Closely Watched Trains (Writers from the other Europe) [Mass Market Paperback]

Edith Pargeter (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Czech (translation)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 107 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 1, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140058087
• ISBN-13: 978-0140058086
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,128,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heroism of common people, May 8, 2001

By 

IVAN JIMENEZ CORREAL (MADRID Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Closely Watched Trains (European Classics) (Paperback)

This is a tale about heroism of ordinary people, not about epic feats. You won't find here but common people, and that's what makes the tale so touching and realistic. The book is beautiful and is beautifully written, with a sober yet elegant and poetic style. The trains are an essential part of all the characters'lives in their jobs and their personal memories, and are related to the fight of Czechs partisans at the end of the II World War, which is the time the novel is placed. The novel is both dramatic and comic, and Hrabal's sense of humour is one of his most remarkable features, following the best tradition of Czech's Literature, particularly Jaroslav Hasek. The mixture of drama and comedy, as well as the human touch and tenderness which envelops the characters makes this novel very moving to every reader. This work is a little and brilliant jewel, definitely worth the trouble reading.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Story Beautifully Told, May 24, 2004

By 

Leonard Fleisig "Len" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Closely Watched Trains (European Classics) (Paperback)

Bohumil Hrabal's Closely Watched Train is a beautiful book whose lingering impact on the reader is greater than one would suspect from looking at its length - 85 pages. It is the story of a young man, Milos Hrma, an apprentice signalman in a Czech village railway station during WWII. The term closely "watched trains" refers to German military (soliers, prisoners, and munitions) trains that must be watched, tracked closely to ensure a smooth passage. Failure results in close (and often deadly) scrutiny by the Gestapo. As the story it unfolds that young Milos had recently attempted suicide after his first sexual experience ends disastrously. The scars on his wrist reflect the internal scars and humiliation suffered as a result of his sexual failure. The rest of the book focuses on his desire to achieve manhood, by means of a succesful sexual conquest or through some "other" means. Milos' quest is ultimately succesful yet with tragic consequences. An act of simple heroism marks the story's climax. Along the way Milos has a near fatal encounter with a Gestapo officer after an incident involving a closely watched train. The understated description of this encounter is a brilliant piece of writing as the officer and Milos closely watch each other's scars before the officer decides to spare his life. The above summary does not do justice to the concise, sparse tone of Hrabal's prose that conveys great depths of meaning in the course of the story's simple narrative.

This is a beautiful story, beautifully told. I also recommend the movie (available on Amazon)after reading the book. It won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1966. The screenplay was written by Hrabal and altough not totally faithful to the book's narrative it is well acted and serves as a nice complement to the book.

I strongly recommend this book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bittersweet picture of losing innocence, June 20, 1998

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Closely Watched Trains (European Classics) (Paperback)

A basis for a 1967 Oscar winning movie (dir. jiri Menzel) Hrabal's book is drawing a parallel between the loss of innocence of a youth Milos Hrma, and the Czech people during WW II. The experiences of Milos, an apprentice with a small railway station in the middle of Bohemia, tells you more about the role of Czech people, collaborateurs, middlemen, resistors, under the German occupation than an Encyclopedia. Beautifully written, in the best Central European tradition of irony and self-deprecation.