The Whistlers' Room

by Paul Alverdes, Basil Creighton (Translator), Emily R. Mayhew (Introduction)

The Whistlers' Room is the surprisingly gentle, sensitive story of a section in a German hospital where three soldiers try to recover from battle injuries. They are known as the Whistlers, as all were shot in the throat and their breathing results in a sound "like the squeaking of mice." The author vividly captures the strong young men the soldiers used to be and the battered, wounded people they have become. Pointner, whose obstinacy in holding onto an English sniper's cap means he is mistaken for the enemy, is the worst injured of the trio. Kollin continually dreams that he is cured, and for a brief, heartbreaking moment his breathing appears to be free when he awakes. The precarious balance of life in the hospital shifts when Harry, an English prisoner of war, becomes another whistler. His initial reception by the other patients, and his eventual acceptance into their group, reminds us of what must be so blatant day-in day-out in a hospital: men are all the same regardless of the country they fight for.

The story progresses through a simple series of vignettes which are delicately presented without demanding empathy or flinging the reader into a maelstrom of emotion. It is all the more rare, precious and powerful as a result.

Genres: Fiction, World War I, Historical Fiction, War, Germany, Classics

94 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

Reviews

[Victoria Murata · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book by my brother who only told me that I might like it. He was wounded in Vietnam and spent some time in a hospital ward in Japan. He must have identified in some way with the wounded soldiers in this short novella.
The introduction to this book is written by a medical historian and it's 15 pages. The book itself is only 60 pages. It's about four men in a ward in a German hospital during WWI. They've all had injuries from being shot in the throat and they've had tracheotomies so they can't talk above a whisper. The novella centers on the unique care of these injuries (before penicillin) and the men's bonding to each other. Even when a British POW comes on the ward they shun him at first, but eventually the commonality of their particular wounding is a greater draw to each other than the enmity that they have toward the 'enemy'. The author, Paul Alverdes, received a throat wound in WWI and he's most likely writing from his own experience.
I found this short book to be a thoughtful commentary on an under recounted consequence of war. We don't often experience the impact of severe casualty on soldiers between the time they are wounded and the time they return home. It's a kind of limbo--an unreal world that is better and worse than where they've been and that turns out to be, sometimes, a place they don't want to leave.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning: The introduction is 30% as long as the book and lists all the major plot points. Don't read it first.

This was a gorgeous, devastating book about World War I from the German side. Young men in a closed community of wounded soldiers, shot in the throat and breathing through silver tubes in their necks, and their love for each other, and their closeness. A book about four men together where words are barely spoken. The military order of the hospital for men who maintain that order although they're unable to fight.

Loved it.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series of fictional vignettes concerning four soldier tracheostomy patients in a German hospital ward called the Whistlers' Room and the subsequent treatment of their throats. Unable to communicate normally, they speak with a series of tones, i.e., whistles. Powerfully gentle and sympathetic. Three soldiers are wounded Germans and the fourth, an English POW. The sketches reveal each man's personality, reactions to their treatment, to other patients with other injuries, and to the doctor in charge. The four men form a strong bond with each other. Medical details were so vivid because the author had undergone such a serious wound himself and based much on his own experiences.

Highly recommended.

[Willem van den Oever · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without so much as a single description of a battlefield, Paul Alverdes has written one of the most impressive and emotional stories about the first world war.
Based on his own experiences as a wounded soldier from the war, he centers his story around the whistlers’ room, a small chamber in a hospital somewhere in Germany. Out there, the war rages on, but inside are the sleeping quarters of four men with almost identical wounds. All have been hit by a bullet in the throat, which has rendered them almost a mute. In order to breath, a small iron tube has been inserted into their neck, allowed them to in- and exhale past the scar tissue with a soft, whistling sound.

Written in a simple, but exceptionally beautiful way, Alverdes underlines the bond between these four handicapped. There is great camaraderie amongst them and the other residents in the hospital, and what subtle humor there is, is suitably sarcastic. It’s clear Alverdes based a lot of the events in the book on events he himself had to experience whilst recovering from his own wounds. Everything feels genuine and honest, the people real and the bonds believable and heartwarming.
“The Whistlers’ Room” is a light piece of fiction touching on some very grim matters. But it’s the importance of friendship that is always front and center, making it a pleasant reading experience.
A tender, touching novel that serves as an honest veteran salute.

[S44ROtti · Rating 5 out of 5]

In einem Lazarett für Halsverletzte des Ersten Weltkrieges kommt es zu ergreifenden Begegnungen zwischen den Landsern - und die Frontkameradschaft macht auch vor dem verletzten Gegner nicht Halt! Packend, ergreifend - traurig schön...

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read and an interesting perspective of WWI.

[Owen Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profound, short read. Simultaneously heart-wrenching and heartwarming from the camaraderie among these unique characters, from a time and place that is often overlooked.

[Miltiadis Michalopoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very touching anti-war novel: the horror of war is best seen in the victims of war, who are gathered in the hospitals waiting patiently to recover from their wounds. All these injured and disabled men, who can't speak and communicate in whistles. The author gets the reader close to these men and makes him feel their sufferings.