The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (New York Review Books Classics)

The cover of this book in english really stinks, I think, but dont let it get to you (I often choose a book by it´s cover, I admit it). This is a fantastic story about a man in Holland, or was it Belgium, who suddenly leaves his family and goes to Paris. What happens to him there is pretty amazing and you´d never expect it, but the way Simenon writes is so special, please try it out for...more

The cover of this book in english really stinks, I think, but dont let it get to you (I often choose a book by it´s cover, I admit it). This is a fantastic story about a man in Holland, or was it Belgium, who suddenly leaves his family and goes to Paris. What happens to him there is pretty amazing and you´d never expect it, but the way Simenon writes is so special, please try it out for yourself. Especially if you are currently thinking about chucking your life as it is now :-)   hide

This was the first Simenon novel I read. It's basically just a brilliant adventure yarn/thriller.

A book that closely resembles Camus's "The Stranger"; however, Simenon carefully crafts a character whose neurosis cleverly escalates to depict how the human psyche can go awry. And with a sudden philosophical rift in the end, this book makes for an amazing view of the interaction of the human nature with the rest of society.