Christopher Isherwood
1935
Around 280 pages
Fellow Potterheads, the long elusive Mr. Norris has finally made an appearance. And he is way kinkier than I thought he would be.
On the way to Germany, William Bradshaw meets Arthur Norris, who carries a suspect passport and wears a wig that has the unfortunate tendency to shift. As a frequent viewer of Real Housewives, I can sympathize. They strike up a friendship, and William learns some unexpected things about Arthur, like he's a communist and a masochist.
Apparently, Christopher Isherwood later condemned the work, calling it heartless. Writers are their own worst critics, but I can see where he is coming from, this is not a heart-warming story. To be fair, the setting was Nazi Germany, which isn't a place to seek the good in humanity. I don't think anybody would be as capable of being as aloof as our narrator in those circumstances, but that's always the case with the Dr. John Watson types, who are tasked with dutifully recording the behaviors of eccentrics.
The setting was intriguing and Mr. Norris was certainly memorable. But life is not a Cabaret, so it's not very believable to me.
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
The British version is called Mr. Norris Changes Trains. The American version is The Last of Mr. Norris. This is the Philosopher's Stone all over again.
Bradshaw is a stand in for the narrator, and Isherwood changed the character's name in future editions his own. As to why Bradshaw isn't gay even though Isherwood was out, he justified it by saying the reader needed to relate to the narrator. We're all gayer than you give us credit for, Ish. Of course the real reason was he didn't want to cause a scandal.
UP NEXT: Independent People by Halldor Laxness
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