Ultimate Time Travel

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Classification: Historical Characters

Peter Kropotkin, a real Russian revolutionary who lived between the years 1942-1921, was an anarchist advocating for a communist society free from central government. The Watch asks the question: what would’ve happened, if just before he died, a being from the far future came to Peter Kropotkin and offered him to live life as a young man. The catch: it would be in 1999, and it would be in the United States. This is the premise for The Watch.

In The Watch, Peter Kropotkin accepts the offer made by Anchee, the being from the future, and tries to make a life for himself in modern day Virginia. He gets a job, meets a girlfriend, find friends and an apartment. Life in modern day America forces Peter to deal with contemporary issues such as tattoos, piercing, homosexuality, Capitalism among others. In addition, he meets other people whom Anchee has transported from the past (such as a doctor from the Civil War).

This novel enables the reader to examine modern day USA through the eyes of an early 20th century anarchist. Definitely an interesting point of view. In general, I like this type of premise, as I find that the usage of historical figures, if well written, greatly enhances most plots since the author is required to stick to the personality of a real human being (most notably done in the Riverboat series by Philip Jose Farmer). However, I didn’t like it here. For starters, I thought Peter Kropotkin is just not interesting enough to be the protagonist of a book, nor is he a likable character. The same can be said for Anchee; he was supposed to be mysterious and enigmatic, but really he was just plain unpleasant. Furthermore, I found the plot somewhat – what’s the word I’m looking for – antagonizing. The entire novel felt like an excuse for the protagonist to preach his ideas – there was no real discussion of any topic, just a monologue by Peter about virtually everything he encountered. I’m quite certain this was in fact the author’s rationale of writing the novel.

To be completely honest, I think I can attribute some of my dislike of the book to the fact that I simply don’t agree with Peter’s opinions. In other words, I am not an anarchist or a communist. That being said, I believe that a differently written novel with the same premise would not have me so irritated; it’s the preachy manner in which the book was written that I found so unbearable. I won’t say the book was not interesting (it definitely was!), but the fact is, I did not enjoy it.

All in all, if the premise intrigues you, you might as well try The Watch. I didn’t particularly like it, but it may be more to your own liking. Let me know what you think.

Link to the book’s details on Amazon.com

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