A review by ed_moore
The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

“You cling to the idea that Germany is still a democracy not a madhouse” 

This book opened as a five star prediction, unfortunately it didn’t persist as strongly as it began but was still a very well written and numbing tale of the early years of the Jewish persecution in Nazi Germany. Written in 1938 following the events of Kristillnacht Boschwitz presents likely one of the earliest literary depictions of the holocaust, though the tragic story of the author in his personal escape from Germany but death at sea at only 27 when shot by a German U-Boat led to the manuscript for ‘The Passenger’ being lost and only rediscovered, translated and published in 2018. 

‘The Passenger’ follows Otto Silberman, a partly autobiographical insert of Boschwitz,  as he becomes alienated within his own country, still believing he identifies as a German and trying to get by and escape persecution by taking trains across the country, primarily between Berlin, Dortmund and Hamburg. It is such a quotable book with many the poignant image, though in its structure buying time and freedom through train travel it does get a little repetitive as the repeated train journeys are redescribed and relived. As a consequence towards the conclusion the book very much petered off in engagement and quality but for the most part was gripping, so numbing in its depictions of shifts in humanity, and though a bit choppy because it is in the state of a manuscript draft still has such a captivating control of imagery and language.