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The Hideout
A kind, blundering Czech engineer is pressured by the Nazi government to hand over his invention, which could be key to their military operations. He flees to Paris, hoping to sell his invention to the French government instead; yet when the Germans invade France, he is forced into hiding, and spends months in a dark, damp cellar. Alone, he dwells on his memories - of his troubled marriage, and his decision to leave his wife behind in Czechoslovakia. When he is given the unexpected chance to redeem himself, both to his wife and history, he seizes it with utter determination - even though this heroic act will be his last.
A powerful and moving novel about one man's final, fatal, heroic act of resistance in Nazi France.
A powerful and moving novel about one man's final, fatal, heroic act of resistance in Nazi France.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
6 people are currently reading
333 people want to read
About the author
Egon Hostovský
33 books28 followersEgon Hostowsky (sometimes spelled "Hostovsky") was a major figure in Czech literature from the 1930s to the '60s. The youngest of eight children, he was born into a Jewish family in 1908 in the Bohemian village of Hronov. (His father was part owner of a small textile plant.) Hostowsky studied in Prague and later in Vienna, and became an editor at the Prague-based publishing company Melantrich in the early '30s. He also wrote his own books, including the novels Lost Shadow (1931) and The Arsonist (1935), for which he later received the Czechoslovak State Prize for Literature. He left Czechoslovakia in 1939, ostensibly to deliver a lecture in Brussels. Instead, he went to Paris and then New York, seeking a home far from the occupying Germans. He lived in the United States for the duration of the war, while virtually his entire family died in the Nazi death camps. He tried to make a life for himself in the early postwar, Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia, and worked for a time in the Foreign Ministry, serving as legal secretary and then chargé d'affaires in the Czech embassy in Norway. In 1949, however, he resigned his job; the following year, he returned permanently to the U.S. Hostowsky became a teacher of the Czech language and a journalist while continuing to write novels. Unlike many other 1930s novelists, he retained his audience in the postwar period and his novels were widely translated. His 1955 book The Midnight Patient, a serio-comic look at Cold War politics and espionage, was far too sophisticated in its wit to interest American producers, but it drew the attention of director Henri-Georges Clouzot, who adapted it into the 1957 thriller Les Espions (The Spies). Hostowsky continued writing into the '60s, and served as an editor at Radio Free Europe for five years. He died in Montclair, NJ, in 1973. —allmovie guide.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
April 13, 2017
Hidden in a villa in Normandy during World War II, our narrator has written notes to his wife, Hanichka in the form of a deathbed confession. He is about to perform a heroic act for the French Resistance on condition that his writings are safeguarded and released to his wife after the war.
An unhappily married engineer, seeking passion, follows the skirts of Madame Olga to the streets of Paris, abruptly leaving his wife and children in Prague. Following Olga's rejection, he finds himself unable to return to Czechoslovakia. The engineer and inventor had developed a sight for anti-aircraft guns. After Munich's March on Prague, he decides to burn the blueprints. Unbeknownst to him, his employer has reported him to the Nazi regime. The Nazi government issues an arrest warrant convinced that he will sell his ideas to France. Tipped off by his secretary, the engineer seeks refuge in Paris.
As the Nazi's advance on Paris, the engineer goes into hiding at the Normandy villa of Dr. Aubin. For the duration of the war, he intends to hide underground in a dank, dark cellar provided by Dr. Aubin and is left to pass the days ruminating and reliving glimpses of bygone scenes. He replays scenes from his marriage and laments, knowing he has lost everything. Dr. Aubin advises him to regard events unfolding outside the cellar hideout as an exciting play that doesn't concern him, a play with a finite ending. The engineer cannot cope and starts to loose touch with reality.
"The Hideout" by Egon Hostovsky is a novel of regret and longing. The engineer paid attention to his former life in Prague, in retrospect, only through memories and dreams, his life now, an empty shell of existence. Hostovsky describes the inner turmoil and wartime events experienced by an unlikable man. It examines a life of unhappiness and a quest for redemption. Notes recorded and left for Hanishka explain in words and thoughts what the engineer felt might have been. An excellent read.
Thank you Pushkin Collection, Steerforth Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Hideout".
An unhappily married engineer, seeking passion, follows the skirts of Madame Olga to the streets of Paris, abruptly leaving his wife and children in Prague. Following Olga's rejection, he finds himself unable to return to Czechoslovakia. The engineer and inventor had developed a sight for anti-aircraft guns. After Munich's March on Prague, he decides to burn the blueprints. Unbeknownst to him, his employer has reported him to the Nazi regime. The Nazi government issues an arrest warrant convinced that he will sell his ideas to France. Tipped off by his secretary, the engineer seeks refuge in Paris.
As the Nazi's advance on Paris, the engineer goes into hiding at the Normandy villa of Dr. Aubin. For the duration of the war, he intends to hide underground in a dank, dark cellar provided by Dr. Aubin and is left to pass the days ruminating and reliving glimpses of bygone scenes. He replays scenes from his marriage and laments, knowing he has lost everything. Dr. Aubin advises him to regard events unfolding outside the cellar hideout as an exciting play that doesn't concern him, a play with a finite ending. The engineer cannot cope and starts to loose touch with reality.
"The Hideout" by Egon Hostovsky is a novel of regret and longing. The engineer paid attention to his former life in Prague, in retrospect, only through memories and dreams, his life now, an empty shell of existence. Hostovsky describes the inner turmoil and wartime events experienced by an unlikable man. It examines a life of unhappiness and a quest for redemption. Notes recorded and left for Hanishka explain in words and thoughts what the engineer felt might have been. An excellent read.
Thank you Pushkin Collection, Steerforth Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Hideout".
on-hold
July 19, 2017i'm putting this book on hold, because it's too depressing for summer. if that makes any sense. i really enjoyed it, and had things to say about it , but with summer's heat, and beach, travelling, this book became "Meh" to me. i'll definitely get back to it.
one day...
one day...
June 5, 2017
Egon Hostoveky, like Hans Fallada, has an intriguing backstory, but unlike the latter's fraught history, his is more optimistic. A Jew from Prague, he managed to avoid the Nazis by being posted to Brussels in the late 1930's, losing his family in the Holocaust. He eventually ended in New York in 1941 where he returned circuitously in the 1960's. This slim book tells hiding out in France during the occupation of an inventor in the form of a letter to his wife who remained in Prague. It is tight, almost claustrophobic, and shows influence by Kafka. I found it not as fluid as the eye witness accounts by Fallada, Nemerovsky, and Hans Keilson, which to me remain the gold standard for WWII novels
April 16, 2017
Right before the onset of the Second World War, a Czech engineer leaves Prague for Paris, in the vague hope of an extramarital affair. He soon learns that the Germans have occupied his country. He is also informed that they have issued a warrant for his arrest since he had previously developed a gunsight which could be a gamechanger in the forthcoming hostilities. From the dank, dark cellar of a French friend where he hides for nearly two years of the war, our hapless protagonist writes to his wife – his “dearest Hanichka” – what is at once a love-letter and a confession. He explains his sudden disappearance, describes his voluntary imprisonment and how he, uncharacteristically, killed a man in cold blood. He also speaks about an imminent, momentous decision which he needs to make, and which may yet redeem him.
Czech-born, US-based author Egon Hostovsky was much admired by Graham Greene and, on the basis of this novella (translated from the Czech by Fern Long), it is not difficult to understand why. This philosophical thriller presents us with a man grappling with his conscience, trying to find moral bearings in extraordinary circumstances where peacetime rules of good and evil no longer seem to apply. The sense of claustrophobia is well brought out and the moral dilemmas portrayed provide much food for thought.
3.5*
Czech-born, US-based author Egon Hostovsky was much admired by Graham Greene and, on the basis of this novella (translated from the Czech by Fern Long), it is not difficult to understand why. This philosophical thriller presents us with a man grappling with his conscience, trying to find moral bearings in extraordinary circumstances where peacetime rules of good and evil no longer seem to apply. The sense of claustrophobia is well brought out and the moral dilemmas portrayed provide much food for thought.
3.5*
April 19, 2017
There are many books about people on the run from the Nazis, about hiding from them and being hidden, about displacement and exile, and although I found this one well-written and compelling up to a point, I found it hard to engage with the main protagonist, and the other characters were even less engaging. It’s a first person narrative in the form of a letter that a Czech engineer writes to his abandoned wife back in Czechoslovakia after he flees searching for romance to Paris just before the German invasion of his native land. As the inventor of a gun-sight he is under suspicion of having given the designs to the French and thus dare not return. Hiding form the Nazis in a cold and damp cellar his grip on reality starts to falter and his personality to disintegrate. In the letter that we read, he tries to explain himself to his wife and to tell her what he is about to do. The ending is inconclusive and it is left to the reader’s imagination about what the future will bring. He’s not at all a likeable character and whilst that should in itself present no problem for the reader, I also found myself distanced from him and that I did not really care about him. The book offers all the rather ordinary tropes about betrayal and loyalty but there’s nothing really new here. However, it is always a joy to discover a previously unknown and untranslated author and I am grateful, as always, to Pushkin Press for making this book available to an English speaking readership. If not a book that made a great impact on me, I certainly found it interesting and definitely worth reading.
April 23, 2025
hafifi normal bir kitap, çok şey beklememek lazım
March 7, 2018
Claustrophobic; that’s the word I’d use to describe this narrative of a man trapped in his own head, alone in a cold, damp, dark cellar where’s he’s imprisoned behind an unlocked door for the duration of World War II. It’s hard to distinguish where reality, fantasy, and metaphor intersect. The story is written in the first person perspective and I don’t think the supposed prisoner is ever named though his jailer/rescuer is a French docto called Aubin.
I found it hard to connect with this protagonist though I felt pity as well as gratitude that the book was little longer than one hundred pages. I suppose it’s human nature to desire to distance yourself from someone in this victim’s plight. His panic is cloying but at the same time pitiable. I read the required number of pages required to finish The Hideout and felt lucky to shut the book and put it out of my mind which I suspect is exactly what Hostovsky wanted to achieve.
Thank you to the publishers for providing an ARC.
I found it hard to connect with this protagonist though I felt pity as well as gratitude that the book was little longer than one hundred pages. I suppose it’s human nature to desire to distance yourself from someone in this victim’s plight. His panic is cloying but at the same time pitiable. I read the required number of pages required to finish The Hideout and felt lucky to shut the book and put it out of my mind which I suspect is exactly what Hostovsky wanted to achieve.
Thank you to the publishers for providing an ARC.
Read
September 27, 2025İnsan aynı anda kendinden, insanlardan, Tanrı'dan ve dünyadan kaçamıyor. Ne kadar saklanırsa saklansın, hep oyunda kalıyor.
Bazen bir tutkunun peşinden gitmek, insana çok ağır şeyler yaşatabilir. İşte böyle tutkunun peşinden giden bir mühendisin hayatının değişmesi romanı Sığınak. Mühendis olan roman karakteri, aşık olduğu kadının peşinden Prag'ı terkedip, Paris'e gelir. İşler umduğu gibi gitmez. İkinci Dünya Savaşı devam ederken, Almanya Fransa'yı işgal eder. Prag'a da geri dönemez. Prag'da Alman işgali altındadır. Üstüne üstlük mühendisin uçaksavar planlarını Fransa'ya sattığını düşünen Naziler, mühendis hakkında yakalama kararı çıkarır. Bu sıkışmışlık içindeki mühendis Paris'te, eski arkadaşı Doktor Aubin ile karşılaşır. Mühendis, Doktor Aubin'in evinin bodrum katında saklanır. Güneş ışığının girmediği ufacık bir delikten yaşam belirtisinin görüldüğü bu bodrum katı mühendisin sığınağı olur. Roman karakteri bu sığınakta karısına mektup yazmaya baslar, bu mektuplarda pişmanlığın ve itirafların izleri görülür Mühendisin hem kendisi, hem de eşi Hana ile olan yüzleşmesidir bu. Geçmiş zamanlar, anılar roman karakterinin zihninden bir film şeridi gibi geçer. Sığınak karanlıktır ama yazmak bu sığınağı içsel olarak aydınlatır. Zaman geçtikçe, zihin muğlak bir hale gelir. Mekan -zaman kavramları sisli bir hal alır ve belirsizleşir. Artık zihni mühendise oyun oynamaya başlar. Hayalinde duyduğu eşinin sesinin kutsal bir sese dönüşmesi de bu oyunlardan biridir. Ebediyetin sesi onu ele geçirmiştir. Okumak isteyenlere iyi okumalar
Bazen bir tutkunun peşinden gitmek, insana çok ağır şeyler yaşatabilir. İşte böyle tutkunun peşinden giden bir mühendisin hayatının değişmesi romanı Sığınak. Mühendis olan roman karakteri, aşık olduğu kadının peşinden Prag'ı terkedip, Paris'e gelir. İşler umduğu gibi gitmez. İkinci Dünya Savaşı devam ederken, Almanya Fransa'yı işgal eder. Prag'a da geri dönemez. Prag'da Alman işgali altındadır. Üstüne üstlük mühendisin uçaksavar planlarını Fransa'ya sattığını düşünen Naziler, mühendis hakkında yakalama kararı çıkarır. Bu sıkışmışlık içindeki mühendis Paris'te, eski arkadaşı Doktor Aubin ile karşılaşır. Mühendis, Doktor Aubin'in evinin bodrum katında saklanır. Güneş ışığının girmediği ufacık bir delikten yaşam belirtisinin görüldüğü bu bodrum katı mühendisin sığınağı olur. Roman karakteri bu sığınakta karısına mektup yazmaya baslar, bu mektuplarda pişmanlığın ve itirafların izleri görülür Mühendisin hem kendisi, hem de eşi Hana ile olan yüzleşmesidir bu. Geçmiş zamanlar, anılar roman karakterinin zihninden bir film şeridi gibi geçer. Sığınak karanlıktır ama yazmak bu sığınağı içsel olarak aydınlatır. Zaman geçtikçe, zihin muğlak bir hale gelir. Mekan -zaman kavramları sisli bir hal alır ve belirsizleşir. Artık zihni mühendise oyun oynamaya başlar. Hayalinde duyduğu eşinin sesinin kutsal bir sese dönüşmesi de bu oyunlardan biridir. Ebediyetin sesi onu ele geçirmiştir. Okumak isteyenlere iyi okumalar
December 31, 2024
my 100th book of the year. a beautiful end.
A person can't escape himself, people, God and the world all at once. No matter how he hides himself, he's still in the play… The right moment comes to every life—only to recognize it! Only not to miss that instant when it depends on us whether we shall unite ourselves forever with mankind and the universe, or whether we shall change into the wandering shadows of shadows! Only not to sleep through that time when we can step out from the wings and recite our soliloquy irrevocably, and play our part well!
What does anything at all matter, if I can forget everything with which I grew old, and if I can march forward with a manly stride to meet my greatest adventure, at whose end you will be smiling, and our children, and my new friends, and all the unknown living and dead who bear the escutcheon of poverty and the shield of misery, those eternal soldiers for whom, from the beginning of the world until today, no archangel ever trumpeted a summons to a truce?
Reality is not a closed-up today without any path leading back to the past and without roads to the future. Reality is not only the truth of one moment. Reality is a stream of times past, present and future, the comradeship of people dead, living and still to be born; it is memory, will and dream, birth and death and then resurrection.
A person can't escape himself, people, God and the world all at once. No matter how he hides himself, he's still in the play… The right moment comes to every life—only to recognize it! Only not to miss that instant when it depends on us whether we shall unite ourselves forever with mankind and the universe, or whether we shall change into the wandering shadows of shadows! Only not to sleep through that time when we can step out from the wings and recite our soliloquy irrevocably, and play our part well!
What does anything at all matter, if I can forget everything with which I grew old, and if I can march forward with a manly stride to meet my greatest adventure, at whose end you will be smiling, and our children, and my new friends, and all the unknown living and dead who bear the escutcheon of poverty and the shield of misery, those eternal soldiers for whom, from the beginning of the world until today, no archangel ever trumpeted a summons to a truce?
Reality is not a closed-up today without any path leading back to the past and without roads to the future. Reality is not only the truth of one moment. Reality is a stream of times past, present and future, the comradeship of people dead, living and still to be born; it is memory, will and dream, birth and death and then resurrection.
May 4, 2022
This is about a Czech engineer/inventor whose employer gives his name to the Nazis in fear he will give his plans to the French. He is unaware and follows a woman he believes he loves to Paris to discover, from his secretary, (who discloses she's in love with him) that he'll be arrested if he returns home.
Serendipitiously meeting Dr. Aubin who hides him in a dank basement for over two years allows him time to reminisce, reflect and tell his wife Hanichka, by letter, his truth.
Sometimes I thought the engineer was hallucinating. I'm still unsure. I did enjoy the story and will add a copy to my home library. It definitely deserves a slow engaged read. As many have said, I too did not connect with the engineer. He seemed selfish and detached.
Thank you Pushkin Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Serendipitiously meeting Dr. Aubin who hides him in a dank basement for over two years allows him time to reminisce, reflect and tell his wife Hanichka, by letter, his truth.
Sometimes I thought the engineer was hallucinating. I'm still unsure. I did enjoy the story and will add a copy to my home library. It definitely deserves a slow engaged read. As many have said, I too did not connect with the engineer. He seemed selfish and detached.
Thank you Pushkin Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
May 20, 2017
I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for honest review.
I love historical fiction, but when we are talking about post 1900 historical fiction, I prefer reading about WW2 and the 90s. The reason is simple: most of the beautiful stories I've ever read are set in ww2, while the 90s have a very familiar and fun pop culture references. The Hideout is not an exception, it's a short, but beautiful story of who made the wrong choices and try to redeem it with one last heroic act.
I find our main character hard to like, but there are moments where he grew on me. I think it's part of his character growth. It explores the dynamic of life in its short pages through the eyes of our main character, this book is filled with regret and longing, emptiness and searching for passion, as well as contentment and peace. It will take you to his highest and lowest moment during the short duration of this book. I also really like Dr. Aubin, and I wish we knew more about him.
The prose is poetic, yet easy to understand. It beautifully conveys the character's feelings. This is also a Czech classic literature. I was expecting something different, maybe in terms of writing style or get a glimpse of life in the country. Alas, I was dissapointed. I feel like it could set anywhere. I still really enjoyed it though, and will definitely check the author's other works or other Czech literature.
I love historical fiction, but when we are talking about post 1900 historical fiction, I prefer reading about WW2 and the 90s. The reason is simple: most of the beautiful stories I've ever read are set in ww2, while the 90s have a very familiar and fun pop culture references. The Hideout is not an exception, it's a short, but beautiful story of who made the wrong choices and try to redeem it with one last heroic act.
I find our main character hard to like, but there are moments where he grew on me. I think it's part of his character growth. It explores the dynamic of life in its short pages through the eyes of our main character, this book is filled with regret and longing, emptiness and searching for passion, as well as contentment and peace. It will take you to his highest and lowest moment during the short duration of this book. I also really like Dr. Aubin, and I wish we knew more about him.
The prose is poetic, yet easy to understand. It beautifully conveys the character's feelings. This is also a Czech classic literature. I was expecting something different, maybe in terms of writing style or get a glimpse of life in the country. Alas, I was dissapointed. I feel like it could set anywhere. I still really enjoyed it though, and will definitely check the author's other works or other Czech literature.
December 4, 2023
"Hakikat, geçmişle ilintisi ve geleceğe açılan yolları olmayan, zapt edilmiş bir bugün değildir. Hakikat, sadece tek bir anın gerçeği değildir. Hakikat geçmiş, şimdiki ve gelecek zamanların akışıdır; ölü, diri ve henüz doğmamış insanlar topluluğudur; hafızadır hem irade hem de rüyadır, hem doğum hem de ölümdür ve hatta diriliştir."
"İntihar düşüncesi, son ana kadar yüzeye çıkmaz. Derinlerde bir yerde saklıdır, o kadar derinde ki, henüz bir düşünceye benzemez bile. Ama bir anda çıkıverir ve daha intiharcı ne yaptığını bile anlamadan ölüme yol açar."
"İntihar düşüncesi, son ana kadar yüzeye çıkmaz. Derinlerde bir yerde saklıdır, o kadar derinde ki, henüz bir düşünceye benzemez bile. Ama bir anda çıkıverir ve daha intiharcı ne yaptığını bile anlamadan ölüme yol açar."
July 26, 2017
*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
The Hideout is a farewell letter from a man who has decided to strike a blow to the Nazis for the French resistance to a wife he left years before, apologizing for his mistakes and reflecting on how he ended up in his position. It’s not a typical WWII novel about giving a strong resistance to Nazi Germany, or even being a tragic victim of the regime, but rather an honest account of a weak-willed man who has a hard time making decisions and who was really just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong set of circumstances. He’s not a hero, but a man who was unhappily married and trying to find happiness. In some ways, the narration reminded me of The Stranger by Camus. It’s not really an existential piece of work, but it has that same fluid type of narrative with a flawed character that I had trouble either rooting for or against.
What I loved about this novel was its approach towards providing an honest account; the narrator is not colored as a hero or a tragic victim; rather, he is simply a man in unfortunate circumstances. His confinement in his friend’s basement isn’t thrilling or heroic; it’s boring. The darkness blinds him, the isolation drives him mad, and he has so little to eat, he ends up losing his teeth. The narration is honest and straightforward and paints a bleak picture of the situation. While the story itself isn’t particularly thrilling, it brought up a lot of questions for me to ponder. Would it have been better for him to work with the Nazi government and chance meeting his wife and kids someday down the road? What is more important: family or keeping dangerous technology out of the hands of immoral people? What does happiness really mean anyway? And how can we possibly redeem our mistakes and the hurt done to the ones we love?
The Hideout is a short read and I’d recommend reading it in one setting in order to get the full effect of the story as a whole. I don’t think it’s the kind of story everyone would enjoy, but I do think that it’s worth a read. If you’re at all interested in literary works and analyzing them to find a deeper meaning, this one is definitely prime material for that; I could see this as a great companion to the World War II unit in a classroom.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
The Hideout is a farewell letter from a man who has decided to strike a blow to the Nazis for the French resistance to a wife he left years before, apologizing for his mistakes and reflecting on how he ended up in his position. It’s not a typical WWII novel about giving a strong resistance to Nazi Germany, or even being a tragic victim of the regime, but rather an honest account of a weak-willed man who has a hard time making decisions and who was really just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong set of circumstances. He’s not a hero, but a man who was unhappily married and trying to find happiness. In some ways, the narration reminded me of The Stranger by Camus. It’s not really an existential piece of work, but it has that same fluid type of narrative with a flawed character that I had trouble either rooting for or against.
What I loved about this novel was its approach towards providing an honest account; the narrator is not colored as a hero or a tragic victim; rather, he is simply a man in unfortunate circumstances. His confinement in his friend’s basement isn’t thrilling or heroic; it’s boring. The darkness blinds him, the isolation drives him mad, and he has so little to eat, he ends up losing his teeth. The narration is honest and straightforward and paints a bleak picture of the situation. While the story itself isn’t particularly thrilling, it brought up a lot of questions for me to ponder. Would it have been better for him to work with the Nazi government and chance meeting his wife and kids someday down the road? What is more important: family or keeping dangerous technology out of the hands of immoral people? What does happiness really mean anyway? And how can we possibly redeem our mistakes and the hurt done to the ones we love?
The Hideout is a short read and I’d recommend reading it in one setting in order to get the full effect of the story as a whole. I don’t think it’s the kind of story everyone would enjoy, but I do think that it’s worth a read. If you’re at all interested in literary works and analyzing them to find a deeper meaning, this one is definitely prime material for that; I could see this as a great companion to the World War II unit in a classroom.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
April 11, 2017
If you're hoping for a war refugee story in the vein of The Pianist, this is probably not exactly what you want. If, however, you're interested in an introspective, moody, and melancholy story of a man trapped both metaphorically and literally, then this is the novel for you.
Our protagonist is a sad little man, looking for something to give his life colour and meaning, not realizing that a search like that shouldn't go outwards. And the whole "World War" business is hindering him quite a bit, obviously. As he writes letters to the wife he left behind in the occupied Czech Republic, he tells her how he foolishly ran away to be with the woman he thought he loved, how he lost his chance to come back home, and how his paralyzing insecurities and doubts have lead him to the place where he is now: a damp, dark cellar with no hope of ever getting his life back on track.
This is less of a war novel than one might expect, even if you take into account the fact that this is an epistolary character study and not another skirmish-based gung-ho action book.
The protagonist is intentionally unlikeable, a worm of a man, who has everything and throws it away on a whim and, to put it mildly, digs his own grave. Is it weird to feel no sympathy towards a man in a life-or-death situation in the midst of a bloody, horrible war? Hopefully not, because that's how you're likely to feel about our nominal hero.
What elevates the book above its milquetoast bore of a protagonist is the writing. Its this expressive yet reserved style that absolutely flourishes specifically due to the nature of the narrator. It is easy to believe that these bursts of flavourful, manic descriptions of people, feelings, and conditions, really are just the ramblings of a man going insane. And make no mistake, our "hero" is not dejected or mildly dispirited by his (if I'm being honest) mild predicament. He is going off the deep end, talking about having nightmares while awake, crawling on walls, and it all feels rather like a strangely poetic fever dream.
All in all, what this lacked was a protagonist who could elicit stronger feelings. I couldn't hate him, so I wasn't rooting against him and I couldn't like him, so I definitely wasn't hoping for him to make it out okay. But this is worth reading for the prose alone, if only to see a glimpse of how good writing can elevate a weak story/character.
Our protagonist is a sad little man, looking for something to give his life colour and meaning, not realizing that a search like that shouldn't go outwards. And the whole "World War" business is hindering him quite a bit, obviously. As he writes letters to the wife he left behind in the occupied Czech Republic, he tells her how he foolishly ran away to be with the woman he thought he loved, how he lost his chance to come back home, and how his paralyzing insecurities and doubts have lead him to the place where he is now: a damp, dark cellar with no hope of ever getting his life back on track.
This is less of a war novel than one might expect, even if you take into account the fact that this is an epistolary character study and not another skirmish-based gung-ho action book.
The protagonist is intentionally unlikeable, a worm of a man, who has everything and throws it away on a whim and, to put it mildly, digs his own grave. Is it weird to feel no sympathy towards a man in a life-or-death situation in the midst of a bloody, horrible war? Hopefully not, because that's how you're likely to feel about our nominal hero.
What elevates the book above its milquetoast bore of a protagonist is the writing. Its this expressive yet reserved style that absolutely flourishes specifically due to the nature of the narrator. It is easy to believe that these bursts of flavourful, manic descriptions of people, feelings, and conditions, really are just the ramblings of a man going insane. And make no mistake, our "hero" is not dejected or mildly dispirited by his (if I'm being honest) mild predicament. He is going off the deep end, talking about having nightmares while awake, crawling on walls, and it all feels rather like a strangely poetic fever dream.
All in all, what this lacked was a protagonist who could elicit stronger feelings. I couldn't hate him, so I wasn't rooting against him and I couldn't like him, so I definitely wasn't hoping for him to make it out okay. But this is worth reading for the prose alone, if only to see a glimpse of how good writing can elevate a weak story/character.
July 25, 2017
GNAb I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, the heirs of Egon Hostovsky, the heirs of Jane Long (these heirs are not yet located), translator, and Pushkin Press. This novel was originally published in the US in 1945, and in Czechoslovakia in 1946.
This novel is formatted as an extended love letter/confession, or as a journal. The letter is addressed to Hanna (Hanichka) from her husband, a nonpolitical Czechoslovakian engineer who followed a skirt to Paris just days before Czech fell to the German army. As the inventor of an vastly improved gunsight, this engineer is known politically, and following his rush to France, the Germans put out a warrant for his apprehension, thinking that his visit to Paris to was give the French the plans for his gunsight.
Unable to travel back home, he has now abandoned his wife and children, outgrown his infatuation with Madame Olga, destroyed the plans for the gunsight and hidden for months in the cellar of Dr. Aubin, a casual acquaintance from his school days. After days in delirium from an illness, he looks out the crack in the basement wall and spies another face from his childhood - wearing an all black Nazi SS uniform. Unthinking, he rushes out to greet his old friend, a boy not bright but now a loyal German. Our engineer finds the only way to protect Dr. Aubin is to kill the Nazi. His days of watchful waiting are now over.
This is an excellent book, originally printed in a very timely fashion. I found the ending a bit too vague, until I remembered that the ending was really the beginning.
pub July 25, 2017
rec April 3, 2017
Puskin Collection
This novel is formatted as an extended love letter/confession, or as a journal. The letter is addressed to Hanna (Hanichka) from her husband, a nonpolitical Czechoslovakian engineer who followed a skirt to Paris just days before Czech fell to the German army. As the inventor of an vastly improved gunsight, this engineer is known politically, and following his rush to France, the Germans put out a warrant for his apprehension, thinking that his visit to Paris to was give the French the plans for his gunsight.
Unable to travel back home, he has now abandoned his wife and children, outgrown his infatuation with Madame Olga, destroyed the plans for the gunsight and hidden for months in the cellar of Dr. Aubin, a casual acquaintance from his school days. After days in delirium from an illness, he looks out the crack in the basement wall and spies another face from his childhood - wearing an all black Nazi SS uniform. Unthinking, he rushes out to greet his old friend, a boy not bright but now a loyal German. Our engineer finds the only way to protect Dr. Aubin is to kill the Nazi. His days of watchful waiting are now over.
This is an excellent book, originally printed in a very timely fashion. I found the ending a bit too vague, until I remembered that the ending was really the beginning.
pub July 25, 2017
rec April 3, 2017
Puskin Collection
April 22, 2017
In "The Hideout," a Czech engineer writes letters to his wife, Hanichka, from his hiding place in occupied France. In them, he describes how he went to Paris in 1939 without her knowledge in order to chase after another woman, only to be trapped there when the Nazis, who have taken Czechoslovakia, declare him a wanted man because they believe he was trying to sell the French a gunsight he was developing. However, his attempts to sell the gunsight to the French end in rejection and failure. Ultimately he ends up hiding in a basement, so desperate to escape to America that he'll try anything, even a suicide mission.
"The Hideout" was originally published in 1945, and it has that flavor of mid-century Middle/Eastern European fiction. It is a short read, only about 130 pages, and is both brisk-moving and compelling (if you like the kind of thing that it is), and utterly unlike your standard American thriller. Despite its brevity, much of the main character's notes are concerned with his inner state, as he contemplates the madness he is descending into due to confinement and strain. The events that take place during the book are gripping in the extreme--the narrator has to flee for his life, and kill to protect his hiding place--but most of the story is taken up with dialogue and introspection. Although the grand sweep of the war certainly concerns the narrator, since he is caught up in it in the most literal way, this is not an epic war story but a tightly-focused novella about the effects of the war on one person's psyche, perhaps as a stand-in for what the war was doing to everyone involved, and particularly those in countries like Czechoslovakia that had no choice but to surrender--to "go into hiding," as it were--or die in probably futile resistance attempts. It's easy for the heavyweights of WWII to wonder at the passivity of the little countries, especially those situated so unfortunately between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, but for places like Poland and Czechoslovakia, "hiding" was their best bet for survival. All in all, a fascinating little story about an experience and by an author that the English-speaking world may not have much knowledge of.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
"The Hideout" was originally published in 1945, and it has that flavor of mid-century Middle/Eastern European fiction. It is a short read, only about 130 pages, and is both brisk-moving and compelling (if you like the kind of thing that it is), and utterly unlike your standard American thriller. Despite its brevity, much of the main character's notes are concerned with his inner state, as he contemplates the madness he is descending into due to confinement and strain. The events that take place during the book are gripping in the extreme--the narrator has to flee for his life, and kill to protect his hiding place--but most of the story is taken up with dialogue and introspection. Although the grand sweep of the war certainly concerns the narrator, since he is caught up in it in the most literal way, this is not an epic war story but a tightly-focused novella about the effects of the war on one person's psyche, perhaps as a stand-in for what the war was doing to everyone involved, and particularly those in countries like Czechoslovakia that had no choice but to surrender--to "go into hiding," as it were--or die in probably futile resistance attempts. It's easy for the heavyweights of WWII to wonder at the passivity of the little countries, especially those situated so unfortunately between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, but for places like Poland and Czechoslovakia, "hiding" was their best bet for survival. All in all, a fascinating little story about an experience and by an author that the English-speaking world may not have much knowledge of.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
August 20, 2025
I have some very mixed feelings about this story... Which I didn't expect. It's a rather glum tale of a Czechoslovakian engineer who spends an abnormally long amount of time hiding out in a dark tiny basement room. One would think such a story would be traumatic and horrifying - it most certainly should be - but it wasn't. Instead I found it confusing...
What was I confused about? Well his "friend" the Doctor was hiding him from the Nazis... But the conditions he was living under was just awful. The physical side of the story was sort of skipped over (but it did say he lost all of his teeth so clearly he has scurvy) and more focused on the mental side. The thing is I find myself asking if this Doctor actually was his friend? Or was he worse than the enemy? What is the saying, "with friends like these who needs enemies?"
And since the book didn't cover the physical side of it at all, I am at a lost how he can even walk? His muscles must have wasted away! I seriously doubt he would be in shape to do anything.
How can a man who was keeping you prisoner in a basement room be your friend? And what doctor allows you to get scurvy??
I suppose the story is supposed to make you think? But I don't like it leaves me feeling so wishy-washy and unclear. Who the enemy is should be crystal clear right??
And how in the world the other people in this story actually expected him to be able to answer questions when he is in that condition is insane! And since his mind is shot how do we know those people are even real? He could be imagining it all...
It started out normal enough if a tad dull but then the war started and things got pretty odd.
What was I confused about? Well his "friend" the Doctor was hiding him from the Nazis... But the conditions he was living under was just awful. The physical side of the story was sort of skipped over (but it did say he lost all of his teeth so clearly he has scurvy) and more focused on the mental side. The thing is I find myself asking if this Doctor actually was his friend? Or was he worse than the enemy? What is the saying, "with friends like these who needs enemies?"
And since the book didn't cover the physical side of it at all, I am at a lost how he can even walk? His muscles must have wasted away! I seriously doubt he would be in shape to do anything.
How can a man who was keeping you prisoner in a basement room be your friend? And what doctor allows you to get scurvy??
I suppose the story is supposed to make you think? But I don't like it leaves me feeling so wishy-washy and unclear. Who the enemy is should be crystal clear right??
And how in the world the other people in this story actually expected him to be able to answer questions when he is in that condition is insane! And since his mind is shot how do we know those people are even real? He could be imagining it all...
It started out normal enough if a tad dull but then the war started and things got pretty odd.
November 6, 2019
Some weird parts, and very depressing, but so glad to have read it.
March 12, 2022
Heel klassiek geconcipieerd. Degelijk geschreven, soms iets te plechtstatig en schimmig. Al bij al verdienstelijk en ertoe doen
April 25, 2017
3.5 stars.
A man writes a long overdue letter to his distant wife, from the cellar where he has been hiding in Normandy since the invasion of France by the Nazis. It is a confession, an affirmation and a form of self-analysis. The narrator is by turns ridiculous and profound, confined in his hiding place while war rages above: forced, while great events unfold unseen outside, to retread the well-worn paths of his own memories. Yet, in coming to understand his past, he has more sense of purpose in the present and, finally, begins to see the shape that his own future must take...
For the full review, due to be published on 26 April 2017, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/04/26/t...
A man writes a long overdue letter to his distant wife, from the cellar where he has been hiding in Normandy since the invasion of France by the Nazis. It is a confession, an affirmation and a form of self-analysis. The narrator is by turns ridiculous and profound, confined in his hiding place while war rages above: forced, while great events unfold unseen outside, to retread the well-worn paths of his own memories. Yet, in coming to understand his past, he has more sense of purpose in the present and, finally, begins to see the shape that his own future must take...
For the full review, due to be published on 26 April 2017, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/04/26/t...
May 30, 2021
"De schuilplek" van Egon Hostovsky: na "Vreemdeling zoekt kamer", alweer een schets van eenzaamheid die door de ziel snijdt!
June 20, 2017
I write this, quite literally moments after finishing the book and, I'm going to be completely honest, I do not know what to think. At no point did the text allow me to align myself with any of the figures, I read it at arms length, and yet when it came to an end I found that I needed it to continue. I think the best way to describe the narrative - or my experience of it - is "troubling". I have a feeling that it will stay with me for quite some time.
The text is an extended letter from the narrator to his wife Hanichka, written as he expects to soon die. As such, the reader instantly is confronted with an intimacy of tone that is unsettling. It feels as though one is reading something quite private and thoroughly unintended for voyeuristic eyes.
The narrative is really something that seems incidental. The text is rather as an insight into an exceptionally troubled mind, one that was troubled before the war and only further affected by the hardships endured. I'm still reeling a little from reading it. I think - and I'm attempting desperately to avoid spoilers here - the ending hit me quite hard with the way in which it brought the account closer to the realms of reality. It doesn't make for a comfortable read.
I'm aware that my review will probably read as quite negative thus far and I feel I should clarify that this is not my intention at all. I think The Hideout was brilliant in the way in which it made me feel things, and is still doing so. I mean, I'm sat here typing, listening to music, back to normality and yet I just can't quite shake it. If you're looking for a powerful read and don't mind negativity and futility in your literature then this is certainly worth a read. I also can't help but think just how interesting this would have been to use as a source in my cultural memory studies units at university so, if anyone's in that line, it comes highly recommended.
The Hideout was first published as Úkryt in 1946. I received a copy of the new Pushkin Press publication of the text, translated from Czech by Fern Long, as part of a Goodreads giveaway, and for honest review.
The text is an extended letter from the narrator to his wife Hanichka, written as he expects to soon die. As such, the reader instantly is confronted with an intimacy of tone that is unsettling. It feels as though one is reading something quite private and thoroughly unintended for voyeuristic eyes.
The narrative is really something that seems incidental. The text is rather as an insight into an exceptionally troubled mind, one that was troubled before the war and only further affected by the hardships endured. I'm still reeling a little from reading it. I think - and I'm attempting desperately to avoid spoilers here - the ending hit me quite hard with the way in which it brought the account closer to the realms of reality. It doesn't make for a comfortable read.
I'm aware that my review will probably read as quite negative thus far and I feel I should clarify that this is not my intention at all. I think The Hideout was brilliant in the way in which it made me feel things, and is still doing so. I mean, I'm sat here typing, listening to music, back to normality and yet I just can't quite shake it. If you're looking for a powerful read and don't mind negativity and futility in your literature then this is certainly worth a read. I also can't help but think just how interesting this would have been to use as a source in my cultural memory studies units at university so, if anyone's in that line, it comes highly recommended.
The Hideout was first published as Úkryt in 1946. I received a copy of the new Pushkin Press publication of the text, translated from Czech by Fern Long, as part of a Goodreads giveaway, and for honest review.
July 16, 2018
Těžký hodnocení! Asi je to tak 7/10, ale z dlouhodobýho hlediska raději půjdu na tři hvězdy. To je jako s jégrem. Toho člověk taky hodnotí velmi dobře večer, ale po pár letech jeden zjistí, že to asi nebyl nejlepší nápad dát si patnáct panáků každej víkend a jít do bordelu platit ženám dvěstě korun, aby hrály tichou poštu. Moc jim to každopádně nejde.
Úkryt je o tom, že se maník během Druhé vybíjené ukryje ve Francii ve sklepě a do toho píše manželce dopis, proč je ve Francii ve sklepě. Je v tom samozřejmě žena s prsima a vulvou. Hrdinovi se nedivím - taky mám doma jednu ženu a kdybych měl sklep, jsem v něm pořád.
První polovina románu byla podařená psychologická valba a Hostovský je vážně svižnej a čtivej, nicméně druhá polovina už byla taková víc funky a já zrovna funky nepotřeboval.
7/10
Úkryt je o tom, že se maník během Druhé vybíjené ukryje ve Francii ve sklepě a do toho píše manželce dopis, proč je ve Francii ve sklepě. Je v tom samozřejmě žena s prsima a vulvou. Hrdinovi se nedivím - taky mám doma jednu ženu a kdybych měl sklep, jsem v něm pořád.
První polovina románu byla podařená psychologická valba a Hostovský je vážně svižnej a čtivej, nicméně druhá polovina už byla taková víc funky a já zrovna funky nepotřeboval.
7/10
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October 20, 2017Won in the Goodreads Giveaways
April 30, 2018
Not sure why I've always been more interested in WWI and WWII stories from countries that are often overlooked as peripheral players in the grand scheme of things than the major forces but this interest has led me to some great reads. Like Balcony in the Forest or Blood Dark war serves as a background to a psychological tale of how the wars changed the lives of those not always in the direct line of fire. There's nobody to like here and Hostovsky doesn't bother to make a case about who's good or bad. Instead he's more concerned with the role of an aging man who would like to redeem his moral, professional and familial failures with a final act of heroism. Very simply, a man wants to be useful before being dead. No broad strokes here as the fine details of a man's thoughts at the end of his life spur him on to a final grand finale. Partial spoiler: you will not witness such a finale - but instead you will have a fine look at the machinations that prompted people's actions as the weight of conflict increases. Very well written and insightful. Something like the confusion of Pelevin's Oman Ra can be found here. Supposedly related to Zweig but thankfully Hostovsky doesn't pander and lead readers by the nose. Don't be put off if it seems overly sentimental at the start, it certainly doesn't end that way.
March 24, 2025
Wauw. Wat een prachtig boek was dit!
Ik had zin om een kort boek te lezen en met 128 pagina's is dit boek één van de boeken met weinig pagina's in mijn boekenkast. Dit boek staat al een jaar in mijn boekenkast en ik heb spijt. Spijt dat ik dit boek niet eerder heb gelezen!
Ik vond het een prachtig boek. Ik heb veel zinnen aangeduid die ik prachtig verwoord vond. Ik zou absoluut niet in de persoon zijn schoenen willen staan. Ik was ook volledig vergeten met het lezen van dit boek, dat het geen verzonnen verhaal is, maar dat en man dit echt heeft meegemaakt. Dat er iemand op deze aarde heeft gestaan, dit heeft meegemaakt en heeft opgeschreven.
Dit heb ik vooral opgemerkt in het laatste hoofdstuk. Wanneer de alinea opeens eindigde en mij achter liet met een lege maag. Ooh wat wilde ik graag weten wat de man nog verder ging vertellen, maar het verhaal eindigde en toen wist ik dat dit boek geweldig schreven was. Wanneer ik gewoon nog wil, wanneer het boek mij achterlaat voor ik er eigenlijk klaar voor was.
Dus. Mensen lees alsjeblieft dit boek, je zult er geen spijt van krijgen.
Ik had zin om een kort boek te lezen en met 128 pagina's is dit boek één van de boeken met weinig pagina's in mijn boekenkast. Dit boek staat al een jaar in mijn boekenkast en ik heb spijt. Spijt dat ik dit boek niet eerder heb gelezen!
Ik vond het een prachtig boek. Ik heb veel zinnen aangeduid die ik prachtig verwoord vond. Ik zou absoluut niet in de persoon zijn schoenen willen staan. Ik was ook volledig vergeten met het lezen van dit boek, dat het geen verzonnen verhaal is, maar dat en man dit echt heeft meegemaakt. Dat er iemand op deze aarde heeft gestaan, dit heeft meegemaakt en heeft opgeschreven.
Dit heb ik vooral opgemerkt in het laatste hoofdstuk. Wanneer de alinea opeens eindigde en mij achter liet met een lege maag. Ooh wat wilde ik graag weten wat de man nog verder ging vertellen, maar het verhaal eindigde en toen wist ik dat dit boek geweldig schreven was. Wanneer ik gewoon nog wil, wanneer het boek mij achterlaat voor ik er eigenlijk klaar voor was.
Dus. Mensen lees alsjeblieft dit boek, je zult er geen spijt van krijgen.
March 11, 2025
The confession of this ridiculous man represents the dark dream laid out on paper due to the fact that he will soon die. Hide in the basemant of a doctor who holds a sinister, terrifying fascination, like a Janus-face of good and evil, our hero find the awareness of the ideal end to an ordinary life in which happiness lies in renunciation, and peace where the fear of death is overcome. Making several references to childhood as "a lost paradise" and the only place where you can start afresh, he becomes one with his illusions all culminating with his identification with Jesus during the Last Supper, eating bread and drinking wine with those for whom he decided to sacrifice himself.
Sometimes I have seen in myself what strength it gives a man if he is able to become one with something. Even if he becomes one only with illusions.
Sometimes I have seen in myself what strength it gives a man if he is able to become one with something. Even if he becomes one only with illusions.
June 24, 2017
A classic Czech novel written by one of their great novelists, Egon Hostovsky, tells the tale of an inventor whose new invention is desired by the Nazis. The inventor flees to Paris, hoping to sell his invention to the French government. The Czech inventor is caught in the Nazi takeover of Paris and is offered sanctuary by a French doctor who hides him for years in his dank, dark cellar. When the doctor disappears for a time, the inventor ventures out and is caught by a Nazi soldier whom he knows from school years ago. The inventor kills him after being discovered and the doctor must involve the Resistance in the disposal of the body. Everything changes. The story is told in episolary style as the inventor writes to his wife he knows he may never see again to pass the time.
February 9, 2024
Ailesini terk edip platonik aşkının peşinden Paris'e giden mühendis, geri dönemeden kendini 2. Dünya Savaşı içinde bulur; tasarladığı özel bir silah nedeniyle sorgulanır; Fransa kırsalında bir tanıdığının çiftliğindeki ahır gibi bir yere saklanır; izolasyon içinde, hasta ve aç bilaç hayatını sorgularken çıldırmamaya çabalar. 1943'te, Savaş'ın sonlarına doğru yayınlanmış. Konusu cazip olmakla birlikte, bu kısa romanda eksik kalan bir şeyler var - çarpıcılık eksikliği diyelim. Hayatını harcamış olmanın pişmanlığı, özel olmaya duyulan açlık ve kurtuluş isteği başarılı bir şekilde anlatılmış. Bir de, mektup şeklinde, birine hitap ederek anlatılmış olması da ilginç. İyi bir okuma ama sıra dışı değil. (Bu arada, orijinal dilinden yapılmış çevirinin çok temiz ve akıcı olduğunu da belirteyim.)
April 9, 2021
Een prachtige novelle over een naamloze Tsjechische ingenieur die tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog onderdak vindt bij een oude kennis, een arts, op het Franse platteland. Vanuit zijn schuilplaats - een donkere, vochtige kelder - schrijft hij in ontroerende bewoordingen een brief aan Hana, zijn vrouw die hij eind jaren 1930 in een opwelling verliet om zijn heil te zoeken in Parijs. Beklemmend en onthecht.
Lees mijn hele bespreking op Mappa Libri: http://mappalibri.be/?navigatieid=61&...
Lees mijn hele bespreking op Mappa Libri: http://mappalibri.be/?navigatieid=61&...
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