Reviews and Comments

Conceptually this is an interesting book, however despite what the Guardian says, it is not in the same league as, or a companion to, 1984. We find out a bit about the society and structure, but most of the book is two characters out of five talking to each other. The threat to the main characters is far off and Alfred seems to be able to get away with breaking rules (e.g. not delivering the Nazi salute), in a way which wouldn't happen under the type of regime described in the book (even in the real history, not delivering the salute would have landed you in hot water to say the least). Most of the time he's waltzing around on holiday, chatting to important people and taking a rather relaxed attitude to everything

1984 is much creepier and you really get a continuing sense of threat to the main character. In Swastika Night, there's not much in the way of surveillance, so you can get away with a lot if you live outside of a major town and don't draw too much attention to yourself. If you want 'a scathing feminist anatomy of war, sexism and power' (John Clute), you'd be better off with The Handmaid's Tale.