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      The Man Who Watched Trains Go By

      by Georges Simenon
      Published
      Jul 2005
      Main Genre
      General Fiction General Fiction
      Rating
      Pages
      224
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      About This Book

      A private confession leads an ordinary Dutchman to abandon his family for a life on the run in Georges Simenon's existentialist masterpiece.

      Kees Popinga has always played by society's rules. A dutiful husband and father, he owns a house in a nice neighborhood and holds down a responsible job in the shipping industry. Fantasies of escape, of rebellion, are kept carefully contained—until the night Kees's boss makes a private confession. Having recklessly bankrupted the firm, he plans to fake his own death.

      Kees is not only shocked; he's exhilarated. Abandoning his home and family, he is soon a violent fugitive, wanted by police in Amsterdam and Paris. Has he gone insane, or was his compliant former self a masquerade? Infused with Georges Simenon's gift for moral complexity, The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By is a haunting existentialist masterpiece.

      Genres & Themes

      Genres

      General Fiction

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      Paperback

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      Trade Paperback
      Jul 2005 New York Review of Books ISBN13 9781590171493 ISBN10 1590171497
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      Jul 2006 Penguin (UK) ISBN13 9780141025872 ISBN10 0141025875
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      Nov 2016 Penguin ISBN13 9780241258552 ISBN10 0241258553
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      eBook

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      Nov 2016 Penguin ISBN13 9780141983264 ISBN10 0141983264
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      Oct 2017 Penguin ISBN13 9781524705367 ISBN10 1524705365
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      Oct 2017 Penguin Books ISBN10 B01N25JOCK
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      Jun 2026 Picador ISBN13 9781250425928 ISBN10 1250425921
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      Audio

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      Nov 2016 -- Not Selected ISBN10 B01LYILNVN
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