Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #414789 in Books
• Published on: 1994-04-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 110 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780810111233
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• Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Language Notes
Text: English, German (translation)

Customer Reviews

Der Zug war pünktlich
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.

"Fatalistic"
Poigniant and startling, The Train was on Time explores the idea of fate, and people's overwhelming concern with the future. Boll's sensitive writing allows this grim story to shine beyond its catastrophic end.

Tragic Postwar Delicacy
I started reading this book for a project in my high school German class, and finished it while I was traveling in Europe. it's very short, and shouldn't take more than a day to read-my mom claims it took less than two hours-but it took me a while, for whatever reason. Anyways, I highly recommend this book. The bleak, wartime images that Böll conjurs up stick with the reader long after finishing the book; I read it over a year ago, and certain lines and pictures still run through my head.

Wolfgang Borchert and Erich Remarque get more press as German postwar authors, but Heinrich Böll, with this book, deserves attention. Read it- despite the bleak subject matter, it's fun, and even funny at parts.