Customer Reviews

Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah Pb (Gollancz Sf Collectors' Editions)

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

 

 

My main complaint is that "A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!" is far too short. Having gone to the trouble of constructing such a fascinating, and fairly consistent, parallel world, Harrison could have written twice or three times as much about it. Many novels benefit from being vigorously trimmed back, as the removal of excess verbiage helps the action to stand out more clearly. Here, the opposite is the case. Apart from the protagonist, Captain Augustine Washington, there is virtually no characterisation - and even he is little more than a heroic stereotype. And the civilisation and culture of a world in which the American colonies never achieved independence are merely sketched, with overwhelming focus on transport technology.

Then again, you can easily zip through the book in a day, and nobody can complain about being bogged down by inessentials. Harrison's artistry allows him to translate us to his alternate universe with a few deft strokes. It is unfair to make comparisons with later novels such as Gibson and Sterling's "The Difference Engine", which give a more three-dimensional impression of Victorian society. (Anyway, "A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!" is set in 1973, although speech patterns and customs are Victorian).

Due to the book's consistent focus on the transatlantic tunnel project, the action is rather intermittent. This will not be a problem for anyone who enjoys descriptions of clever technology, though, as possibilities are opened up that have not been explored even in our world. Some of the ideas may seem questionable - for instance, the artificial islands in the Atlantic, with their hotels, shopping precincts and beaches, might not stand up well to the occasional "perfect storm".

All in all, though, a most enjoyable romp and a big contrast to run-of-the-mill "space opera" science fiction. The introduction by Auberon Waugh and cameo appearances of Messrs Aldiss, Amis and Dick Tracy are a bonus.

Harry Harrison has never been one of my favourite authors, and this book certainly did not change my opinion. But I have to admit, alternative histories have always been my weak spot and in "a Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah" Harrison succeeds pretty well in combining an intriguing victorian setting and and an interesting plot with the enormous engineering project required by the tunnel between England and its North-American colony, USA. As in Harrison's popular science fiction parodies, this book also has a fluent storyline and although it didn't quite catch the level of sense of wonder I expected, at least it managed to keep away the boredom of our mundane world. And isn't that way most of us read science fiction anyway?

Harry Harrison pre-empts the steampunk novels of the 1990s with this "Victorian" romance set in a parallel world of 1973 where the war of American Independence was won by the British. Travel by sea is slow and cumbersome, so a group of engineers on both sides of the Atlantic come up with a way of building a tunnel that will traverse the ocean. Chief engineer on the British side is Sir Isambard Brassy-Brunel who is in disagreement with the man in overall charge of both sides. Captain Augustine "Gus" Washington, a descendant of the very George Washington who was executed for his traitorous activities against the UK at Lexington, has been awarded the difficult job of co-ordinating both sides of construction. The fact that Gus wishes to marry Brunel's daughter only adds to his problems in this fun, light-hearted SF novel which also features a medium who can allegedly see into the various existing parallel universes. Her only comments regarding our particular timeline regard our weapons capabilities and (naturally) Woolworths, and Marks & Spencers. Good fun

In this book, a descendant of George Washington does his best to construct an underwater tunnel to link Britain and America by train. It is the 1970s, and the British Empire is still thriving, thanks to 1) the Spanish never having reconquered Iberia from the Muslims (and thus the English discovered and took over all of the Americas) and 2) the British having won the (attempted) American Revolution, during which George Washington was executed for treason. Now his descendent, Augustine "Gus" Washington, is an engineer working on the trans-Atlantic tunnel, hoping to restore his family's honor.

Harrison's alt-history is clever, but vastly underused. The few peeks we get at what the world would be like if the British Empire had been even larger and lasted even longer are intriguing, but Harrison gives us little more than some vague sketches. For example, more Native Americans would have survived, which makes sense given the fact that the British government was generally more concerned with their welfare than was the United States. In addition, the World Wars apparently never happened, and it seemed implied that this was due to the sheer hegemony of the British Empire. These sorts of things were intriguing and at least somewhat plausible to me, since I did a lot of graduate work in history on the British Empire. However, like I said, Harrison gives us only the merest hints.

The steampunk-esque (though this book predates the steampunk movement, I think) technologies in the book are often intriguing as well - in this alternate world, we have airships, steam power, and analog computers coexisting side-by-side with electronic and nuclear power, so it's simultaneously more and less advanced than the world we live in. However, Harrison has a tendency to get bogged down in wearisome and minute descriptions of these technologies, at the expense of other elements of his story, which correspondingly suffer.

And that's what my main complaints are - though some of Harrison's descriptive passages were very good, overall characterization, plot, conflict, and dialogue were fairly weak. (In particular, as at least one prior reviewer pointed out, Washington's character is very flat.)

The basic premise of this book could have been made into a really great, dramatic story, but Harrison's usage of it falls short. So in sum: Good premise, lackluster execution.

I bought ATTH because it was listed as a seminal Steampunk novel.
It was a fun read, but didn't have the depth of everyday details that a book like The Difference Engine has.
That's the only thing that kept me from giving it great reviews.
I heartily recommend it! Things like atomic trains juxtaposed with coal fired aircraft make this book a lot of fun.

THE GREATEST ENGINEERING FEAT IN THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE!

... and of course the rest of the world as well. Over 4,000 miles in length, intended to sustain a pressure of 1,000 atmospheres while accommodating cargo and passengers traveling in excess of 1,000 miles per hour, the Transatlantic Tunnel is a project worthy of Her Majesty's Empire in this the eights decade of twentieth century.

If the project is a success, the credit will belong to Captain Augustus Washington, the most brilliant engineer of our age. It is Washington's greatest hope that his success will at last erase the family shame inspired by that other Washington, George, traitor to his King, who was hanged by Lord Cornwallis more than two centuries ago.

This is one of Harry Harrison's all time greats. His understanding of "what could have been" is unsurpassed.

I could read this book over and over again.