The Exile

by William Kotzwinkle

Shifting between Hollywood and the underworld of Nazi Germany, this novel follows the adventures of a celebrated movie star as he becomes a Berlin black marketeer hunted by the Gestapo

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Novels, Time Travel

277 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 1987

About the author

William Kotzwinkle is a two-time recipient of the National Magazine Award for Fiction, a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Prix Litteraire des Bouquinistes des Quais de Paris, the PETA Award for Children's Books, and a Book Critics Circle award nominee. His work has been translated into dozens of languages.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second read by Kotzwinkle. He continues to impress me in a sort of understated fashion. Much like Fata Morgana, this one had occult/magic undertones, though much subtler. On the flip side, the twisted ending here was much stronger. The story is a take of hallucinative disassociation/metempsychosis/split personality sort of thing, where a popular movie star finds himself crossing over into a life of a Nazi, albeit the non prototypical kind. The book yo yos from one perspective to the next. It's fun, Kotzwinkle is a good writer, his movie world has just the right amount of glib superficiality, his Nazi world just the right amount of...absurdity of war, is it...although as brutal as it ought to be. He does great witty dialogue. Not sure why I didn't love the book, there was a sort of personal disconnect, but objectively it is quite good. Enjoyable and not at all dated for a 30 year old book. Quick read too, one sitting, one evening worth of entertainment. Nicely done.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jungian horror? David Caspian, Hollywood actor, has dissociative episodes when he seems to be inhabiting the persona of racketeer in Nazi Germany. He is convinced that his alter-ego, Felix, is real but his analyst claims that it is simply his Shadow, the dark half of his self, manifesting itself and trying to draw him into a confrontation. And, while David st4eps into Felix' shoes and deals with the scum of the Reich - corrupt officers, sadistic secret police, industrialists selling furnaces to prison camps and so on - Felix seems to be stepping into his, and delivering the performance of a lifetime in his latest film. Kotzwinkle achieves a great level of detail in both settings and raises many interesting questions about identity, character and ethics. The novel builds up to an unexpected, chilling climax that I won't reveal here. I will say that Kotwzwinkle seems to suggest that the collective unconscious is a realm that might contain more than just archetypal entities, that individual consciousnesses may wander there, torn from their own lives into a sort of Phantom Zone. Highly original and effective, although I couldn't help feeling that a more skilled stylist like Jonathan Carroll, whose reality-bending plots this novel resembles, would have shaped this material into something altogether transcendent.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book actually really changed my thinking about the nature of evil. A Hollywood actor finds himself living transported into Nazi Germany, where he's a black marketeer. He alternates between that life and his current one, where he's filming a new movie, and realizes the black marketeer has been living his life when he's in the past. By contrasting two morally bankrupt societies, (the Nazis and the Hollywood film industry), Kotzwinkly brilliantly drives home the motivating factors of greed and power which dehumanize those who fall prey to them. And in contrast to the the preceeding sentence, which sounds like some crummy English paper reject, this book is suspenseful, moving, and funny. A brilliant book that I'm still waiting for someone to make into a great movie.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I mostly enjoyed it. There are two parallel stories: one set in contemporary LA, the other set years earlier in the German Reich. The writing is very good.

I was surprised by the ultimate resolution.

[JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Seamless transition which a paradigm shift occurs, even in mid-sentence is truly remarkable.

A portrait of an individual losing their grip on reality is at once both jarring and compelling.

Bordering on a novella, the length is approachable and brisk in its read. Many chapters in the copy I read were 10 pages a piece leaving one able to pick up and put down or keep reading to the readers availability for time.

Having been drawn to stories of duality and comprehension of reality since my youth, I find the take presented herein fascinating, right up to the conclusion which I was unprepared for.

My recommendations of this book will be to other readers that enjoy tales of duality and mental struggle.

[Iván · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante y creativa novela donde convergen dos historias, una entre Hollywood y la otra en la Alemania nazi. En los capítulos del libro se funden las dos historias. A pesar de ser un formato creativo e innovador, no le doy cuatro estrellas.

[Mina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it on my father's shelf ten years ago, read it and it stuck with me. I might re-read soon to get me out of tiktok-lit-fic-recommendations-realm. It's thrilling, unexpected, very well crafted and incredibly unique.

[Martyn F · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story about the nazi Felix (a black market dealer) is quite interesting. The part about Caspian the film actor a lot less.

The plot is rather flat and not very interesting.

[Myra Breckinridge · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that reads like a movie in the worst way -- a selection of scenes and chatter without the immersive elements required for the page.

[John Pappas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tale of disassociation and identity -- fading Hollywood actor becomes transported to Nazi Germany, where he assumes the identity of a black marketeer -- until, that is, the marketeer begins to assume his identity. Some interesting set pieces make for examinations into the nature of pretense becoming reality, but on the whole, though a fun read, a little light.

[Jrobertus · Rating 2 out of 5]

a strange mixture of comedy and terror as a trapped nazi black-marketeer breaks through to the future for escape and leaves a tormented actor in his place. the end of the book is very strong and upsetting.

[George de Armas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aging actor in hollywood falls into fugue states and is transported to the fall of nazi Germany where he is a black marketeer. Soon the alternate universes compete for sole ownership of the actor/marketeer. Excellent read.

[Jono · Rating 3 out of 5]

funny & chilling

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kotzwinkle has his moments, and this story concludes with a great twist, but generally the whole thing felt thin...he said vaguely...

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting setup and some beautiful writing, but I found the resolution disappointing. It concludes the book dramatically, but thematically, everything is left up in the air.

[H L · Rating 4 out of 5]

This from the guy that wrote ET. Man - I'd much rather see this as a film...

[Heather De armas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mmm somehow you know it's coming at the end.... But it was a suspenseful ride for much of this thin read. I'm surprised we haven't see the movie release yet.