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tigris_98 's review for:
Night Train to Lisbon
by Pascal Mercier
After being recommended this book on a busy Erasmus pub from a French and Latin student, I felt inspired to take on his suggestion. Was it the romanticism of the moment, or that the title spoke to me with night trains and Portugal, I am not sure. After standing in line a long time to the covid-secured library, it felt like picking up a treasure. Unfortunately, this book was not what I expected it to be.
In the beginning of the book, there were sections that really spoke to me. When the professor suddenly decides to leave Bern, I guess it goes out to all our hearts the... "I have to move to Lisbon"-mood. Although, I felt the storyline with the woman on the bridge and the motifs to go to Lisbon quite weak, and I never really understood this obsession with author Amadeu de Prado. Which, as it turnes out, is pretty much what all of the story is later on circulating around.
With this said, there are still quotes in the book worth remembering.
"He had come to this city and he wanted to experience more of this feeling of belonging so that he wouldn't call the airport again tonight to book a return flight. He drank a coffee and boarded the tram" (p.66).
The main characters fears and longings are quite beautifully described in a simple way that I like. He is lost to the extent that he's scared he will just wake up one morning, give it all up and return back home.
"No idea why I give this to you, but that's how it is" (p.74).
Simple as that, a citation that I felt spoke to me in many ways. The same goes for de Prado's graduation speech, which indeed is well written and gives and interesting argumentation of religion and liberal though.
"I would not like to live in a world without churches..." (p.169-171).
It is a nice story in some ways, but around 3/4 of the book I felt the dripping nostalgia and philosophical lines of thoughts of the main character annoying me. Maybe it's that I'm 22 and can't relate to the middle-aged man in an identical crisis with God and life. Maybe I'm too young or too uninterested in de Prado, maybe I'm looking for something else.
In the beginning of the book, there were sections that really spoke to me. When the professor suddenly decides to leave Bern, I guess it goes out to all our hearts the... "I have to move to Lisbon"-mood. Although, I felt the storyline with the woman on the bridge and the motifs to go to Lisbon quite weak, and I never really understood this obsession with author Amadeu de Prado. Which, as it turnes out, is pretty much what all of the story is later on circulating around.
With this said, there are still quotes in the book worth remembering.
"He had come to this city and he wanted to experience more of this feeling of belonging so that he wouldn't call the airport again tonight to book a return flight. He drank a coffee and boarded the tram" (p.66).
The main characters fears and longings are quite beautifully described in a simple way that I like. He is lost to the extent that he's scared he will just wake up one morning, give it all up and return back home.
"No idea why I give this to you, but that's how it is" (p.74).
Simple as that, a citation that I felt spoke to me in many ways. The same goes for de Prado's graduation speech, which indeed is well written and gives and interesting argumentation of religion and liberal though.
"I would not like to live in a world without churches..." (p.169-171).
It is a nice story in some ways, but around 3/4 of the book I felt the dripping nostalgia and philosophical lines of thoughts of the main character annoying me. Maybe it's that I'm 22 and can't relate to the middle-aged man in an identical crisis with God and life. Maybe I'm too young or too uninterested in de Prado, maybe I'm looking for something else.