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A review by furny
Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
4.5 Stars
Raimund Gregorius is a Latin teacher at a Swiss college who one day—after a chance encounter with a mysterious Portuguese woman—abandons his old life to start a new one. He takes the night train to Lisbon and carries with him a book by Amadeu de Prado, a (fictional) Portuguese doctor and essayist whose writings explore the ideas of loneliness, mortality, death, friendship, love, and loyalty. Gregorius becomes obsessed by what he reads. His investigations lead him all over the city of Lisbon, as he speaks to those in Prado’s life. Gradually, the picture of an extraordinary man emerges—a doctor and poet who rebelled against Salazar’s dictatorship.
Gregorius is in his mid fifties, and quite a anxious character for him to do something like this is very unusual and he guesses of the shock impact it will have on his faculty, University, colleagues and students. The plot mixes the mid-life crisis narrative with a reflexion on identity and also with the discovery of the work and life of the mysterious author.
The anticipation builds with suspense and you can't help marvelling at the thought of someone in such high regard just 'getting up and going' and soul searching. I enjoyed the way the mystery was gradually unpicked and also Raimund’s journey of self-discovery as he confronts his own life in the same way that Prado had done in his writings.
It's a philosophical and reflective book which is no surprise when I read in to the authors background.
It requires concentration but your patience is fully rewarded.
Raimund Gregorius is a Latin teacher at a Swiss college who one day—after a chance encounter with a mysterious Portuguese woman—abandons his old life to start a new one. He takes the night train to Lisbon and carries with him a book by Amadeu de Prado, a (fictional) Portuguese doctor and essayist whose writings explore the ideas of loneliness, mortality, death, friendship, love, and loyalty. Gregorius becomes obsessed by what he reads. His investigations lead him all over the city of Lisbon, as he speaks to those in Prado’s life. Gradually, the picture of an extraordinary man emerges—a doctor and poet who rebelled against Salazar’s dictatorship.
Gregorius is in his mid fifties, and quite a anxious character for him to do something like this is very unusual and he guesses of the shock impact it will have on his faculty, University, colleagues and students. The plot mixes the mid-life crisis narrative with a reflexion on identity and also with the discovery of the work and life of the mysterious author.
The anticipation builds with suspense and you can't help marvelling at the thought of someone in such high regard just 'getting up and going' and soul searching. I enjoyed the way the mystery was gradually unpicked and also Raimund’s journey of self-discovery as he confronts his own life in the same way that Prado had done in his writings.
It's a philosophical and reflective book which is no surprise when I read in to the authors background.
It requires concentration but your patience is fully rewarded.