Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier - 3.5 Stars Rounded to 4

[Regina Lindsey]

The opening of the book finds Gregorius, a professor of ancient languages in Bern, Switzerland, saving a Portuguese woman from jumping from a bridge. He is immediately entranced and can't shake his feelings. Therefore, he abandons his job in the middle of class, leaves his tenured position, buys the book she was carrying, and hops a train to Lisbon in search of her. In the meantime, the author of the fictional book captures his imagination and his journey shifts from the pursuit of the woman to the philosophical and self examination of the author's writings.

The book was well written with beautiful prose. However, it is incredibly repetitive and the philosophical aspect fell apart for me in the end