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zed 's Reviews > The Alteration
The Alteration
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Very good. Very clever use of historical figures and cultural references. Those historical and cultural nods do make it a very cynical book. This novel is an attack on organised religion, in this case the Roman Catholic Church. Science is frowned upon and even suppressed in some cases. Even the enlightened practise apartheid and are ethnocentric.
I have been thinking about this book and Pavane by Keith Roberts. Amiss gives a nod to Pavane in this book as one of the many cultural references.
The similarities is that we have a catholic theocracy ruling England. Amis book covers the treatment of one specific individual by the ruling class. It is a very good tale and has one thinking about authoritarianism as a subject.
Pavane on the other hand has 6 chapters with each covering various individuals from all classes. Each chapter is vaguely interlinked so that made me feel that Roberts was able to get to the core of the individuals and how they used their circumstances within their class to their advantage, how they rebelled, how they lived, how they died. I prefer Pavane. It has a humanity about the characters that I found compelling, I had a sympathy for their circumstances. The Alteration did not quite get to that depth of characterisation.
My review of Pavane.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I have been thinking about this book and Pavane by Keith Roberts. Amiss gives a nod to Pavane in this book as one of the many cultural references.
The similarities is that we have a catholic theocracy ruling England. Amis book covers the treatment of one specific individual by the ruling class. It is a very good tale and has one thinking about authoritarianism as a subject.
Pavane on the other hand has 6 chapters with each covering various individuals from all classes. Each chapter is vaguely interlinked so that made me feel that Roberts was able to get to the core of the individuals and how they used their circumstances within their class to their advantage, how they rebelled, how they lived, how they died. I prefer Pavane. It has a humanity about the characters that I found compelling, I had a sympathy for their circumstances. The Alteration did not quite get to that depth of characterisation.
My review of Pavane.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Reading Progress
April 24, 2017
– Shelved
April 24, 2017
– Shelved as:
wish-list
May 4, 2017
–
Started Reading
May 4, 2017
– Shelved as:
to-read
May 4, 2017
– Shelved as:
alternate-history
May 11, 2017
–
Finished Reading
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Glenn
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rated it 5 stars
May 12, 2017 02:16AM
Very nice review! I recall how you noted on the thread of my review of this KA book that you were going to get to it. Glad you did!
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Glenn wrote: "Very nice review! I recall how you noted on the thread of my review of this KA book that you were going to get to it. Glad you did!"I am too. A fascinating read. Interestingly I have been reading a few more reviews and even the wiki. I was fairly good at getting most of the historical and cultural references on the way through but the Pope being Harold Wilson passed me by. I'll be!
I also wonder how I would have felt if I had read Amis prior to Roberts. Reading back my review I am a little bit ham fisted as it reads as if I am a bit critical of The Alteration in comparison to Pavane. It is not meant to be like that at all. A comparison of the degrees of excellence within the Alt History genre.
