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Title: The Train Was on Time (European Classics) by Heinrich Boll, Leila Wennewitz, Leila Vennewitz ISBN: 0-8101-1123-3 Publisher: Northwestern University Press Pub. Date: March, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A short story- - - s t r e t c h e d
Comment: Not a novel with a good story line,character development,visual scenes,humor,etc.Most of the book consists of mental gymnastics over expecting death soon.After a hundred pages of this one is left with wondering if this is ever going anywhere and finally all wraps up in a few pages.So, its a classic and with all its mental gymnastics,can probably provide lots of inconclusive discussion fodder.It reminds me of the stuff we were subjected to in school which turned so many of us off.If you like this sort of stuff,great. If not,don't be too influenced by classics,prize winners,best sellers,etc. There's a whole world of books out there,whatever your taste,go find them and enjoy!
Rating: 4
Summary: Fateful Journey
Comment: Andreas, a German soldier in World War Two, is on a troop train destined for the Eastern Front. He is convinced that he will meet his death there. He is sure of the time of his demise, if not the precise location.
The main interest in "Der Zug war pünktlich" is whether or not Andreas will escape his "fate", and the fact that Andreas's certainty of his death causes him to question how he has lived his life. Various incidents on the journey cause him to recall past experiences: most often such thoughts are stimulated by food of smells (perhaps a Proustian influence in Böll's writing?)
"Der Zug war pünktlich" is therefore, a very introspective and reflective novel. There were various plot devices which I thought let it down slightly: the character type represented in this novel by the Pole Olina, for example, has popped up in various guises in World War Two stories and films.
Nonetheless, this is the first novel by Böll I've read, and it was interesting enough to encourage further reading of his works.
G Rodgers
Rating: 5
Summary: Der Zug war pünktlich
Comment: I had to read this for a senior-level university class on the wars of the Twentieth Century. I read it originally in English, although I have since re-read it in the original German. I remember very clearly the day I sat down to read it. I had to read it and its companion novel, "Where were you, Adam?", and I was running behind on my reading. I had just finished the first novel, and I sat down to read the second novel-only 110 pages. And something happened that rarely happens to me reading: I was so affected that I cried. I sobbed through a good half of it...
The story is of a young German soldier who leaves Paris on a train on a Wednesday in September of 1943 and he is absolutely positive he will die on Sunday at 6:00am. He has numerous opportunities to leave the train (on pain of court-martial, of course), and yet he cannot and will not. He feels powerless to resist his fate.
Heinrich Böll was a master. And, while this is not one of his more famous novels, it is splendid. I strongly encourage you to pick this one up.
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Title: The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum : Or How Violence Develops and Where It Can Lead (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) by Heinrich Böll, Leila Vennewitz ISBN: 0140187286 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Billiards at Half-Past Nine (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Heinrich Boll ISBN: 0140187243 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Contemporary Germany: A Handbook by Derek Lewis, Johannes Schwitalla, Ulrike Zitzlsperger ISBN: 034074040X Publisher: Edward Arnold Pub. Date: September, 2001 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers ISBN: 0853457123 Publisher: Monthly Review Press Pub. Date: April, 1987 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Silent Angel by Heinrich Boll, Breon Mitchell ISBN: 0312110642 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: June, 1994 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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