Look Who's Back

Imagine if Hitler instead of being long dead unexpectedly wakes up in Berlin in 2011, what would he make of the world today and more importantly, how would he be received? Vermes' fictional satire often bordering on dark comedy is written from the first-person narrative of ‘Herr Hitler', as he asks to called by people around him. It's uncanny how timely the book is considering the inexplicable rise of Trump in America and the similar sentiments he espouses unabashedly to gain popular support among the right-wing. People often consider extremist views as an edgy art form and seem to revel but does it mask a underlying agreement with the sentiments expressed? Although Vermes' Hitler is never taken seriously as political opinion, you can see the mental gymnastics his acquaintances perform while laughing with him as he maintains a poker face. Also, news that Mein Kamf has been republished in Germany and sold out within a day doesn't exactly inspire confidence that we're past bigotry yet (or are people simply trying to understand it better?)

PS. I loved the book cover. Excellent design indeed.

Robert Lynch conducted a study that analyzed if when we laugh, we reveal what's inside us by exposing participants to very edgy stand-up routines from comedian Bill Burr. So are you laughing at seemingly racist or sexist jokes because you secretly agree? If not, what's makes us laugh? Food for thought, eh?

Also, as in any time travel tale (I'm a sucker for those), there are plenty of hilarious moments when Herr Hitler tries to wrap his head around things that have changed (“Herr Starbuck seems to have coffee houses everywhere”).