A review by dennis_j
Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood

4.0

Most splendid and terribly delightful! Mr Norris Changes Trains is dry, witty and amusing journey from beginning to end. The character gallery and their vividly described, almost made-for-film-cinematic interactions is the focal point of this story. The point of view character, William, while not a perfect human being, is a perfect host though whom we have the opportunity to get to know Arthur Norris, one of the most fascinating and multilayered, despicable and lovable, zaney and scary. Then there's Kuno, the naïve and tragic romantic Baron. Norris' servant, the zealous Schmidt, and the passionate landlady Frl. Schroeder. There is a precision with which Isherwood describes them. None of them are total caricatures, but all are capital C Characters. I was somewhat surprised by the frankness of some of it's themes. The particular "perversions" of some of the characters were very clearly pointed out, which is something I would have thought was rare for a piece of literature published in 1935.

On a background of the red and brown politics of Europe in the 30's, this chronicle of a few years of an unlikely friendship serves up some british tounge-in-cheek at its finest.