“Indeed, it must be obvious by now that there is no clear classification for this book. It is more than a memoir and certainly has to be most curious as a biography since it is as privileged as a novel.”
From that privileged position the narrator reveals that after initially worrying that Hitler might die his mother comes to love him, as he grows stronger. But then mailer gets slightly obsessed about arseholes and faeces and it all seems to be verging on some odd psychotherapy session.
What keeps things going is the story of Hitler’s father Alois who manages to first of all illustrate to Hitler the way to show power over humble and loyal followers when his father beats the dog. But then the family move from location to location as his father is promoted and then finally pensioned off after having found that the heady heights came with snobs and back stabbers not to his liking.
Along with the Hitler family story there are plenty of observations thrown in by the narrator about God, the devil and the nature of their relationship and the way that demons work being assigned people like projects.
The slight problem with all of this is that we all know what happened to Hitler so it will be interesting to see where the narrative goes because it is not as if the conclusion could have been any different.
More tomorrow…
