumstances, etc. If I am correct in this reading, it has fascinating implications for the entire structure of the book, to the point that in a manner of speaking the book ceases to exist for the characters once it has been read in its entirety.

I used the word "if" above for two reasons; the first is that while I am confident in my reading, I can't state conclusively that I am correct. The reason for this hesitation is the second reason for using "if": this entire novel is about "ifs". The story crosses back upon itself countless times, and the reader is constantly left to question what is consequential and what is insignificant. By exploring the alternative paths available, Priest highlights the one that actually was followed to great effect; it is easy to assume that the world would have been a better place absent World War II, but what would the implications of such a peace have been?

Blending elements of convergent and divergent history, not to mention secret history, Priest has produced a remarkable novel. His world is tremendously detailed without being overly expository, and his writing posits a host of intriguing questions. Where "The Separation" truly shines though is in its consideration of our humanity. Priest uses his world to explore our hopes, aspirations and desires. Moreover, by deliberately fracturing and blurring the narrative, he calls into question reality itself even as he brings into stark relief the implications of our actions. A novel rich in ideas, beautifully conceived, superbly executed and brilliantly written, "The Separation" is not to be missed.

Jake Mohlman

I enjoyed this novel immensely. Christopher Priest is a consistently fine writer, and, for me, this exceeds his two immediately prior novels, and they were good reads also ('The Extremes', and 'The Prestige'). If you have not read Christopher Priest previously I would also recommend the earlier novels 'A Dream of Wessex', 'The Affirmation' and 'The Glamour'.

There is always something unsettling in Mr Priest's writing - something to remind the reader that we all create a 'firm' understanding of the reality we live in, and yet we all know that we are often mistaken, deluded, fooled.... You could see this novel simply as an alternative history novel in which the outcome of World War 2 (our real history)is contrasted with a believable alternative. But it's nothing like Philip Dick's wonderful 'The Man in the High Castle' which is a post-war alternative history, because Mr Priest actually describes the war coming to an alternative resolution during the war. So there are real people in the novel - notably Winston Churchill and Rudolph Hess. And I could well believe in both of them. But the story centres on identical twins - both of them being JL Sawyer. Perhaps we were meant to get them confused, but one of the slight weaknesses for me in this novel was a failure to separate the twins adequately - well, they were diametrically opposed in their attitude to the war, but it was their mood and personality that got confused for me.

Mysteries abound in the narrative and only a very dull mind would not be actively searching for resolutions, explanations. But the story keeps turning away from possible explanations and yet keeps coming back to itself with different views of the same incidents - there's a bit of ground hog day in it! And the ending of the novel is something I have seen before too - in WH Hudson's 'A Crystal Age' - not that I saw it coming in 'The Separation' for all that. Hudson makes no effort to rationalise or justify how the ending could be the way it is - Mr Priest hangs out a technical artefact that you could configure as an 'explanation' if you so wish - an option not available to Hudson, although he could have resorted to a occult 'explanation' if he'd wished. Let me just leave it by saying in both novels that the ending is very strong.

At the end of the novel I was left wondering - perhaps there could have been a better outcome for World War 2 (not something our side is ever likely to countenance) - or at least, a less bad one.

Finally, and not with regard to the novel itself, I am left wondering why a search for 'The Separation' brings up nearly 2000 items but this book is no where near the head of the list (it's last on the list of 44 publications under 'Christopher Priest'). I realise that it is not available everywhere yet, but it is in the database of titles and it is open for reviewing. It is, also Mr Priest's most recently published novel so should become widely available soon - unless, of course, .....

Christopher Priest proves himself a verbal M. C. Escher with "The Separation." Like Escher's famous "Moebius Strip," this book's "beginning" and "end" are inextricably twisted and bound together. Like the woodcut "Circle Limit (Heaven and Hell)," the characters are angels when looked at one way and devils when another. Like the lithograph "Ascending and Descending," the plot steps from a curious "present day" back to World War II days and forward again on a trick staircase. Like the wood engraving "Whirlpools," dichotomies such as twins and doubles whirl about each other illusively to propel story.

"The Separation" is a thinking person's book. Also a history buff's. And an alternate history fan's. It is rich in detail about the war we understand to be history, yet manages to stuff an entirely Other Outcome into the tale as well. Priest creates renditions of real historical personages like Winston Churchill and Rudolf Hess that merge mysteriously with their phantoms and doppelgangers. Meanwhile the brothers Joe and Jack, whose memoirs/journals provide the bulk of the novel, make the reader muse a time or two whether both "really" exist...or just one who's cracked in the head (literally and psychically) while the other is his shadow self.

For anyone who lived through the European War of the 1940s or anyone who had relatives who did, "The Separation" is also a vivid and heart-wrenching reminder of the terrible civilian toll inflicted by both sides with calculated, brutal city bombing, among other desperate acts of wartime.

The sections written from a pacifist's point of view ringingly declare that war never truly solves humanity's problems, a sentiment real human beings dismiss too quickly. Here is part of one heartfelt speech: "...[A]lthough a war can be fought for what is believed to be an honourable reason, such as with the intention of forming a peaceful society, the war itself, by causing so much death and destruction, defeats its own object. Human suffering, pain, misery, separation and bereavement are inevitable when wars are fought. Violence, when opposed by other violence, creates a set of circumstances in which more violence will inevitably follow. Revenge, retribution and reprisal become predominant in people's minds. They seek to hurt others because they themselves have been hurt." (p. 184)

The same (i.e., that nothing is solved) may also be said of Priest's book: nothing is definitively nailed down as verifiable, as the truth of history. Instead, we get something like Escher's "Bond of Union," - where two alternate histories and two brother's lives unwind and atomize around each other and into the atmosphere. Such is the tantalizing lure of this astonishing and awesome work of fiction.

Other 5 Star reviews, professional critics, and numerous literary awards speak to the excellence of this wonderful novel. One reviewer specifically mentioned the alternative history efforts of Turtledove and the like. For those who find some satisfaction in the superficiality of Turtledove and the basic, no nonsense type of writing he is known for, might do well in not taking on The Separation. It is not, strictly speaking, an alternate history, but an exploration of the nature of reality and the identity of self. This is an intellectual work, not a comic book in the style of popular "what if" science fiction. Priest is an author that challenges readers to actually think, to ponder, and to draw their own conclusions. There is no easy answer to his puzzle. This is not volume one of a multi-book series that milks every detail in an endless repetition of adjectives and populated with cardboard characters. The Separation is literature and should be approached as such by readers willing to take on the task of looking inward as they turn the pages. It is a truly fascinating book and one not to be missed by anyone who enjoys something more than the usual junk fiction that sells so that some writers continue cranking out the familiar to loyal followers. Priest and The Separation are unique, fresh, and brilliant.

I love this book and have given it to several people who've loved it as much as I do. I'm sorry that people were let down by the reviews. One person got bored, one found the writing was horrible, and one felt it was the worst book he'd ever read.

But those reviews make sense: Chris Priest is being even more confusing than usual.

At the very beginning it does seem that "Priest posits an alternate history in which Britain signed a peace accord with Germany in 1941, ending the war." But he doesn't. He starts with a historian in that time line who's dragged in and becomes interested because as he reads the memoirs and does the research there seem to be two different things going on at the same time; he becomes more and more confused and irritated but there's also the itch to find out what is true.

Assuming that the reader doesn't just give up because things seem so muddled (and it takes a lot of patience not to) it gradually develops that the twins' time lines diverge at some point but the time lines and the brothers keep crossing. You wind up with the same scenes but as happened on one time line or the other, sometimes even a twin seeing it from his brothers time line and reacting to it. Priest is also playing with the subject of twins in general. Does Winston Churchill have someone who looks like him to go out in public and risk death? He needed to be alive to work, he had to be out there to support and encourage the people. Does the Churchill of the book use or not use a double? Which choice is the right one? Or is it even that each choice was made by a Churchill? Compound that by asking if it was the same Churchill from different time lines but overlapping?

And who, what, and when are the people at the peace talks? People are doubled, leaning one way in one time line and a different one in the other, the time lines are different depending on what people have done in the past, then compound that by doubles/not doubles interacting with each other. Throw in that people get confused, especially when trying to follow official documents that are contradictory. Is X the same person acting in far different ways or a different one with the same name, antecedents, et. al.? Etc.

For whatever it's worth there was an attempt by members of the German High Command to negotiate with the Allies to secure peace. It was to involve removing Hitler from power. In The Separation the person who was to execute it did or did not have a chance. If he did have the chance it did or did not succeed. The novel isn't about great events, it's about this or that person, who they are, how that changes, the choices they make, the results of those choices, to the point of the success/not success of that mission depending on what this or that person did as things were happening. "For the want of a a nail a shoe was lost . . . a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse." But is the kingdom one where Hitler's career was ended by the Germans or the Allies? Both have advantages and disadvantages.

It's a novel that address that individuals can be evil and good; with the best of intentions do something that has a bad result; that two things can be true at once; at one and the same time -- the brothers overlapping -- believe that one thing is true and the opposite is also true, that one has to fight in defense of country, not noticing individual suffering while at the same time that fighting is wrong and what has to be paid attention to is the individual suffering.

And should one follow ones beliefs to the exclusion of anything else or modify them as things go along? In The Separation each brother believes something to be an absolute and follows that.

(Bringing that down to the most basic you believe "Be open and honest" and "Don't hurt people" What do you do if a friend has made a stupid decision? What happens if one of those beliefs, be open and honest for example, is something you consider an absolute and follow at all costs?)

Which goes back to Churchill: using a double and not using a double are both the right thing to do. Flying to attack an enemy to end the fighting, ignoring individuals, and focusing on the individuals and trying to end the fighting can both be the right thing to do. Having the absolute belief in something, honourably sticking to it and following that path to the end, can be right or wrong.

And what, the historian and others try to find out, is True?

At the end of The Separation, did the person in the ambulance live or die? He's Schroedinger's cat.

The Schroedinger thought-experiment exasperated me: I could see and agree with the point but any discussion of the actual experiment drove me nuts: just open the box already. The result is going to be either a cat that is dead or a cat that is fed so stop leaving it in limbo. Whichever result let us get on with it. Humans are more complicated. The person in the ambulance lived. The person in the ambulance died. At various points before that decisions were made, each one being made led to the result, the result had repercussions one way or the other.

The Prestige was easier but even then closing the book or watching the closing credits could leave the brain twitching: huh? And having to go through the novel, movie, or both again. The Separation has you doing that huh? shortly after starting reading.

The Separation is an alternate history novel by a good writer. Those who wallow in shallow examples of this sub-genre -- the books of Harry Turtledove, for instance -- will not care for this at all. What we have in this work is at least two (maybe more?) different histories presented in such a way that we weave back and forth from one to the other. Pieces fit together locally, but not globally, as in some of the art of M.C. Escher. The most extreme example would be the characters of Stuart Gratton and Angela Chipperton, who, if I'm reading the book correctly, could not exist together in the same place and yet do, briefly. There is some repetition, particularly at the beginning, but as I see it that is important to the manner in which the story is presented, as a tale told and retold, not always in the same way. One could argue that the book is a little too long in the middle, but I am normally a slow reader and yet finished the novel rather quickly. This is intelligent, challenging alternate history. Its one flaw, which is perhaps inherent, is that it really is a parallel universe novel, with the relationship between the worlds unclear -- "it was just a dream" is one way to interpret the story, an aspect I find just a little unsatisfying, and the reason for four stars rather than five. Highly recommended.

I discovered Christopher Priest in a used bookstore in the form of a slim paperback novel entitled The Glamour. Since then, having read most of his work, the only two books by Christopher Priest I did not thoroughly enjoy were The Prestige and Extremes. Because those two novels are the immediate predecessors of Separation, it was with some trepidation that I undertook to read this book, whereof now I speak.

Forgive the digressive introduction, but I believe it's appropriate to invoke Priest's earlier work, specifically The Glamour. As regards the Separation, the rare, if not unique, literary device deployed in these two novels is quite similar. The same events are recounted in two separate narratives which are radically different both in perspective and in historical context. Unlike the Glamour, Separation is not merely an impressive display of literary sleight of hand, but rather a very complex and very daunting puzzle.

Having read the Separation I completely concur with Mohlman's analysis. This book cannot be understood or explicated without a very big "if." We begin with an alternative history wherein World War II lasted only one year, due to the actions of one Joe L. Sawyer on behalf of the International Red Cross in forming an armistice with Germany. We, also begin with identical twins with the same initials (J.L. Sawyer) who play radically different roles and are obliged to radically different commissions in this scenario, formulating the respective narratives. We are then introduced to several subplots which allude to identical twins or dopplegangers deployed by Winston Churchill, on behalf of himself and Rudolph Hess (or perhaps vice-versa). These subplots seem to build to a very intricate climax.

The way this story ends seems to cut off all of these possibilities which are present in both narratives. The final chapter may be genius or may be a cop out. Still, this is not disappointing because, "if" I'm reading it correctly it is quite literally "the end." If not of the story in regards to the characters, then of the characters in regards to the story. Or, of the reader in regards to both.

It is interesting to note that there is an American Comic book writer who calls himself Christopher J. Priest. Many bibliophiles still believe that the British novelist, Christopher Priest, moonlights for Marvel Comics and pens "Green Lantern." Winston S. Churchill might have something to say about this.

One cannot easily describe the plot of any of Christopher Priests books, so I will not attempt to do so here. The synopsis of this book above tells about as much as one can tell without giving away too much. For this is a book full of twists and turns, of characters who are not who they seem (or who are more than they seem), of situations that get turned inside-out.

Again exploring a pair of twins (Priest is, himself the father of twins, which could explain this obsession), this book involves several pairs of doubles, of mistaken identity, of confusion caused by shifts in perception. What begins as a relatively simple story, of a writer researching a key moment in (an alternate) history, ends up being one of the most haunting books I have ever read.

I won't deny that my interest flagged at moments; the structure of the second part of the book (diary entries, letters, documents) seems dry on the surface, but each piece in this puzzle ends up having much more import than it seems on the surface.

Priest excels here in shifting from one reality to another. He never makes them obvious, and these shifts are so subtle and masterful that they sneak up on you.

Suffice it to say that this confirms my opinion that Christopher Priest is one of the finest living writers, and that he creates some of the strangest yet cloyingly attractive stories one can find. Far from his origins and label as a "science fiction" writer, Priest has almost defined his own genre.

This is Christopher Priest's (1943) first book I've read and it's a real shock. Complex and jam-packed of thought provoking ideas.
"The Separation" is an alt-his novel and IMHO a multiple universe story that questions if reality is as real as we perceive it.

I've enjoyed many notable books dealing with diverse WWII outcomes as Sarban's (aka John W. Wall) "The Sound of His Horn", Dick's "Man in the High Castle"; Harris' "Fatherland", Deighton's "SS-GB", yet this book is quite different from them all.


In the first and short part the author sketches a world where an early peace between UK and Germany has given way to a whole dissimilar reality from ours. With a brief patchwork of snapshots Priest gives the reader an inkling of this universe.

Then the author produces two divergent realities from the parallel stories of two identical twin brothers immersed in differing universes. Nevertheless those universes crisscross theirs stories in a maze of converging-diverging situations leaving to the reader how to articulate one with the other.

Particularly interesting, for me at least, are the deep cogitations of one of the main characters about the indiscriminate bombing of German cities, its rationale and affectivity.

If you are interested in these subjects give the book a try, it is not an easy reading but it deserves it.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Alternative history divides into two broad categories: those that use it as a device to tell genre stories, 'Fatherland' for example, and pure alternative histories which tend to be science fiction. 'The Separation' falls into the latter category. I prefer the former. And that's my main gripe with the book.

When I first came across it I was instantly intrigued by the hook of the Jews being deported to Madagascar instead of killed. However this is only the most minor detail in the background of the story. Nothing substantial comes out of it.

Instead this is a book of parallel histories, narratives and characters. Twins and doubles are everywhere (a theme the author is obviously interested in for those who have seen/read The Prestige). There are twins and doubles everywhere - and that's not a mistake because large sections of the book are repeated with only minor alterations. I understand how Priest is making a point about the nature of reality/parallel histories and unreliable narrators but personally I found it a bit tedious.

Something else that disappointed were the references to the extensive research of the book (both here on Amazon and the dust jacket). Again this maybe a case of me failing to manage my expectations but I assumed this meant research into the creation of an alternative world such as Harris's Berlin in `Fatherland'. As it happens the books is full of detailed research but it's more to do with life during the war than any victorious Nazi Germany.

Take all of the above then add the fact that I didn't warm to the twins' characters nor did I much like Priest's clever but rather cold writing and I was left with a novel I struggled to finish... though I did get there in the end.

Sometimes you read a book that you know is good but you personally can't get on with it. I'm sorry to say 'Separation' is one of those. Too clever for me, I'm afraid.