A review by aszulia
Closely Watched Trains, by Bohumil Hrabal

funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Looking at the world through Miloš’s eyes as the second world word comes to a frantic end was an uneasy experience. The mix of earthly humour, provincial train station drama, adolescent dilemmas and tough conditions of life under still German occupation and bold conspiracy kept me invested in the plot, but what stroke me the most was his calm, analytic, yet full of compassion description of animals being transported to slaughter. It was not the focus of the book, in fact only a couple of sentences pertain to the transport. Be it a metaphor for people carried to concentration camps or in fact observations of last moments of farm animals’ lives, through his short, observative sentences he conveyed a powerful picture of men as they are: brutal and indifferent to the powerless, and the array of pain and despair suffered by the ones facing their end. I felt heartbroken and touched deeply by the book.