The Man Who Watched Trains Go By

Apr 14, 2011 Megha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviews

While discussing Black Swan with friends the other day, I realized this novel has a similarity or two with Darren Aronofsky movies. Remember those movies ( Requiem for a Dream, Pi, The Wrestler, Black Swan ) where we have one or more characters going on with their lives when somehow things begin spiraling out of control. And how!. The Man Who Watched Trains Go By has a similar premise, except the transition in the protagonist's life is relatively more sudden. He steps around a corner from where...more
While discussing Black Swan with friends the other day, I realized this novel has a similarity or two with Darren Aronofsky movies. Remember those movies ( Requiem for a Dream, Pi, The Wrestler, Black Swan ) where we have one or more characters going on with their lives when somehow things begin spiraling out of control. And how!. The Man Who Watched Trains Go By has a similar premise, except the transition in the protagonist's life is relatively more sudden. He steps around a corner from where there is no turning back.

Kees Popinga, the protagonist, has always done what is expected of him by the society, his family and his employer. He has built a stable and seemingly content life for himself. However, while trying too hard to be perfect, he has lost himself somewhere, forgotten who he really was and how he really wishes to live. He is tired and bored of being himself. He is bogged down by the monotony of his life, though he doesn't yet realize as much. One fateful night, his predictable life takes an unexpected turn and Popinga breaks down. He is now no longer the man who always used to watch trains go by while staying put, but hops on a train himself to start afresh and live on his own terms. And the reader accompanies him on his existential journey.

Simenon writes well. He never goes too deep into Popinga's psychology, but lets us understand his psyche by telling a lot of the story from Popinga's point-of-view. Popinga gets himself into a cat-and-mouse game with the police. He goes about playing this game objectively, thinking and planning out every move he makes. While Popinga takes pride in being so clear-headed and smart, the reader can only feel sorry for the poor fellow's foolishness. Whatever you feel about his actions, you can't help feeling pity for him. You want to grab him by the shoulders and shake some sense into his head. Like those times when you find yourself yelling at someone on your TV screen.
Simenon also sprinkles the plot with suspense which adds another interesting dimension to the story.

There are sure to be many Popingas in the world around us who are wearied of their stressful lives and wish to breathe free.(less)

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Jul 21, 2008 Tom Troutman rated it 5 of 5 stars

So I have this friend named...ummm...Bobby. Yeah Bobby. He told me that he feels a strange connection to Kees Popinga of this title and Meursault of The Stranger. Is this reason for alarm? I mean, its not like he would strangle a prostitute that brazenly laughed in his face at expression of desire....or even shoot an Arab while in an extreme heat induced daze on a sun drenched beach. Could it be he just relates to the characters extreme sense of free will even though by contemporary means they a...more

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Feb 24, 2008 Tosh rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: to those who want to change their living habits...

Another classic 'human' study by Simenon. The theme has been used before in literature, but I never get tired of it. A person who wants to forget their current life and become another identity or break out of their 'mode' of living. And yeah bad things happen. But what's more important bad things are happening in your old life. The strict order of doing things, working at the same company year after year - well, you are going to break down!

For instance, me trying to write five book reviews a day...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Demian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kees Popinga amava i dettagli e le abitudini. Vivere ogni giorno come la copia del giorno precedente, senza mai concedersi uno sgarro, per garantire un ordine giusto nel suo universo, quello familiare, e quello cittadino; nella città di Groninga in Olanda, dove tutti si conoscevano e dove tutti venivano a sapere l'indomani qualsiasi cosa non andava. Kees voleva bere in qualche birreria, ma si tratteneva. Gli sarebbe piaciuto entrare in quella casa dove dalle tendine tirate s’intravedevano donnin...more Kees Popinga amava i dettagli e le abitudini. Vivere ogni giorno come la copia del giorno precedente, senza mai concedersi uno sgarro, per garantire un ordine giusto nel suo universo, quello familiare, e quello cittadino; nella città di Groninga in Olanda, dove tutti si conoscevano e dove tutti venivano a sapere l'indomani qualsiasi cosa non andava. Kees voleva bere in qualche birreria, ma si tratteneva. Gli sarebbe piaciuto entrare in quella casa dove dalle tendine tirate s’intravedevano donnine che amoreggiavano, e si limitava soltanto a passare e guardare. L'unica cosa che si concedeva ogni tanto era uscire la sera per andare a giocare a scacchi in un piccolo circolo. A casa faceva il marito perché doveva, il padre perché doveva. A lavoro lavorava pensando che tutto quello fosse il massimo per lui, pensava realmente lo fosse. Difatti stava in una posizione assai rispettabile, possedeva una villa nel quartiere più ricco e possedeva una stufa unica, e una radio costosissima, di cui andava fiero. Viveva la sua normalità pensando che quello era il massimo che la vita potesse concedergli, ma poi...

…in una passeggiata notturna, come fosse quasi un miraggio, dentro ad una birreria, nota il suo capo bere, ubriacarsi. Una cosa assai incredibile, per lo più sconvolgente. Julius de Coster jr. non era tipo da passare le serate a un bar, quella era la prima volta, e fu una volta tosta, pur sempre nella lucidità. Alzando lo sguardo vide Popinga e lo invitò a entrare, si parlarono e un mondo crollò, o forse due, ed anche tre, quattro. Di lì a poco, giusto qualche giorno, ne sarebbero crollati altri. Niente più lavoro. Un finto suicidio, una fuga, due fughe e una presa di coscienza…

"Per quarant'anni mi sono annoiato. Per quarant'anni ho guardato la vita come quel poverello che col naso appiccicato alla vetrina di una pasticceria guarda gli altri mangiare i dolci". Al crollo capì. La sua vita non era come la voleva lui, gli mancava quella libertà di scelta. Quelle vecchie abitudini, di colpo annullate; erano convenzioni e leggi che la società imponeva a tutti, per essere rispettabili, per vivere meglio. Si accorse che in fondo erano per lo più costrizioni che lo rendevano infelice, e ripartì da zero. Fu se stesso, da allora fu se stesso. Lucido, calmo, incompreso. Da Groninga ad Amsterdam. Qui compì il primo omicidio, per sbaglio. Da qui cominciò la vera fuga, e non solo da se stesso, ma dalla polizia che lo ricercava: per aver strangolato una puttana che proteggeva il suo corpo con derisione. Perché quella risata esagerata? Non la sopportò…

…fuggiva in treno verso Parigi. I treni, gli piacevano tanto, gli piaceva guardarli da fuori, sognare la vita che vi si nascondeva dentro, dietro quei finestrini illuminati. Lo sferragliare delle rotaie. Ancora poteva essere non riconosciuto fin quando non uscì su tutti i giornali la sua foto, quasi irriconoscibile. Il caso passò a un commissario parigino, Lucas. Un continuo depistare in tutta Parigi, in ogni suo quartiere, nell’ebrezza e nella prostituzione, nel fumo e nella contabilità della grande somma di soldi che portò con sé, ma che prima o poi sarebbero finiti. Contento di leggersi in quei ritagli, che collezionava nelle tasche del suo unico vestito.
Sfidava tutti lui: l'ispettore, la stampa, i passanti, il mondo, cambiando di giorno in giorno le sue abitudini, i luoghi da frequentare, soddisfacendo anche eccessivamente i suoi desideri...

Desideri, chi non ne ha? Vorremmo tutti essere un po’ Kees Popinga. A tutti è dovuto un giorno, esausti da certe convenzioni stupide, un crollo, una delusione, e a tutti è possibile una fuga o un ritorno in una convivenza possibile, fatta di trasgressioni accettabili, considerate forse un po’ strambe perché incomprese. A tutti ci è dato del “paranoico” o del “pazzo” perché facciamo cose fuori dagli schemi, finché li facciamo. E a tutti ci è dato di pensarci pazzi, perché a pensarsi pazzi molti guai passano, sferragliano come i treni. Invece qualcuno ci vorrebbe costringere alla normalità, a una vita senza sogni e piaceri, come chiusi in un carcere o in un manicomio, rispettando la tabella, anche se non ci va giù, ma così va.
Popinga questo l’aveva capito e non gli andava giù (come poteva andargli giù?), però aveva sbagliato, era passato da un eccesso all’altro. Da succube della società, a succube di se stesso.

Ma forse il trucco sta nell’equilibrio. Sempre così. Bisogna esser dei pazzi in armonia.(less)

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Apr 08, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jessica by: David E.

Shelves: crime-fiction, favorites

as to Simenon's writing Method:

"On a large yellow envelope, he would over the course of a week or two, write the names of his characters and whatever else he knew about their lives and backgrounds: their ages, where they had gone to school, their parents' professions. The envelope might additionally contain street maps of the novel's setting, although it would never say a word about the book's eventual plot. Once he was satisfied with these notes, he would enter the hermitage and knock of the b...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Alan by: Megha

Shelves: novels, read-in-2012

maybe 5 stars. finished this on the train to Bruges, fairly near where some of the action takes place. Beautiful city by the way with the rudest and sarkiest waiters I have ever come across. Dead funnny. Anyway this book is a classic noir fiction (and as this is 1938, one of the first) - it has all the tropes: murderer on the run, prostitutes, playing a game with the inspector, the arrogant protagonist and his increasingly weak grip on reality, seedy motels, escapes from windows, knives flashing...more

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Dec 21, 2007 Stephan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Alberto Moravia and Neo-Realists

Outstanding. I was re-directed in the bookstore to "Mystery" to find this. I thought I was getting myself into something campy. But if this is what the whole mystery genre is like (which, I'm sure it isn't), then I'm in. This book is sparse, psychological, short and so fluid. It follows one mans slow self-inflicted breakdown after he learns everything in his life he paraded is gone.

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Jul 16, 2012 Carol rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: psychological, novels, favorites

What would you do if you lived a quiet, comfortable life and everything was suddenly taken away?

Kees Popinga is a managing clerk for a shipping firm in the small Dutch town of Groningen. He has a wife "Mum" who looks to him for guidance and two children in the best private schools, a maid and a nice home. He is a respected man who loves to play chess at the local club and is quiet good at it. One night while making his rounds and checking on the ships that are loaded with fuel and cargo he finds...more What would you do if you lived a quiet, comfortable life and everything was suddenly taken away?

Kees Popinga is a managing clerk for a shipping firm in the small Dutch town of Groningen. He has a wife "Mum" who looks to him for guidance and two children in the best private schools, a maid and a nice home. He is a respected man who loves to play chess at the local club and is quiet good at it. One night while making his rounds and checking on the ships that are loaded with fuel and cargo he finds that a ship his company is suppose to re-fuel, never got re-fueled. He finds his boss Julius de Coster in a low life bar he would never visit but his boss flags him down. And de Coster has a story to tell. Over drinks, his drunk boss tells Popinga that he has squandered the company's money on an expensive prostitute named Pamela living in Amsterdam and other speculations that were extremely risky. All of Popinga's life savings were invested in the company and everything is gone. He gives Popinga some money. De Coster fakes his suicide by leaving his clothes on a pier and hops on the next train out of Groningen leaving Popinga to deal with the ensuing mess.

Depressed and confused, the next day Popinga decided not to get out of bed. He has no job to go to. His wife is worried to the point of being frantic at his behavior but Popinga will say noting about what happened. Later in the day, Popinga is told to report to the police station after de Coster's apparent suicide but instead he gets on a train and heads to Amsterdam. Popinga begins a crime spree starting with the murder of Pamela. An accident he says but realizing how easy it is to kill someone he kicks back and enjoys his new life as an outlaw. Then he heads to Paris and plays a cat and mouse game, with the precision of a chess player, with the police. Believing he is too clever to be caught and enjoying the attention. From the beginning of the book you sense pride in Popinga about his achievements, his job and home yet you feel he is less than thrilled with his wife and kids. But you don't know how far he will go once he leaves home. An excellent psychological novel written in 1938 but is timeless. (less)

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Feb 20, 2008 J rated it 4 of 5 stars

Best known as the creator of Inspector Maigret (one of the top sleuths in detective fiction), Georges Simenon also authored more than 100 romans durs -- hard or difficult novels -- which he considered his real work. Of the four I've read (hardly a representative sample), I thoroughly enjoyed two -- The Man Who Watched Trains Go By and Red Lights -- while finding the other two wanting -- Dirty Snow and The Strangers in the House. All four are short (150-200 pages), written in simple unadorned pro...more Best known as the creator of Inspector Maigret (one of the top sleuths in detective fiction), Georges Simenon also authored more than 100 romans durs -- hard or difficult novels -- which he considered his real work. Of the four I've read (hardly a representative sample), I thoroughly enjoyed two -- The Man Who Watched Trains Go By and Red Lights -- while finding the other two wanting -- Dirty Snow and The Strangers in the House. All four are short (150-200 pages), written in simple unadorned prose, and share a general plot: the central male character (followed in a very tight third person in each case) makes a decision and takes action whereupon nastiness ensues. Much of the ensuing nastiness has to do with the kind of decision/action taken by the protagonist: in Dirty Snow Frank Friedmaier decides to kill a man; in Red Lights Steve Hogan decides to teach his nagging wife a lesson by pulling over for (another) drink as they drive from New York to Maine to pick up their kids from summer camp; in The Man Who Watched Trains Go By Kees Popinga, upon hearing that the shipping company he manages is bankrupt, decides to flee his wife, children and burgher's life in Groningen to pursue the favors of a prostitute in Amsterdam, and in The Strangers in the House Hector Lursat decides to quit the 18 years of self-imposed, drink-besotted hermitage he'd inflicted upon himself when his wife left him to discover who killed a man in the vacant wing of his French estate while he was in his study drinking and reading. In each instance the initial action leads to the commission or discovery of additional violence, crime or despicable cruelty, all of which keeps the plot going and generates most of the interest in the novels. But since these works are both short and heavily plot driven, revealing anything more than the initial act would pretty much ruin the surprise of finding out what the central characters get up to. And what they get up to usually isn’t very nice. The recurring themes in these works are drinking, heavy drinking, overdrinking and alcoholism; frustrated sexual urges, physical assault, sexual assault, rape and proxy rape; theft, fraud, corruption, prostitution and murder; and just about every kind of personal or social resentment one can imagine. Happily, and this is surely one of his strengths, Simenon allows the action to unfold without taking time out to pronounce judgment on his protagonists; he simply allows them to proceed from one sordid deed to the next, often loading the narrative in such a way that we find ourselves following avidly along, if not actively identifying, with some pretty odious characters. In this regard his romans durs aren’t so much hard or difficult as just dark and unsettling, wherein the urge to transform or escape one’s way of life generally results in something horrific, much the same notion that a close read of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels provokes and achieves.

That said, I thought Red Lights and The Man Who Watched Trains Go By were more complete works, possessed of more ironic surprises, and just more interesting from beginning to end than Dirty Snow and The Strangers in the House. About two-thirds of the way through Dirty Snow takes a turn toward territory that, even in its day, had already been covered by Kafka and Camus to much superior execution and effect, making Simenon’s offerings fall flat by comparison. Some consider Dirty Snow his masterpiece; they are surely wrong. The Strangers in the House has the benefit of Hector Lursat, who has a massive physical presence, a staggering thirst for alcohol, and a gruff, formidable persona when he gets it all moving in one direction, but even he can’t truly rescue the work from the predictable locale and manner in which the murder is solved and what can only be described as Simenon’s disturbing and unnecessary choice of perpetrator (I can’t say more without spoiling it). Red Lights and The Man Who Watched Trains Go By, on the other hand, are absorbing, free of the false notes struck in the others, and well worth the four or five hours it will take you to get through them. While there wasn’t a single sentence in any of the works that struck me as exquisitely wrought and therefore worthy of remembrance, this is most likely do to Simenon’s intentionally rough-hewn style and the (always questionable) quality of the translations. Much more important, in Red Lights and The Man Who Watched Trains Go By at least, is what the sentences add up to: some rather savory fare if one has a taste for the noir and unseemly.

(less)

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Oct 09, 2012 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone

From the very beginning, Monsieur Simenon gives us all of Popinga’s thoughts, feelings and desires. He paints the world in which he lives in broad strokes, but fills in the minute details – all with even, crisp prose. Throughout the book, we see how the self-enforced delusions that regulated Kees’ life as a stolid, successful citizen morph into those that make him a monster in the eyes of others. Everyone has darkness in their psyche, its just a little darker in our protagonist’s mind. While the...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Patrick McCoy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-noir

I first became aware of of Georges Simenon from Akira Kurosawa who said that he intended Stray Dog to be a Simenon mystery and actually wrote the screenplay as a novel at first. Paul Theroux is also a big fan-he mentioned reading Simenon, and enjoying his novels, while traveling in his book Ghost Train To The Eastern Star-also he wrote an article, The Existential Hack for The Times. The narrator of Truman Capote's Breakfast At Tiffany's mentioned in one scene that he had a night cap of bourbon a...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Tfitoby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lit, black-as-night

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE KEES POPINGA NOVEL

It's another thoroughly enjoyable look at the dark side of the human psyche from master storyteller Simenon. I was really quite hesitant to try anything other than the entertaining Maigret series but two great roman durs out of two attempts have given me cause to reassess and conclude that I should probably be hesitant to go back to Maigret if anything.

I hope that it is not simply because of the Parisien setting but from the moment Kees decides to board the...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Cláudia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

O protagonista e narrador da história é Kees Poppinga, que inicialmente é descrito como um cidadão da classe média holandesa, vivendo numa vida de relativo conforto na cidade costeira de Groningen. O seu emprego , gerente de empresa de um navio de abastecimento, é aparentemente estável reflectindo nele uma certa presunção e isolamento dos problemas da vida. No entanto, rapidamente mostra que essa aparência de segurança era realmente um fino verniz que pode ser removido a qualquer momento. Após a...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Randy rated it 5 of 5 stars

THE MAN WHO WATCHED TRAINS GO BY is the chronicle of an honest man's descent into madness.

Kees Popinga is an honest man, married with two children, a nice home he's paying for, the family eats well, good at his job, and one night a week he goes down to his club for a night of chess. He's the general manager of Julius De Koster and Sons and as part of his job, one night he goes down to the docks to check on the ship getting ready to depart. Part of his job involved getting everything to the ship...more THE MAN WHO WATCHED TRAINS GO BY is the chronicle of an honest man's descent into madness.

Kees Popinga is an honest man, married with two children, a nice home he's paying for, the family eats well, good at his job, and one night a week he goes down to his club for a night of chess. He's the general manager of Julius De Koster and Sons and as part of his job, one night he goes down to the docks to check on the ship getting ready to depart. Part of his job involved getting everything to the ship it needed, fuel, supplies, that sort of thing.

He arrives to a furious captain. The ship was to depart before the tides and none of it's outfittings had arrived. Perplexed, Kees goes down to the office, Julius the Younger often worked late(the Older was a senile old man by now and merely was a figurehead as the Younger ran things). The offices were empty however, so he went to the boss's home. The wife claimed he was at the office.

As he wandered the streets wondering what was going on, he spot the boss sitting in a pub, his mustache and beard gone. Going in, he learns that the boss was cooking the books, freely admitted, the business was bankrupt, and he was planning to fake suicide and disappear. Oh, and by the way, Kees' life savings, invested in the business, was gone.

The faked suicide was to be a drowning, in remorse for what he'd left the business in. He strips on the dock, dons a new set of clothes and wanders off. He does give Kees five hundred Florin, or Guilders, as he left, urging him to take off like he did.

Kees decides to do more. He catches a train to Amsterdam, intent on "having" the boss's mistress. Kees had never cheated on his wife, tempted while passing "that" house often, but knowing if he ever did, he was lost.

She laughs at him and he loses it. When he leaves, his brief case is left behind and he doesn't even realize he's murdered her. He takes a train to Paris(Kees, in addition to his native Dutch, speaks French, Spanish, and English).

That's where his descent really begins. On the run, though he doesn't clas it as that, he gets involved with a different class of people than he ever has before. He carries a small red notebook that he makes notes on what he's done.

He begins to send letters to the police commissioner heading the hunt for him, letters to the newspapers refuting pop diagnoses on him, all the while believing himself far more intelligent than anyone who comments on him in the papers. And never realizing as he slips farther and farther down the ladder. Another crime is passed off as nothing.

A nice change of pace from Simenon's Maigret novels. (less)

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May 19, 2012 Arwen56 rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romanzi

Come tutti voi, ho conosciuto centinaia di Popinga. Sia del genere di quelli che hanno “passato il Rubicone” e il treno l’hanno preso, sia del genere di quelli che sono rimasti, rimpiangendo ogni giorno di non averlo fatto.

Gran brutta razza di gente quella dei “Popinga”, superbamente descritta da Simenon. A differenza di quella cui appartiene il signor Monde, che pure, a un certo punto, sente la necessità di “staccare la spina” e allontanarsi da un mondo che percepisce come falso e artificioso,...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Leslie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, international-and-translation, favourites

A blurb on the back cover of the NYRB edition (love this imprint) by John Banville calls this book "existentialism with a backbone of tempered steel." That seems right. Kees Popinga is a prosperous Dutch businessman who keeps his life carefully controlled and limited because somewhere inside he knows that if he steps outside those rigid limits even slightly, he'll never stop. And then one day the boundaries crack a bit, and there's no stopping him. He comes to fancy himself a sort of Nietzschean...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Ben Winch rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: french, mainland-european

I didn't see the point of this. The style is dry, sterile, the type of writing that fetishises objects in an attempt to create 'realism'. Nor do any of the characters really seem to interact. And despite the protagonist's moving restlessly across the map it all seemed somehow intrinsically static, as if what movement there was were just currents on the surface and the depths remained still. Well-executed, yes, as far as it went, but to me that didn't seem very far. Anyone who thinks this 'outdoe...more

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Jan 09, 2011 Antonio Fini rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Più leggo Simenon, più lo apprezzo!
Questo lo ritengo un capolavoro.
Attenzione, perché è la storia (possibile) di ognuno di noi.
Di noi "normali" cittadini, mariti/mogli, padri/madri di famiglia che guardiamo passare quel treno che è la nostra vita.
A volte, qualcuno improvvisamente decide di salirci, su uno di quei treni, e le conseguenze sono spesso tragiche.
Anche perché se alla fine anche un abile giocatore di scacchi come Kees Popinga ha perso la sua partita, come potremmo mai cavarcela noi med...more

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Dec 16, 2011 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-and-punishment

My first Simenon but not, barring unforeseen horrific circumstances, my last.

Here's my problem: as it's a well-known fact that Georges Simenon wrote in excess of 7.6 trillion books during his lifetime, I'm a bit overwhelmed trying to figure out which ones to read. I mean, it's impossible that they're all equally good, right? And since I could read a Simenon book every day for the rest of my life and still barely make a small dent his oeuvre, I'd love to have some guidance on which to try out fir...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Roberto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

È la sera di un giorno qualunque per il protagonista del romanzo, Kees Popinga. Anche la sua vita è qualunque, e questo lo rallegra. Popinga ama i dettagli e le abitudini. Ama vivere ogni giorno come il precedente, senza mai concedersi una deviazione, per garantire un ordine corretto nel suo mondo, quello familiare e quello cittadino nella città di Groninga in Olanda; dove tutti si conoscono e dove tutti sanno immediatamente se qualsiasi cosa non va. Popinga vorrebbe dal bere di tanto in tanto i...more È la sera di un giorno qualunque per il protagonista del romanzo, Kees Popinga. Anche la sua vita è qualunque, e questo lo rallegra. Popinga ama i dettagli e le abitudini. Ama vivere ogni giorno come il precedente, senza mai concedersi una deviazione, per garantire un ordine corretto nel suo mondo, quello familiare e quello cittadino nella città di Groninga in Olanda; dove tutti si conoscono e dove tutti sanno immediatamente se qualsiasi cosa non va. Popinga vorrebbe dal bere di tanto in tanto in qualche birreria, ma si trattiene. Gli piacerebbe entrare in quella casa dove s’intravedono donnine che amoreggiano, ma si limita a passare e guardare. L’unica cosa che si concede è uscire ogni tanto la sera per andare a giocare a scacchi in un piccolo circolo.
È abituato a trascorrere le sue ore con perfetta regolarità. Ogni tanto ha “quella certa emozione furtiva, quasi vergognosa, che lo turbava vedendo passare un treno, un treno della notte soprattutto, dalle tendine calate sul mistero dei viaggiatori”.
A casa fa il marito e il padre perché deve. In ufficio, impiegato in una solida ditta olandese, lavora pensando che quel lavoro sia il massimo per lui. E infatti ha una posizione rispettabile, possiede una villa nel quartiere più ricco, una stufa unica, una radio costosissima, di cui va fiero.
Vive la sua normalità pensando che tutto ciò sia il massimo che la vita può concedergli, ma improvvisamente… abbandona per sempre quell’immagine di onesto, corretto, scrupoloso impiegato e buon padre di famiglia. Lo attende una nuova esistenza fatta di sangue, donne, fuga, paura, esaltazione, polizia.

“Insomma, ho continuato a essere procuratore per abitudine, marito di mia moglie e padre dei miei figli per abitudine, perché non so chi ha deciso che così doveva essere e non altrimenti.
E se io, proprio io, avessi deciso altrimenti?
Lei non può immaginare fino a che punto, una volta presa questa decisione, tutto diventi più semplice. Non occorre più occuparsi di quel che è permesso o proibito, dignitoso o meno, corretto o scorretto."

Kees Popinga è uno di quegli uomini “normali” che Simenon preferisce e che sa raccontare in modo perfetto. La sua normalità è apparente: un meccanismo che, non appena s’inceppa, diviene capace di tutto.

“Per quarant’anni mi sono annoiato. Per quarant’anni ho guardato la vita come quel poverello che col naso appiccicato alla vetrina di una pasticceria guarda gli altri mangiare i dolci”.

E proprio come un tempo è stato il più normale fra i normali, la sua deviazione dalla normalità diventa sfrenata. Entra talmente nel suo nuovo personaggio da trovare sempre nuove autogiustificazioni per il suo operato criminale.
Popinga è però un fallito e chiude la sua vita in una clinica psichiatrica dove, rassicurato dalle mura che impediscono un confronto con la realtà esterna, riesce a realizzare un mondo tutto suo.

Il romanzo è un viaggio nei meccanismi della mente e dell’animo del protagonista. Tutto gli sembra chiaro e logico, ma il pensiero del "giudizio degli altri", ossia l'ansia di non essere capito, lo perseguita.
Quante reazioni emotive possono esserci nell'essere umano davanti ad eventi che trasformano la vita. Chissà, un Popinga potrebbe essere un po' dentro tutti noi...

Bellissimo romanzo, ben scritto e coinvolgente.(less)

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Apr 22, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-and-suspense

Kees Popinga is an average man, a solid citizen who might enjoy a game of chess in the evening. But one night, this model husband and devoted father discovers his boss is bankrupt and that his own carefully tended life is in ruins. Before, he had watched impassively as the trains swept by; now he catches the first one out of town and soon, commits murder before the night is out. How reliable is even the most reliable man's identity?

Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was born in Liege, Belgium. He went...more

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Sep 20, 2012 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, crime, french

A very elegant portrait of a man jolted out of a conservative petit bourgeois lifestyle into a semi-sane criminal existence on the lam. There were some very good parts in the second half where I was so thoroughly inside the protagonist's head that his actions seemed perfectly sane, while I was at the same time aware that they were anything but. The ending was anticlimactic for someone with crime fiction sensibilities, but perfectly appropriate for the dark literary character study this novel ult...more

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Aug 26, 2012 William rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, 20-ce, translation, belgium

This was diverting, though not my favorite of the six or so Simenons I have read so far, all on the New York Review Books imprint. Kees Popinga, a buttoned down manager of a ships chandlery in Holland, goes on a bit of a rampage after his boss tells him that he has run the business into the ground. This is the same business, the watchword for rectitude and probity in the little port town in which it operates, into which Kees has invested every cent of his savings. Kees subsequently (inadvertentl...more

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Sep 25, 2011 Roberta rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009

Sapeva che sarebbe stato l'unico a comprendersi.

Infatti al medico venne in mente di chiedergli il quaderno dove lui doveva scrivere le sue memorie e dove ancora si leggeva soltanto:
La verità sul caso Kees Popinga.
Il medico levò occhi attoniti, parve chiedersi come mai il suo paziente non avesse scritto altro. E Popinga, con un sorriso forzato, si sentì in dovere di mormorare:
“ Non c'è una verità, ne conviene? “.
************************************************
L’uomo che guardava passare i tren...more Sapeva che sarebbe stato l'unico a comprendersi.

Infatti al medico venne in mente di chiedergli il quaderno dove lui doveva scrivere le sue memorie e dove ancora si leggeva soltanto:
La verità sul caso Kees Popinga.
Il medico levò occhi attoniti, parve chiedersi come mai il suo paziente non avesse scritto altro. E Popinga, con un sorriso forzato, si sentì in dovere di mormorare:
“ Non c'è una verità, ne conviene? “.
************************************************
L’uomo che guardava passare i treni è la storia di Kees Popinga, stimato impiegato olandese che improvvisamente, a seguito del fallimento della ditta per cui lavora, decide di assencodare quegli impulsi negativi che erano sempre stati dentro di lui, pare, ma che lui aveva sempre repressi.
Prende quindi un treno per fuggire lontano (i treni erano sempre stati una fonte di profonda fascinazione per lui) e si reca da un’entraineuse alla quale aveva spesso pensato senza mai risolversi a chiederne i servigi. Quando si presenta presso di lei, però, il suo primo vero atto di ribellione viene accolto da una sonora risata, e qui scatta l’impulso più grave di tutti...
Simenon punta il dito sull’impossibilità di raggiungere la verità ultima nel caso Popinga: un pazzo, malato di mente oppure un uomo finalmente libero dalle schiavitù sociali? A me sembra solo un pover’uomo che, dopo aver investito a lungo sulle cose sbagliate, vedendosele scivolare dalle mani decide di fare finta di nulla e, per non dimostrare di essere colpito dall’enorme fallimento della sua vita, decide semplicemente di imboccare la strada opposta a quella fin’ora seguita...finendo in una prigione peggiore della precedente! In fin dei conti Popinga stimato membro della società si fissava sui prodotti di prima qualità e sulla sua immagine di impiegato modello, mentre Popinga criminale si fissa sulla sua imperturbabilità e sul suo sangue freddo, costruendosi un’immagine. In entrambi i casi il vero Popinga mi pare assai lontano dalla superficie e incapace di prendere contatto con il suo vero sè. In ogni caso non è alla fin fine semplicemente un gran narciso, un uomo deciso a dimostrare di essere il migliore? Perfino il linguaggio di Simenon, di solito così amato, diventa lo sproloquio di uno sbruffone...(less)

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Oct 29, 2011 Ralph rated it 4 of 5 stars

Kees Popinga has always played by the rules, and enjoyed the rewards of doing so. When he is ruined financially by his boss's fraud, he suddenly stops watching the train (as metaphor for life) and decides to get on it -leaving it all behind: job, wife, kids, status and friends. The ties that bound him, once removed, free his most base impulses, leading to terrible crimes and the life of a fugitive. Most of the book revolves around the tension of his life on the run, and his internal monologue. H...more

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Jul 01, 2009 Ken rated it 5 of 5 stars

He was a quiet man. That’s what they always say about the guy who one day picks up an axe and wipes out the whole family. Kees Popinga, the central character of Georges Simenon’s The Man Who Watched Trains Go By, is just such a fellow. He’s got everything dialed nice and tight. He’s obsessed with having constructed a first rate life: a wife, a daughter, a stove, and a house all of the “highest quality.” And then in the course of one evening, as Popinga discovers that the company that helped prov...more He was a quiet man. That’s what they always say about the guy who one day picks up an axe and wipes out the whole family. Kees Popinga, the central character of Georges Simenon’s The Man Who Watched Trains Go By, is just such a fellow. He’s got everything dialed nice and tight. He’s obsessed with having constructed a first rate life: a wife, a daughter, a stove, and a house all of the “highest quality.” And then in the course of one evening, as Popinga discovers that the company that helped provide this postcard-perfect life is now bankrupt, it all goes to pot. Kees Popinga snaps, kisses his whole life goodbye in one bold stroke, and embarks on a violent spree that leads him across three countries and makes him the killer du jour of the European press.

Thus, Simenon rendered one of his best roman durs, or hard novels, so named because they involve uncomfortable situations. The pacing of the novel is impeccable; Simenon allows the reader no breathing room. Perhaps it was due to the fact that The Man Who Watched Trains Go By was Simenon’s eleventh novel published in 1938. That’s right, eleventh. Simenon’s reputation for cranking out the prose is almost unparalleled. His record was 40 novels published in 1929 (all written under various pseudonyms according to Luc Sante’s introduction). Once Popinga has made up his mind to leave his old life, we are dragged by the shirt collars along with this once simple man, as he drifts further and further into madness. The bodies start to pile up and in no time, Popinga has changed from an accidental madman to a cold-calculating psychopath.

Popinga’s psyche is at the heart of The Man Who Watched Trains Go By. While not told in first person, we are stuck in Popinga’s brain throughout the novel. We see the reaction of Popinga’s wife, as he suddenly starts to behave in un-husbandly ways, or the mocking laughter of the prostitute, Pamela, that drives Kees over the edge. As Popinga gets to the point of no return, choosing to engage in a game of cat and mouse with the French police, we are there in his skull, seeing Popinga’s deranged motives and actions laid out before us. We see how we reacts to lies printed about him in the press (an especially sore sticking point that causes him to start addressing the French papers directly). We feel his mistrust of the underworld characters who cross his path (and him). We feel his rage at the lack of respect he feels from the police, especially Commissioner Lucas. All the while, we are feeling what Popinga feels, a credit to Simenon’s ability to give the madman all-too-familiar psychological shortcomings.

It is with wonderful irony that Popinga’s rampage, deemed a product of madness by the press, becomes a game of chess between him, the authorities, and the underworld. An avid chess player, with a noted streak for being a sore loser, Popinga considers himself a superb tactician. We see him calculate scenarios, possible reactions, and end-game maneuvers, all the while convinced of his assured victory. And in the end, you become addicted to Popinga’s madness, caught up in his scheme, greatly anticipating every turn of the page.

Chalk it up to a highly skilled writer who knew his craft, and more importantly, his characters. As Sante, details in his introduction, Simenon had a somewhat unorthodox approach to concocting his stories:

“On a large yellow envelope he would, over the course of a week or two, write the names of his characters and whatever else he knew about their lives and backgrounds: their ages, where they had gone to school, their parents’ professions. The envelope might additionally contain street maps of the novel’s setting, although it would never say a word about the book’s eventual plot. Once he was satisfied with these notes, he would enter the hermitage of his study and knock off the book at the rate of a chapter every morning.”

One can see how Simenon’s writing routine infuses Popinga with so much life. We know this man. Most of us have worked with him at one time or another. The fellow who is perfectly content and sedentary in his quiet suburban existence. Simenon, having laid out his pedigree prior to the novel, wastes no time stripping him of the illusion of his worth as an adult and father, turning him into a cold-calculating human animal that bears no resemblance to the content, puffed-up Popinga we are introduced to at the beginning of the novel.

Over the course of this short and punchy tale, Simenon leaves us with a very dark and disturbing exploration of a former sheep who attempts to change his entire existence, remaking himself as a the wolf. In the end, Popinga never turns out to be as smart or as ingenious as he hopes. He wants to love women, but can only kill them. He wants recognition as a criminal mastermind, but is only considered a psychotic madman. The punchline that Simenon delivers so superbly is that no matter how much Popinga’s megalomania convinces him that he is up to the task, he’s not the man he wishes to be.(less)

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Sep 19, 2012 Sandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Il mio approccio con Simenon è stato positivo.
Ho apprezzato il suo stile asciutto ed elegante.
Il protagonista del romanzo è l'Inetto che si ribella, decide di vivere come vuole lui, senza curarsi delle leggi e delle convenzioni, considerato dalla gente come un pazzo.
Quello che ci ho visto sono i temi del romanzo novecentesco, in special modo pirandelliano ("uno, nessuno e centomila", o "il fu Mattia Pascal"), il contrasto tra ciò che si pensa di essere e ciò che gli altri pensano di noi.
Il roman...more

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Aug 08, 2010 Adriana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: capa-dura, clássicos, top

A par da loucura dos acontecimentos, o que mais me cativou neste livro foi, decididamente, a "estranha angústia que podia dar a impressão de nostalgia" de cada vez que Kees Popinga ouvia passar um comboio. Apesar da vida estável, controlada e planeada que leva, com família formada e um emprego, Kees Popinga é um homem que anseia por verdadeira liberdade, por deixar de ser, por hábito, procurador, marido, pai. Quer viajar sem dar satisfações, entrar num hotel ao acaso, em vez de telefonar a marca...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiftyfiftyme

Over the last few years, I’ve been going through Georges Simenon’s “hard novels” published by the New York Review of Books. They’re generally quick, gritty reads that are slightly ahead of their time.

If Simenon is the Belgian equivalent of Jim Thompson, then The Man Who Watched Trains Go By would be his The Killer Inside Me. Kees Popinga, a respectable Dutch businessman, embarks on an ill-considered crime spree. Like Thompson, Simenon’s reputation casts a long shadow over the work. The translato...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Dave rated it 4 of 5 stars

A unique book about a man whose life changes immediately. He was a timid man who followed the rules and did everything by the letter. Then Everything falls apart and he loves it. Murder, confusion, adversity, happiness, sadness. Set in the early 20th century. I know this review is odd and confusing but it's a good slim easy read by Simenon. The author wrote as many books as Bob Pollard wrote songs it seems. Check it out.

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