A review by bluestarfish
Closely Observed Trains by Edith Pargeter, Bohumil Hrabal

4.0

Closely Observed Trains is a coming of age novella about the young railway traffic apprentice Miloš Hrma. In German occupied Czekoslovakia he watches trains and feels closely watched. The station is also under observation after Dispatcher Hubička gains notoriety for unorthodox uses of the station's official stamps. Young Hrma is taken with the pretty Masha and "the burden of ridding himself of his burdensome innocence", as the backcover blurb would have it, and so the war seems secondary and in the background to his life - until it isn't. The characters are larger than life while also somehow being such a part of their own stories and narratives that when the story touches on reality it feels a surprisng intrusion yet somehow inevitable. Very interesting to read something from this Czech author.

Translated by Edith Pargeter.