The Passenger: THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Ran across this title when doing some research for a project. I was VERY intrigued about this, as I am a student of this period of history. This book is extremely thought-provoking, and the author does a great job of putting you in his shoes. The book thoroughly examined the human condition under extreme circumstances.

This is a story of a Jewish businessman fleeing from Nazi persecution, but says a lot more about humanity and how we are quick to turn on family and friends in a crisis. I almost stopped reading after the 2nd chapter, I am glad I didn't since it turned out to be excellent book.

A fascinating perspective from an unfortunate era. This was hard to put down because it was so interesting.

It had its good parts and it’s bad parts but mostly it was tedious. It has Kafkaesque feel for those who like that sort of prose. For someone interested in something written at the beginning of the Holocaust I'd recommend it.

Riveting. The story reads like a growing nightmare, threatening tentacles growing from every street corner, out of every building. Which way to turn, go back, don't go back. Watch every corner, every person's eyes. Until one becomes so confused, and resultingly delusional, and cannot discern between reality and the simple expectation that wiping away the growing horror will make things better. A lie constantly repeated makes people think, well?, if it's constantly being repeated, then? it's true? That is how a society comes apart at its seams. it is the horror that confronts the lead character in this book. A society that fails to see the underlying menace that spreads like a virus becomes infected by it, and it mutates and spreads. Nothing changes throughout the course of human history. The written account as the author envisioned it, this nightmare, in this book is as accurate as any living witness to the horrors of a political party's intent to eradicate an entire segment of society. It is the same viciousness, the same lie that permeates the present. Lies, intentional, to deceive and thereby enhance a political opportunism that is only self-serving. Yet, as it was in Nazi Germany, there is now the same kind of following, believing what they want to believe, rather than what is true and what is not true, listening to the very mindless political personalities that foment a gross distortion of reality to suit their own ends. It's the very lesson taught in the earliest school grades: How to distinguish truth and fact from lies and fiction.

The Passenger seems to me to be a realistic story of the panicked attempts to leave Nazi Germany during the Second World War. The story is gripping and I enjoyed it.

I didn't intend to read this right away, but I usually read the first few pages of a new book to get a feel for it. I couldn't put it down and read 70 pages in that first sitting. What makes the novel incredibly fascinating is that it was written during the Nazi period and wasn't a post-war reflection: the author died in 1942 and couldn't have been aware of the full extent of the Holocaust. Instead, he captures the horror of everyday life as a Jewish man in Nazi Germany and brilliantly illustrates how pervasive systematic racism can be. The translation is so smooth, too, that you'd think it was written in English.

One of the best pieces of literature depicting workings in Nazi Germany, written from the POV of the hunted. The frustration, the utter hopelessness, and the gradual descending into insanity of the protagonist Silvermann makes it a riveting read. Wonderfully portrays the sheer power of authoritarianism over middle class existence and aspirations. The English translation is top notch as well. Should be better publicized and more read.

Only have way through the book, but it is a totally gripping story!

Chegou rapido e bem embalado . Ainda nao li. Novinho.

I loved this novel; it was very hard to put down. Boschwitz was a very talented writer and gives a very believable account of what it was like to be a Jewish man on the run in Nazi Germany, trying to get out in November, 1938. The protagonist is a Jewish businessman who tries to get to Belgium right after Kristallnacht. The Belgian border guards send him back to Germany, where he spends his time riding the trains all over the country, hence the title. The most worthwhile thing about this novel is the descriptions of people he interacts with, such as former business associates, who mingle friendliness with hostility and take advantage of his unfortunate situation. He also interacts with many people on the trains, and their attitudes towards him are interesting, varied, and not always hostile. It's both heartening and disheartening how people behave in a situation like Germans, Jewish and non=Jewish, found themselves in, in Germany in November of 1938. It's worth noting that the author eventually got out of Germany, and was sent to the Isle of Man by British authorities. From there he was shipped to Australia along with German political refugees and German and Italian prisoners of war. The passengers were robbed by the crew of the ship. The author got permission to come back the UK in 1942, and set sail that year, but his ship was sunk by a U-boat, and all the people on board his ship were drowned.

Some years before WWII and the Holocaust, the Passenger already touches on all the key issues and topics that would shape the early 40’s. Amazingly prescient, it should embarrass a generation that just decided to turn a blind eye because it was not happening to them.

Fascinating stream of consciousness of a successful Jewish businessman forced to travel the trains and experience Jew hatred everywhere he turns, as there is no other place to hide in pre war Berlin. The population colludes in paranoia, real fear and self interest as it scapegoats the Jews who in turn must face their own morality and mental decompensation as they try to hide and survive. Well written.