Homage to Switzerland

It is rare for me to listen to an audio book, in fact this is the first I can recall, and I needed to add an audio shelf for this review.
Read by Julian Barnes, I enjoyed what he brought to the story, with his pacing, his tone and his voice.

I am a Hemingway fan, and I have enjoyed a number of his books, but there is still breadth in his publications that I have not reached. This is an example of something I would not normally have associated with Hemingway - there are no guns, no animals (or fish) and little masculinity.

Set up as a triptych, 3 variant stories each featuring an expat American waiting for the delayed train to Paris in a Swiss railway station café. We are introduced to Mr Wheeler in Montreux, Mr Johnson in Vevey and Mr Harris in Territet.

The commencement of each story is the same, but with evolving features - tables, clock, cigar, coffee - similar details, subtly changed. Each man behaves differently, and each displays what can be interpreted as a negative aspect of American psyche or culture - respectively, womanising, divorce and suicide. Ties with Hemingway's own life are obvious (although I refer to Hemingway's fathers suicide, rather than his own).

3 stars.