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December 6: A Novel
 
 
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December 6: A Novel [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Martin Cruz Smith (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)

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Ever wonder how things might have been different for Rick Blaine, the ostensibly selfish nightclub owner from Casablanca, had he lived in Japan during the 1940s, rather than Morocco? Martin Cruz Smith offers a reasonable scenario in December 6.

This slickly plotted, exotically atmospheric thriller opens in Tokyo just a few days before bombs start raining on Pearl Harbor. There we meet roguish Harry Niles, the culturally conflicted son of religious missionaries and owner of the Happy Paris, a club known for its enigmatic jukebox jockey, Michiko, who also happens to be Harry's mistress. With war rumors rampant, Harry--distrusted by both U.S. and Japanese authorities--"was skipping town. Any sane person would." He has a seat waiting on what may be the final flight out to Hong Kong, and plans to escape from there to the States with a British diplomat's wife. But first, there are business and personal affairs to settle, not the least of which is an oil-tank con he's been running on the Imperial Navy--a desperate strategy to stop his beloved Japan from entering into self-destructive conflict with America. Harry also has to duck a sword-wielding military fanatic, who's seeking revenge for a long-ago incident that cost him honor, and bid sayonara to Michiko, a woman as scary as she is seductive. (Oh, well, at least they'll always have the Happy Paris.)

This book memorably re-creates wartime Tokyo, with its pet beetles and mincing geishas and naive belief that "victory lies in a faith in victory." Yet it's Harry Niles--cynical on top, sentimental beneath--who really carries December 6, a novel as brilliantly convoluted and captivating as any Smith (Gorky Park , Havana Bay ) has yet concocted. --J. Kingston Pierce

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-In early December, 1941, Harry Niles runs his nightclub, Happy Paris, in Tokyo's Asakuza district, keeps a mistress, and makes plans to escape from Japan with the British ambassador's wife. His departure is complicated by the Japanese, who consider him a spy and arrest him several times; the British and Americans, who deny him any help; and a Japanese soldier who wants him dead. He manages to elude most of his problems, narrowly escaping only to discover that he is trapped in Japan on December 7. Smith vividly conjures up the beauty of the country and the ugliness in people. Along with clear descriptions of locations, he creates realistic pictures of a distinct time and place. While the protagonist is the most fully developed, the secondary characters, as well as those who play far lesser roles, quickly take on distinct personalities and attributes. The book has flashbacks of Niles growing up in Japan as a mistreated and neglected son of American missionaries. As the plot progresses, his background helps to explain his attitude toward Japan, the imminent war, his relationships with two lovers, and his love of gambling against the odds. Since the story takes place over three days, the events move quickly and the plot is tightly woven together. The result is a historical thriller brimming with action, odd characters, and an ending well worth the read.
Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews

58 Reviews
5 star:
 (25)
4 star:
 (16)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (8)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (58 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Setting and Characters make for a must read., Feb 7 2004
By 
William J. Meggs (Greenville, North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: December 6: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
The setting, Imperial Japan in the days leading up to Pearl Harbor, and the characters, American business man and con artist Harry Niles and his Japanese mistress Michiko, make this a most interesting novel. Martin Cruz Smith has dramatically depicted an American who was raised Japanese -- his Southern Baptist missionary parents abandoned him to a Japanese nanny -- but remains forever an outsider. As the clouds of war gathered, the conflicts that turned Harry Niles inside out and threatened his very life make for a page-turning thriller.
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4.0 out of 5 stars A Mesmerizing Look Into Pre-war Japan, Mar 17 2004
By 
Erik Russell Olson (Dublin, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: December 6: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
Many of the other reviewers here have already hit some of the flaws in December 6 right on the head: not everyone is really going to know, four years in advance, just how the war will end. And the closing of the novel leaves too much unanswered, with some characters' fates not clearly delineated.

What really made December 6 an interesting read for me were the flashback chapters which alternated with the present-day chapters (i.e., 1941). It is these chapters that show the young Harry Niles, outwardly a gaijin in a country that will never fully accept him, but inwardly just as Japanese as his ethnically Japanese friends. Smith renders with unsparing detail the artsy community of Asakusa and the people who are the greatest influences on the young Harry Niles, the witty artist Kato and the beautiful Oharu. These chapters do a remarkable job of drawing parallels between what happens to Harry in 1941 and his childhood, and showing just how and why Harry the boy becomes the man he is by the time Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.

Overall a very absorbing read, even if flawed, for anyone who is interested in the years that led up to the clash of Japan's empire and America's "Arsenal of Democracy."

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4.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Smith Does His Homework, Mar 12 2004
By 
William Wilson (Mill Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: December 6: A Novel (Hardcover)
I've always enjoyed Smith's books because they immerse you in a new world. He paints word pictures of a place and time so vivid that you actually seem to know them. This isn't just praise of Smith's writing expertise (although that is great) but of his incredible research talent. He must totally immerse himself in a historical environment before he puts a word on paper.

I knew little about pre-war Japan before reading "December 6". With a fast-paced plot and Japan-raised American Harry Niles as guide, I was whisked through a crash course in Japanese history, culture, and psychology. Like most historical fiction, it requires some suspension of disbelief (gee, how DID Harry bump into all of the key figures in Japan that day?). I find so few books that so convince me of their time and place that I'll willingly ignore some plot contrivances.

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