BY ERICH MARIA REMARQUE
An interesting but slow-moving novel and not among Remarque’s best
4 stars out of five stars
Erich Maria Remarque’s novels drew on his rich experiences in life. He was a solider in the front line in World War I. A refugee in Switzerland when he was declared unpatriotic after the publication of “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Road Back”. In 1938, his German citizenship was revoked. In 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, Remarque came to the US as a refugee. The novel under review, “Shadows in Paradise”, was his last novel. He wrote it while living at 320 East 57th Street in New York City.
The novel was written in the first person. The narrator, whose real name was not known and who assumed the name of a dead person whose passport he held, Robert Ross. In the Prologue, Ross was introduced as a German of the master (Aryan) race and not a Jew. He was a journalist but for some reason, was prosecuted by the Nazis and put in a concentration camp, before escaping as a refugee in several countries in Europe, including hiding in an art museum in Brussels where he was able to gain some knowledge of paintings, especially those of the French Impressionists. Not much else is known about his life, although throughout the book, he was said to periodically haunted by memories of his past.
Ross arrived in New York on a freighter from Lisbon. He was held by the immigration authorities on Ellis Island. After six weeks, he was given a residence permit good for three months. While on Ellis Island, he met a Turk, who gave Ross the address of a Russian living in New York who, on his flight from Russia twenty years before, had been helped by the Turk’s father.
When released from Ellis Island, Ross looked up the Russian, whose name was Vladimir Melikov. He worked in a run-down hotel not far from Broadway. Melikov allowed Ross to stay in his room. In time, through Melikov, Ross came to know a group of refugees, mostly Jews from Germany but also others. The refugee group met regularly and supported and helped one another. Ross got help in getting his visa extended, as well as landed a job in the antique shop of the Lowy brothers, and later as a consultant to an arts dealer named Silvers. He also met Natasha Petrovna, who was born in France of Russian parents, and, like Ross, was an émigré. Natasha worked as a model in New York, but little was known about her life in France and how she ended up in the U.S.
Overall, the novel proceeded in a slow pace, which was unlike some of the other novels of Remarque. There were no brutal war scenes, although there was a haunting description of what happened to the body during cremation, a description reminiscent of the one depicted in the beginning of “Heaven has no Favorites”.
In lieu of scenic descriptions of nature, which were abundant in other Remarque novels, there was a description of Fifth Avenue at night (p. 249) which was somewhat amusing.
While not much was known about the previous lives of Ross and Natasha, there were several interesting characters:
- Ross’ boss Silvers, who had the psychology of the merchant class, namely, “Anyone you can make money out of is interesting. Anyone who makes you lose money is a dog. All the rest are extras”.
- Betty Stein, who was a motherly figure to the refugees. She helped many of them. She dreamed of the day when she would see her beloved Olivaer Platz in Berlin again, even when Berlin was being bombed daily. She suffered from cancer, but she held on the hope of returning to Berlin when she died.
- Dr. Grafenheim, who was cheated of his fortune by someone he thought was his friend. He had to leave his wife in Berlin when he escaped Germany. He operated on Betty but was unable to save her. When he learned that his wife died of Allied bombs in Berlin, he committed suicide by hanging himself.
- Harry Kahn, who managed to disguise as a Spanish diplomat and saved many refugees in Southern France shortly after the Germans moved into the unoccupied zone. When the War with Germany ended with the destruction of Germany, Kahn, instead of being joyous, became depressed because he knew there was nothing for him to return to in his old country. He shot himself.
- the actor Tannenbaum, who had no problem playing a Gruppenführer in films as long as they are anti-Nazi films.
The bulk of the novel was on the relationship of Ross and Natasha. They filled each other’s emotional voids, although they often exchanged conversations which were critical of each other. They fell in love. Their relationship was proceeding well until Silvers wanted Ross to accompany him to Hollywood, in the hope of finding new wealthy patrons for his paintings. The trip was a flop for Silvers, but Ross, being the only one who had been in a concentration camp, was hired as a consultant for a movie and made a considerable sum of money, more than enough to pay off his debts. However, the relationship with Natasha soured when he returned to New York. They both decided to separate. By that time, the War in Europe ended. Ross decided he had to go back despite the fact that the old country was in ruins. The two never saw or hear from each other again. Perhaps not a happy ending, but I would not label it as sad and certainly not tragic, as it was a decision made of their free will.
Overall, I enjoyed this last novel of Remarque less than the previous one I had read, including “Heaven has no favorites”, “The Arch of Triumph”, “A Time to Love and a Time to Die”. It moved too slowly and the dialogues between Silvers and Ross, and even between Ross and Natasha, were at times tedious.
As in his other works, there were memorable quotes:
- Happiness is not a secure possession but a wave in the water.
- Everyone who has his health can claim to be happy. Except that nobody knows it until he gets sick. And when they get well, they forget it.
- Suicide was unknown to animals because no animal was capable of total despair. The possibility of suicide was one of God’s greatest gifts to man, because it could put an end in hell, as Christians call the torment of the mind.
- Heroes aren’t fit to live with. They should die. If they come through alive, they’re the biggest bores on earth.
- Friendship comes quickly and easily in America, in Europe, slowly and painfully. Maybe because the one continent is young, the other old.
In conclusion, an interesting but slow-moving novel and not among Remarque’s best.
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