Never On These Shores by Stephen R. Pastore
Released: June 30, 2007
Imagine the horror, the humiliation, and the disgrace of being an American in 1942 if our shores were invaded and occupied by the German Nazis, the Italians and the Japanese…No need to imagine, just read this book and be thankful it is just alternative historical fiction. This novel is just the beginning in what I imagine will be a series of books chronicling the hardships of American citizens under the pressure and in some cases the rule of foreign occupiers. The characters are very real but do not fall in love with any of them for much like war their lives and ultimate deaths are brutal and horrific.
The author writes about homosexuality, rape, mass extermination, mutilation, and any other form of death one can imagine. The reality of this novel is that if the German Nazis were to occupy Texas they would gas the African Americans, homosexuals, and the Jews, with the help of the KKK. The author does take several literary liberties in that he presumes that there would be little resistance by Americans and that the greatest generation of our time would surrender and even make back room deals with the the Nazis or the Japanese.
One must suspend historical pride if there is any hope of buying into this novel, I for one found the first 200 pages hard to read because I was just so mad at the premise and the liberties taken by the author.
Never on These Shores takes awhile to ramp up but once you get over the pure disgust at what the author is trying to sell the book actually opens up and reads very nicely, I look forward to the next installment.
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