Award-winning, best-selling author Erik Larson has penned eight brilliant books, capturing different events and people in history and bringing them to life. His latest novel The Splendid and the Vile traces the life of Winston Churchill from his first day as prime minister of Britain through the end of the Blitz in London.
The book’s synopsis reads: “On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons (30,000 of them Londoners) and destroying two million homes. It was up to Churchill to hold the country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally–that she was willing to fight to the end.”
Churchill is a larger-than-life figure of history. Larson breaks down this heroic character with painstaking detail. He covers Churchill’s family and includes many firsthand accounts from things like his daughter Mary’s personal diaries. These give great insight into his family life and how they were affected by the war and his role as prime minister. He walks through the criticism and doubt Churchill received after succeeding Neville Chamberlain, including from the King of England. Larson chronicles his quirks, like his daily bath routine and his tendency to walk around in just his dressing robes (or even nothing), regardless of who was present.
The most impactful thing Larson covers in this book is Churchill’s utter devotion to his country. The odds were not in his favor throughout the entire course of the Blitz. Britain wasn’t producing enough, they were shut down for absurd amounts of time due to raids, they didn’t have the advanced technology to combat the German onslaught, and America wouldn’t enter the war (Not to mention Roosevelt’s restriction by certain laws to even send Britain their much needed destroyers and other goods for which Churchill pleaded).
Through it all, Churchill refused to give up. He remained passionate, devoted, diligent, and inspired his country to do the same. One quote in particular stuck out to me. Churchill said to President Roosevelt, “We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools, and we will finish the job” (370). This unbreakable spirit acting as the backbone of Britain completely irritated and baffled the Nazis. It was almost amusing to read their thoughts – so sure each raid would be the last, would do Britain in, only to be completely shocked that the British endured and fought back. They knew much of it had to do with Churchill and attempted to target him during their raids.
There is so much content in this 500 page book, but Larson wades through it all with skill and organizes it into sections with short, easy chapters. Even with all of that going on, I honestly found myself a little bored reading this book.
I have read five of Larson’s books and thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. Larson has this cinematic flair that he weaves into his stories which makes even the most mundane detail become fascinating. I went into The Splendid and the Vile with high expectations based on my previous experiences with Larson’s writing (add to that my love of World War II content), but I ultimately felt disinterested.
At first, I really wasn’t sure why, but after thinking it over, I think the book moved too slowly for me. This 500+ page book really only covered the Blitz, a 12 month period of the war. It took about 200 pages for the air raids to actually begin. After a certain point, I didn’t understand what more could be said about the raids on London. It’s an awfully long book for the story it tells.
Additionally, there’s ongoing drama throughout the book of Churchill’s children and their spouses, and I didn’t feel like it really fit in the narrative. We also had entire chapters devoted to things like teatime, which also seemed misplaced. Finally, I felt the ending to be extremely abrupt, especially considering Larson ends his retelling when we know the war is still raging for another four years. It felt inconclusive.
Despite the slow pace and misplaced or too-long fixations, I’d still recommend The Splendid and the Vile. While not my favorite of Larson’s work, it is full of good and inspiring content worth consuming.
Jessica
Copyright to Erik Larson and Crown Publishing. Image from Amazon.com.