December 6: A Novel (Hardcover)

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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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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I've already given this book my praise, that it holds your interest. It's more interesting to me to discuss the flaws.

Flaw number one is the godlike omniscience of the hero, Harry Niles. He KNOWS exactly how history will unfold. He knows that America will win the war. It's a slam dunk. And he focuses on oil oil oil oil and oil as the five reasons that America will win. Isn't that topical.

It seems to me that the victory over Japan was not a slam dunk. America was aided greatly by breaking the codes and therefore knowing when and where and with what strength Japan would attack. It is just too damn easy, after the fact, to say with certainty how things would develop.

Let me suggest a reasonable alternative ending to that war. Let's say that FDR had a more conciliatory personality. He may have arrived at a negotiated peace that allowed Japan, and for that matter Germany, to hold on to some of their early winnings.

What I'm saying is that the nearly unconditional surrender of the Japanese and Germans was not a foregone conclusion in 1941, but to Harry Niles it was. Funny how strong hindsight can be.

In fact, several other characters in the book also had the same certainty of Japan's ultimate and total defeat, and this greatly impacted the big surprise ending. Sorry, but it's just a bunch of bull.

My other complaint with this book is that it has what I call a "too cute" ending, which is rampant in modern novels. They don't tell us how things end. The author leaves us hanging, and we are supposed to draw our own conclusions. What happens to Harry Niles and his girlfriend Michiko? He's writing the damn story so he can tell us the damn ending, doncha think? We're supposed to operate on hints and figure it out for ourselves? No. No. No, I don't think so. Tell us the damn ending. You brought us this far, so tell us your damn ending. Don't just say "guess, stupid".

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