“We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.”
Mercier, P., Night Train to Lisbon, London: Atlantic Books, 2009
“In the years afterwards, I fled whenever somebody began to understand me. That has subsided. But one thing remained: I don’t want anybody to understand me completely. I want to go through life unknown. The blindness of others is my safety and my freedom.”
Mercier, P., Night Train to Lisbon, London: Atlantic Books, 2019
Magical. Profoundly moving. Overwhelmingly beautiful. Compelling exploration of consciousness and the inner life.
Night Train to Lisbon delights with its written word, vivid descriptions of places and characters, and philosophical reflections on death, loneliness, courage and friendship. It is a long but wonderful journey, looking at the world through the perspectives of many people and from different points in time. Reading it feels like having a long-awaited meeting with a fellow human being whom you listen to with an almost unsurpassed curiosity and fascination.
“Is the soul a place of facts? Or are the alleged facts only the deceptive shadows of our stories?”
Mercier, P., Night Train to Lisbon, London: Atlantic Books, 2019
Pascal Mercier offers an astonishing philosophical narrative about the possibility of truly understanding another person, the ability of words to define our very selves, and the possibility of making a journey into the depths of our shared humanity. Night Train to Lisbon ultimately compels the reader to look inwards.
“Sometimes I go to the beach and stand facing the wind, which I wish were icy, colder than we know it in these parts. I wish it would blow all the hackneyed words, all the insipid habits of language out of me so that I could come back with a cleansed mind, cleansed of the banalities of the same talk.”
Mercier, P., Night Train to Lisbon, London: Atlantic Books, 2019
The protagonist, Raimund Gregorius, is a professor of classical languages at a college in Bern who one day abandons his old life and sets out on a train journey to Lisbon. He carries with him a book written by Amadeu de Prado, a Portuguese doctor whose writings explore loneliness, death, friendship and loyalty. Prado’s notes introduce another philosophical dimension into the narrative, echoing Gregorius’s own thoughts and reflections. His book becomes a tool for Gregorius’s self-discovery and inward journey. As he speaks to the people who knew Prado, he begins to recognise something of himself in this man he never met.
One of the central themes of Night Train to Lisbon is the exploration of the alternative lives we might have lived; the possibilities that remain hidden behind the life we have chosen. Through words, conversations and the life of another man, Gregorius begins to question everything he once accepted about his own existence. The novel asks us to imagine what might happen if we stopped and questioned the life we were living and dared to begin again.
Interestingly, Lisbon is not merely the geographical setting of the story but almost a character in its own right. The novel repeatedly asks what role places play in our lives and how the cities we inhabit shape who we become.
I would recommend this book to a sensitive reader who enjoys philosophical meanderings about the meaning of life, literature, existentialism, ideas, words and identity.
It is not an easy read. There is little conventional action and relatively little dialogue. Instead, Night Train to Lisbon invites you to slow down and wander through its ideas. If you feel that this is the right moment to reflect on your place in the world, get on the train to Lisbon with Gregorius and Prado. This is a journey that may change the way you see your own life.
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