''All Quiet on the Orient Express'' is the second novel by Booker shortlisted author

Magnus Mills Magnus Mills (born in 1954 in Birmingham) is an English fiction writer and bus driver. He is best known for his first novel, '' The Restraint of Beasts'', which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and praised by Thomas Pynchon. Background Magn ...

, published in 1999. As with his first novel it is a tragicomedy with an unnamed narrator dealing with apparently simple but increasingly sinister situations.

Plot introduction

The narrator is spending a few weeks camping in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

before setting out on a motorcycle trip to India. He agrees to help the campsite owner, Tom Parker by performing a simple chore, painting a gate. One thing inexorably leads to another, and he finds himself drawn into a succession of disparate tasks, each more complex and time-consuming, and from which there appears to be no escape.

Reception

'' The Complete Review'''s assessment was that the story is "not entirely credible, but enjoyable and creepy", and noted that aggregated reviews from other publishers "enjoyed it, and some are very enthusiastic":.

Carey Harrison Carey Harrison (born 19 February 1944) is an English novelist and dramatist. Early years and education Harrison was born in London to actor Rex Harrison and actress Lilli Palmer, and raised in Los Angeles and New York, where he attended the ...

in the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' commented, "It's not out of idle amusement that the sweetly fiendish author has named his book ''All Quiet on the Orient Express''. This marriage of famous titles hides from view (yet points to) its dark, telling twin: '' Murder on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

''. Not since Kafka has an author lured his audience so innocently, so beguilingly, into hell." Nanja Labi in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' wrote, "In this creepy, deadpan novel by a nominee for Britain's Booker Prize, nothing much happens—except that one man slowly, painlessly, surrenders his life". Brian Evenson compared it favourably with Mills's first novel: "The characters are similar, the style and tone are quite similar, and both make wry but dark commentary on the dilemma of working men. Yet one must acknowledge that the range of ''All Quiet on the Orient Express'' is larger; Mills develops the absurdity of this situation with more subtlety and precision".

Film adaptation

According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 2012, the novel was being adapted into a film by

Idiotlamp Productions Idiotlamp Productions is an independent production company based in London, UK, founded by the creative partnership of Jim Field Smith and George Kay. Credits Idiotlamp is the creative entity behind the multi-national Netflix series ''Criminal' ...

, directed by

Jim Field Smith Jim Field Smith (born 20 February 1979) is an English film and television director, writer and producer. Early career Smith was a member of the British sketch comedy group Dutch Elm Conservatoire, who were nominated for the prestigious Perrier A ...

. Idiotlamp's website no longer has any information about this project, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:All Quiet On The Orient Express 1999 British novels English novels Novels set in the Lake District Flamingo books Tragicomedy novels