The Tobacconist

September 15, 2017
Similar to his previous novel, A Whole Life (2016), Seethaler's The Tobacconist features a young man struggling to find meaning in his life during the turbulent middle years of the twentieth century. When Franz's father dies, his mother sends Franz away from their remote village in northern Austria to Vienna to seek his fortune in an old friend's tobacco shop. The tiny store serves as a hub for gathering and sharing news and, with the Nazi invasion, becomes a place of interest to the gestapo. Meanwhile, Franz seeks love (a seductive, plump Bohemian) and friendship (with Sigmund Freud), finding his maturity instead and losing the naivete and positive outlook that also represent a prewar Austria. In one brave, ironic act, Franz publicly chooses what kind of man he will be. Deceptive in its simplicity, this powerful work evokes the hate-mongering and mistrust engendered by the war while leavening melancholy with sly wit, as in Pete Hamill's Snow in August (1997). While the plot and characterization here are less complex than in Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See (2014), the story packs a similar emotional punch.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)