Continuing the attempt to catch up, here are another couple of reviews. Erich Maria Remarque, The Night in Lisbon Solid little story about the difficulties faced by refugees who’ve fled Nazi Germany. Although hampered by rather staid and pedestrian dialogue, the story itself moves briskly enough to keep things ticking over. Though lacking when measured against All Quiet on the Western Front , Remarque manages to construct a disturbing account of courage and cowardice, love, faith, evil and everything in between. I’m somewhat surprised that this hasn’t been made into a film, because it has all the ingredients of a tragic romance. Although the love story remains a little clichéd and predictable, it does manage to reconstruct the little known (to me at least) world of those who left Germany in the face of persecution, but struggled to find anyone prepared to take them. The fact that Remarque himself faced this brings authenticity to the tale. Mildly recommended. Giles Foden, Mimi and Tou...