Review: The slippery slope...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 16, 2014
Peter Silverman sets his novel in the middle of the 20th century when the world is still recovering from and being affected by the conflagration of World War Two.  I am really interested in how that war reshaped the world in so many different ways, including borders, migrations, families, and psyches, and I was really interested to read Hancock Hill, in which recovery from the war has a real impact on the characters. Moreover, the profound changes brought about in that war created kinds of cracks, good and bad, that lead to huge changes later on, sociologically and technologically (civil rights and computers for example).  It’s that space in which the technological discovery of the main character exists – this technology could affect the whole world, and it’s up to Alex (the protagonist) to do something about it, but he is torn between dealing with his own past and what he should do in order to protect the future. It’s a Hamlet dilemma, and Silverman’s lucid writing and characterizations make it wrenching.  The title of the novel comes from the local sledding hill Alex used as a kid where he had his first important romantic encounter (which seemed to go wrong soon after when the object of his affection seems to flee town, perhaps because of her own abusive father.) I loved the symbolism Silverman uses - young teenage romance as well as adulthood and ethics are a slippery slope, but with skill, control, and luck these things don’t have to be negatives.  Will Alex make the right decisions? Will he ever find out what happened to his young love?  You’ll have to read the book, but it’s worth it to find out!