An existential journey into the great unknown of the soul. A major hit in Germany that spent 140 weeks on the best-seller list and went on to become one of Europe's biggest literary blockbusters in the last five years, Night Train to Lisbon now introduces to the English-language world the critically acclaimed Swiss author Pascal Mercier. His world is defined by his books and his routines. ; translated by With each stop, a slave catcher named Ridgeway, dispensing long-winded rationales for his wicked calling, doggedly pursues Cora and her diminishing company of refugees. ‧ This was published 7 years ago. Night Train to Lisbon follows Raimund Gregorius, a 57-year-old Classics scholar, on a journey that takes him across Europe. HISTORICAL FICTION, by He lives a comfortable, predictable life, a life into which the new never intrudes. George Orwell He who learns the lesson is 50ish Raimund Gregorius, a philologist who teaches Latin, Greek and Hebrew at a Swiss high school—until an unknown woman excites the scholar’s interest in an obscure book of philosophical observations penned by an equally unknown Portuguese author. by I wanted to like this book but it was mostly painfully boring to read. The story has a wonderful rhythm that captivate the attention and interest of the viewer. Barbara Harshav He embarks in the train to Lisbon and reads the book, becoming fascinated with the story. At times Night Train to Lisbon can feel somewhat generic and cliched, but is saved, predominantly, thanks to the credentials of this remarkable, international cast. “Life is not what we live, it is what we imagine living.” ~ Night Train to Lisbon His object of pursuit shifts from the young woman to the author of the book. © 2008-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. The Trenhotel night train to Lisbon is ready to depart on platform 12 of Madrid-Chamartin station. Night Train to Lisbon is a philosophical novel by Swiss writer Pascal Mercier. A book about a teacher dedicated entirely to his work, interested only in his Greek, Latin and Hebrew. Based on the 2004 novel Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier and written by Greg Latter and Ulrich Herrmann, the film is about a Swiss teacher who saves the life of a woman and then abandons his teaching career and reserved life to embark on a thrilling intellectual adventure that takes him on a journey to the very heart of himself. A way out materializes in the form of an educated slave named Caesar, who tells her about an underground railroad that can deliver her and others northward to freedom. It is not boring! Retrieve credentials. All Rights Reserved. She disappears, leaving behind only her bright red coat and a moving, poetic, 40 year old book — in Portuguese. But Whitehead, whose eclectic body of work encompasses novels (Zone One, 2011, etc.) Book Review: Night Train To Lisbon by Pascal Mercier. ‧ His world is defined by his books and his routines. Free download or read online Night Train to Lisbon pdf (ePUB) book. Roger Albert. Raimund Gregorius, the central character of Night Train to Lisbon, is a stuffy Swiss professor of classical languages. Night Train to Lisbon is a novel of ideas that reads like a thriller: an unsentimental journey that seems to transcend time and space. It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds! Its protagonist, Cora, is among several African-American men and women enslaved on a Georgia plantation and facing a spectrum of savage indignities to their bodies and souls. Compare saver fares. Shaun Whiteside, by RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2016. Colson Whitehead. I have no idea how long it took him to write the book, but it took a lifetime of training to... Night Train to Lisbon: A Review by J.G. For the "fast bookers", these are the booking links for the night train: you can get tickets as e-tickets via Trainline, ACPRail or Renfe. When he encounters a book by the Portuguese poet and doctor Amadeu de Prado, he drops everything and takes the night train to Lisbon. Free shipping and pickup in store on eligible orders. Please read here, how to get from Barcelona to the starting point Madrid-Chamartin. Peter Davison, by This tells of the revolt on a farm, against humans, when the pigs take over the intellectual superiority, training the horses, cows, sheep, etc., into acknowledging their greatness. Colson Whitehead He finds his house, where his sister Adriana (Charlotte Rampling) lives, and soon he discovers that Amadeu is dead. Categories: RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2008. Categories: As soon as I started watching it I realised that Night Train to Lisbon is based on a book. The Lusitania night train connects Madrid and Lisbon overnight and is the only train connection between the two capitals. “W hat should be done with all the time that lies ahead of us, open and unshaped?” Offering a worst-case answer to its hero’s question, Night Train to Lisbon keeps 111 minutes of that time unshaped with a numbingly slack, would-be romantic/political thriller. Abandoning his job and his life and travelling with a dusty old book as his talisman, he heads for Lisbon in search of clues to the life of the book's Portuguese author, Amadeu de Prado. translated by When he arrives in Lisbon, Raimund decides to stay in the city to meet Amadeu. Prado is a serious thinker whose active mind becomes An aged professor stops a young woman from leaping off a Swiss bridge. Night Train to Lisbon is a philosophical novel by Swiss writer Pascal Mercier.It recounts the travels of Swiss Classics instructor Raimund Gregorius as he explores the life of Amadeu de Prado, a Portuguese doctor, during António de Oliveira Salazar's right-wing dictatorship in Portugal. Pre-publication book reviews and features keeping readers and industry I can't describe this book in this review. Night Train to Lisbon Pascal Mercier, Author, Barbara ... but the book comes through on the enigmas of trying to live and write under fascism. I have no idea how long it took him to write the book, but it took a lifetime of training to prepare him to write it. Night Train to Lisbon centres on a high school classics teacher from Berne who has spent almost his entire life -- first as a pupil, then as a teacher -- at the same school in Berne. Raimund Gregorius is a legendary and near-infallible figure in that small world, dedicated entirely to his work, interested only in his Greek and Latin and Hebrew. RELEASE DATE: Aug. 26, 1946. And with every change of venue, Cora discovers anew that “freedom was a thing that shifted as you looked at it, the way a forest is dense with trees up close but from outside, the empty meadow, you see its true limits.” Imagine a runaway slave novel written with Joseph Heller’s deadpan voice leasing both Frederick Douglass’ grim realities and H.P. To find out more you will have to read it, and set aside enough time to do it justice. The main characters of this fiction, philosophy story are Raimund Gregorius, . It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. The trip started by Raimund is not between places but between identities. It recounts the travels of Swiss Classics instructor Raimund Gregorius as he explores the life of Amadeu de Prado, a Portuguese doctor, during António de Oliveira Salazar's right-wing dictatorship in Portugal. In “Night Train to Lisbon,” a stuffy academic undergoes a late midlife crisis, impulsively abandoning his comfortable post as a teacher of classical studies in Switzerland. edited by Night Train to Lisbon: A Review by J.G. Night Train to Lisbon: A Review by J.G. The motivation for this is partly because of a book he has come across that contains the philosophical writings of an unknown Portuguese man called Amadeus de Prado. The first hints come with the reading out of a pig who instigated the building of a windmill, so that the electric power would be theirs, the idea taken over by Napoleon who becomes topman with no maybes about it. Night Train to Lisbon review: lost in thought Repression and romance simmer in a ponderous, revolutionary tale. Trouble signing in? The story emerges from Gregorius’s meetings: with Prado’s aged sister Adriana, the stoical though not uncritical preserver of his memory; a contemplative priest with whom the nonbelieving doctor had often debated theology; the brilliant and beautiful colleague Estefânia, who may have been Prado’s true soul mate; and the Resistance comrade Vítor Coutinho, who discloses the “evil” act (saving the life of a vicious secret police official) that motivated Prado to forsake the life of the mind for that of a man of violent action. Compared with Georgia, though, the place seems so much easier that Cora and Caesar are tempted to remain, until more sinister plans for the ex-slaves’ destiny reveal themselves. Of course, this book changes his life. An intriguing fiction only occasionally diluted by redundancy and by Mercier’s overuse of the metaphor of a train journey. Some say we take ourselves everywhere we go. The only problem was its tediousness every now and then, and I think it could be due to the translation. & hawk l Super Reviewer Sep 18, 2013 This German/Suisse/Portuguese drama directed by Bille August is based on the novel Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier. Buy the Paperback Book Night Train to Lisbon: A Novel by Pascal Mercier at Indigo.ca, Canada's largest bookstore. It's a introspective book. He discovers that Amadeu de Prado, a would-be priest who became a renowned physician, had led an even more complex life as a member of the resistance movement opposing Portugal’s notorious dictator Antonio Salazar. If you have seen the movie of the same name, which I liked, you have only the bones of the story. We’re glad you found a book that interests you! That I … translated by Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Facebook; Twitter; LinkedIn ; Pinterest; For most people a great deal of life is spent following the same routine. LITERARY FICTION, by Peter Davison, by Shaun Whiteside, by Night Train to Lisbon is a haunting tale of a contrasting "boring" life story of man who by chance crosses paths with the past and three "vital" lives. There, it is attached to the Sud Express and both trains continue to Lisbon. Still great acting and a fascinating plot. For roughly its first 60 pages, this novel behaves like a prelude to a slave narrative which is, at once, more jolting and sepulchral than the classic firsthand accounts of William Wells Brown and Solomon Northup. A Night Train to Lisbon parallels the book written by the doctor as Gregorious reads it as he explores Lisbon in search of the man behind the book. Pascal Mercier Just one situation forces him to leave the hometown (goes to Lisbon) and changes everything, when he encounters a woman standing on a bridge on his way to school one morning. Not all philosophers like Umberto Eco make great novelists. Night Train to Lisbon is one of the most philosophical movies to hit theaters in the last couple of years. Recalling Bernhard Schlink and Nicole Krauss in its affirmation of the power of literature, will, and the individual, Night Train to Lisbon is a book of sensual beauty and artistic excellence, one that will be remembered for its soul and wit as well as its universality and great intellectual depth. Richard Marcus January 2, 2008 1 Comment 169 Views. You can feel it and see, it's like there is not much space for heroes, only as much there is in a book. Pascal Mercier George Orwell. A modern day fable, with modern implications in a deceiving simplicity, by the author of Dickens. playing fast and loose with “real life,” both past and present, fires his most daring change-up yet by giving the underground railroad physical form. George Orwell Roger Albert Pascal Mercier, a pseudonym for Swiss novelist and philosopher Peter Bieri, published Night Train to Lisbon in 2004. Amazon.ca is a trademark of Amazon.com, Inc. The book is complicated, beautifully written (and translated), fascinating, very touching, and a whole host of other adjectives. I liked the book very much. The book is complicated, beautifully written (and translated), fascinating, very touching, and a whole host of other adjectives. ; Night Train to Lisbon (2013) Plot. Essentially it is the story of an academic Raimund Gregorius who, on a whim, gives up his lecturing post in Bern and takes the train to Lisbon. If you have seen the movie of the same name, which I liked, you have only the bones of the story. Colson Whitehead Wins Library of Congress Award. Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 He buys a book she was carrying written by a doctor in Lisbon. (Jan.) DETAILS. That is, until he interrupts a strange womanâs apparent suicide attempt. NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON by Pascal Mercier & translated by Barbara Harshav ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2008 An elegant meditative book teaches a painfully ironic life lesson in German-Swiss author Mercier’s searching 2004 novel, a critically acclaimed international bestseller being published in the United States for the first time. The book was published in multiple languages including English, consists of 496 pages and is available in Hardcover format. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we donât use a simple average. Upon finishing the book I felt like I had an intense mental work out. Pascal Mercier He lives a comfortable, predictable life, a life into which the new never intrudes. Dali and Others (Reynal & Hitchcock, p. 138), whose critical brilliance is well adapted to this type of satire. I wanted to like this book but it was mostly painfully boring to read. Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons) is a Latin teacher from Berne. The first edition of the novel was published in 2004, and was written by Pascal Mercier. 52 reviews Night Train to Lisbon is a sensuous tale of the pursuit of love and passion against all odds, set in the 1930s when the world was on the brink of war and suspicion of loyalty, motivation, and intent -- to both country and lover -- was at flood tide. Roger Albert Pascal Mercier, a pseudonym for Swiss novelist and philosopher Peter Bieri, published Night Train to Lisbon in 2004. A small interest grows to an overpowering obsession to find answers about the doctor, himself and life. It's a riveting story of love and rebellion again dictatorship. It is an introspective, self examining, philosophical soul searching journal. The old faithful followers find themselves no better off for food and work than they were when man ruled them, learn their final disgrace when they see Napoleon and Squealer carousing with their enemies... A basic statement of the evils of dictatorship in that it not only corrupts the leaders, but deadens the intelligence and awareness of those led so that tyranny is inevitable. Leadingcharacters are always analysing themselves and describing who they come in contact with which, Its an introspective book describing the feelings of lonely , self absorbed people who decribe encounters with others through their selfabsorbtion. So it’s back on the train and on to several more stops: in North Carolina, where they’ve not only abolished slavery, but are intent on abolishing black people, too; through a barren, more forbidding Tennessee; on to a (seemingly) more hospitable Indiana, and restlessly onward. LITERARY FICTION | It had some beautiful reflections about the deeper meaning to life and relationships with others, but that didn't redeem the book for me. Impulsively abandoning his academic responsibilities, Gregorius acquires the rare volume, ponders its contents and travels to Lisbon to research the life of its “vanished” author. A huge international bestseller spanning Europe and the twentieth century, this ambitious novel plumbs the depths of our shared humanity to offer up a breathtaking insight into life, love, and literature itself. So far, so familiar. Their chance encounter leads Gregorius to an unusual book. Magazine Subscribers (How to Find Your Reader Number). All rights reserved. This train conveys Cora, Caesar, and other escapees first to a South Carolina also historically unrecognizable with its skyscrapers and its seemingly, if microscopically, more liberal attitude toward black people. by Night Train to Lisbon review – Jeremy Irons revives his penchant for dramas This might be more suited to a Sunday afternoon TV slot, but I have a soft spot for Irons in these roles I can't describe this book in this review. An elegant meditative book teaches a painfully ironic life lesson in German-Swiss author Mercier’s searching 2004 novel, a critically acclaimed international bestseller being published in the United States for the first time. Movie Review: “Night Train to Lisbon” Posted on December 5, 2013 by Roger Moore. Literally a feast for the mind! Whitehead continues the African-American artists' inquiry into race mythology and history with rousing audacity and... by & A magical mystery tour through the meaning of life. Night Train To Lisbon, film review: Beautifully shot and packed with big-name cameos (12A) Bille August, 110 mins Starring: Jeremy Irons, Mélanie Laurent, Jack Huston It had some beautiful reflections about the deeper meaning to life and relationships with others, but that didn't redeem the book for me. This information about Night Train to Lisbon shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Napoleon trains the young puppies to be his guards, dickers with humans, gradually instigates a reign of terror, and breaks the final commandment against any animal walking on two legs. Not a fun read. Lovecraft’s rococo fantasies…and that’s when you begin to understand how startlingly original this book is. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. Share. Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier – Amazing book! ‧ One of those books that I would read again. That is, until he... Raimund Gregorius, the central character of Night Train to Lisbon, is a stuffy Swiss professor of classical languages. edited by Mr. Orwell's animals exist in their own right, with a narrative as individual as it is apt in political parody. He packs his bag and takes a night train to Lisbon. The nearer Gregorius comes to the truth of Prado’s passionate commitment, the more insistent becomes the question he asks himself: “Had he perhaps missed a possible life, one he could easily have lived with his abilities and knowledge?” It’s the age-old intellectual’s dilemma, considered in a compelling blend of suspenseful narrative and discursive commentary (quoted from Prado’s text). It departs from Chamartin station in the north of Madrid and runs via Avila to Medina de Campo. George Orwell I wonder if the translation is part of the problem as it was hugely popular in Europe and I can only find passing beauty in fleeting passages...not a book I can regard as a great literary work. influencers in the know since 1933. What if the metaphorical Underground Railroad had been an actual…underground railroad, complete with steam locomotive pulling a “dilapidated box car” along a subterranean nexus of steel tracks? 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