Joel Dicker - The Final Days of Our Fathers

Portuguese cover

Comment: I have checked and it seems this book by Swiss author Joel Dicker has not been translated into English yet. Since it was his first published book, I've decided to read it, so that from now on I can try to go through the rest of his back list in order.

This is the story of a group of people who meet each other while training to become part of the Resistance forces against the Nazis. Although most are from french nationality, they all meet in England, where soldiers and officers will teach them how to infiltrate the war zones and be active in defending the Allies. While they all have specific skills and prefer certain duties, their friendship and understanding of what is at risk means they now have an eternal bond that not even love for their parents, nor death, can ever erase...

This is the third book by the author I read and, as I've said above, it's his first published book. This is not translated into English, no idea why, but it is in Portuguese and I purchased it last year at a book fair. This is not a thriller nor has a mystery oriented plot as the others I had read by him, which, I assume, most readers also expect the author's genre to be, considering most of the titles released by now. This is a book set on WWII and the content is both a dedication to one's parents and another ode to the sad state of lives lost at war...

I think this is quite an exceptional first book for any author. The story is emotional and based on a well known reality, with tales of friendship and bravery and innocents being killed unnecessarily, if one thinks any war is pointless. I had read two other books by this author, so comparing the writing seemed simple I could notice that there was improvement and change. Perhaps the change in skill is more obvious because the author only wrote thrillers after this first book - that I know of - and there's a somewhat specific set of skills for mysteries to work out, but I think it shows Joel Dicker learned from this first experience.

The plot is centered on recruits becoming part of the Resistance, training to be skilled officers in certain fields and then spies, while still maintaining their friendship throughout the war period. There are several characters to keep track of, some more than others, all with different backgrounds, different personalities and so on, but most are easy to distinguish. Of course, I've rooted more for some than others, but to be very honest, I wasn't that emotionally invested in the story.

Perhaps, in part, because the plot moves on very quickly, we are never still in any situation for long. I cannot say this is bad because I certainly would not wish to languish in the awful side of war, on the deaths or the sad parts, but it did mean the emotional involvement was also quick, and apart from a few sentences or scenes, I wasn't truly dedicated to these characters. I could easily keep reading and my only real sadness was over one of the characters' father, whom we see as frail and a little forgetful, an innocent victim somehow manipulated into thinking his son is coming to take him away.

Another detail I've found to be a little disappointing was the lack of real character development. The good guys are all great people and they are on the "right"side but even when they make understandable mistakes or act closer to realistic, I still found them all to be a little to simplistic and without much room for improvement. I think I can see what the author wanted, that war changes everyone and that good people suffer too, sometimes without taking into consideration who is left behind, but the (possible) book's message and the sometimes poetic wording were not enough to make me see it as very engaging.

The idea of clashing a war caused by men being sometimes fought by young adults and even teenagers - in life experience it might as well have been - can certainly seem unfair and unethical and I do think the author had an interesting point in trying to convey the innocence vs honor thing here, but... the result was not as well structured as it could. I wonder if, now that he has more years of writing and being successful, Joel Dicker could write this novel again, how alike it would be?

Grade: 6/10