Customer Reviews:
 An electrifying moment November 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I had read several other books by Sartre before coming to this, Nausea (Penguin Modern Classics), The Age of Reason (Penguin Modern Classics), The Reprieve (Penguin Modern Classics), even had a go at Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology (Routledge Classics), but must confessed I bounced on that one. I also read various books around the topic of Existentialism, which in my hip University days was something that a thinking person had to have a view on.
For me, as for other people it was a concept, or family of concepts, that at times seemed utterly baffling, at others, ludicrously straightforward. When you didn't understand it you weren't sure if it was you being thick or clever writers being obscure. When you did understand it you could never be sure you'd missed some deeper essence of the point.
It was reading this book that bought me to a moment of vivid realisation that finished the doubts about what Existentialism was for me. The moment was when a particular character in the book, too long ago now to remember his name, decides to finally stand up and commit to a path of action, one of armed resistance to German invasion, having spent a fair preamble not sure what path to take, what the invasion means, whether it means anything. He commits to the path knowing it to be both folly but also heroic in a purely private sense, as heroism can only be in a universe that doesn't care. He commits knowing death and extinction are pretty well inevitable. Sartre writes brilliantly the stream of consciousness of this character, from the moment of making this decision, through battle against the Nazi's, right up to the inevitable final moment. It's actually the best 'war story' I have ever read in that it puts you right there and in the moment.
This character is just one character who's threads we follow. Another character I recall is one who surrenders and then goes on to become communist agitator whilst a POW. This gives you a sense of the confusion and complexity of the times that has since fed back into my comprehension of WWII, the history of which is one of my interests. Firstly it makes apparent how France fell so easily, as it was at this time deeply politically divided against itself. The polarisation between left and right had grown to a point beyond patriotism, as it had across all of Europe, such that there could be no united front against the invaders. Secondly, it shows that Nazism had many ready sympathisers in France, again as it had throughout Europe and, and to some extent, it just happened to be the case that the fascist ideology found a charismatic enough leader to actually take the reigns of government in Germany. It might have happened in France or Britain for that matter. The poison of Fascism was in the European air in these times as an expression of the fear and suspicion that people felt about what may or may not be happening in Communist Russia.
This book can be read perfectly well on its own, but it is the culmination of the Roads to Freedom trilogy, and I would recommend reading the whole trilogy, (Age of Reason, The Reprieve) to get the most from this book.
Liquid Iron October 11, 2003
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book must be read in conjunction with the other two parts of the trilogy, "The Age of Reason" and "The Reprieve". This book is highly enjoyable and Sartre, the perfectionist that he is, presents his philosophy through his characters with an artistic technique that is unsurpassable. The only disappointment is that Sartre never finished the final book which would have concluded "The Ways to Freedom". I highly recommend this read.
A perfect melding of reader and subject matter. September 19, 2000
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
My second favourite novel. This final part of the "Roads to Freedom" trilogy was actually the first Sartre book I read, but despite this I was soon captivated by characters like Mathieu, Boris, Lola and Ivich and the writing which allows the reader to merge with the characters in a way that seems unique to Sartre's writing. As befits Sartre's best work, there are many great scenes. The two standout scenes have to be Mathieu in the watch tower and the last scene on the train. These scenes linger in the mind long afterwards. Other memorable scenes include Daniel walking the deserted streets of Paris, the flight of Sarah and Pablo, and Gomez visiting the art gallery in New York.
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