Evening star., 1947-01-19
Trouble Comes
ToU. S. Zone
MY PAST WAS AN
EVIL RIVER
By George Millar. Double
day: $780,.
Reviewed by
CARTER BROOKE JONES

Sa1t GiGk 01SA1AG OoNCaO
The scene of this novel is por-
ton of the Bavarian Alps near
Berchtesgaden, in the American
zone of occupation, and the time
is Immediately after the war. The
authors two previous books, Wait
ing in the Night" and Horned
Pigeon" were based on his service
in the Britishs desert corps, his cap
ture and imprisonment, his escape
and his adventures with the Maquis.
Those books, Mr.. Millar tells us in a
foreword to the new novel, were
about his own life and their char
acters were actual, while the people
of this book are, in the main.
imaginary.
In my Past Was an Evil River
he describes the impact of Ger
many's defeat, the immediate con-
sequences on some of the longtime
Inhabitants of an enchanting valley,
place of peace and beauty which
has escaped the fury of the war.
The story brings into focus this
group Of older Germans, some of the
American troops and a squad Of
escaped SIS men who would like to
turn werewolves.
The narrative is written almost
entirely, it might be said, from the
point of view of the few Germans
who have stayed in the valley
through the turbulent era. True,
the story teller ostensibly is a
Frenchman who escaped from Da-
chau and has been sheltered for
two years by the widow whose farm
he has worked and by others in the
valley. But the narrator never
quite comes to life; he seems a sort
of synthetic creation designed for
the purpose. Some of the other
characters are well drawn.
The Struggle to Live.
Mr.. Millar tells an interesting and
often dramatic story of the inner
conflicts involved, the struggle for
survival. Unfortunately, it Is
marred by some portraits which
hardly are credible, but appear to
have been painted entirely from
prejudice, or at least from a warped
judgment.
The Americans emerge as a bunch
Of roughnecks-uncouth, undisci-
plined, pillaging. Their officers are
described as i'll at ease in the splen-
dor of a resort hotel. Surely one
could find such exhibits in any big
army, but the net effect Mr.. Millar
conveys is to make them seem typ
ical. Moreover, we see enough GIs
to make up platoon, with an ac-
quiescent sergeant in charge, turn
ing a country inn into a bordello,
with side expeditions into the tran
quill valley in search of more liquor
and more women. Apparently no
body at the nearest headquarters
cares until crazed German sabo-
teur murders several Americans and
then the lid Is clamped down.
The only sympathetic character
among the Americans is colonel,
a man of culture, who was edu-
Gated in Europe. The three war
correspondents, two of them Ameri-
cans and one British, appear as the
most despicable persons in the book
There could have been such journal
lists with the armies, perhaps, but
when you find three together, all
alike in dark motives and low tastes,
YOU wonder whether they were not
shaped out of indignation. They
do not, in any event, seem exactly
alive.
On the other hand, the picture OF
Willy Wiedemeyer, the fawning,
frustrated refugee, who was one OF
Hitler's right-hand sycophants, is
first rate. It's a pity that Mr.. Mil
lar was not more convincing IN
some of the other portrayals, for
he has undeniable gifts as a novel,