(2 of 2)
The theme of Flotsam is one of the most massive, intimate and terrible derangements of human living within human memory. Remarque, able as he is, is not fully equal to it; perhaps no human talent could be. Besides, Flotsam has some lyric flights that droop in midair; some touches of sentimental sententiousness; some comedy too national quite to cross a border; one or two bits almost of cheapness. But Remarque, like Hemingway, has the rare ability to produce writing which is both a genuine work of art and popular; and to embody a generation. For that reason Flotsam is a deeply moving story that makes painfully clear, to readers who have forgotten or never understood, the real meaning of the words exile, emigré, rejugee.