Borrowed Life is one of Remarque's most touching and poignant novels. A deep immersion in the emotional experiences of the heroes, bright hopeless love, doom and a passionate desire to live - the novel makes you take a fresh look at life values.
The Lost Generation singer
Erich Maria Remarque is a German writer, author of fourteen novels dedicated to the “lost generation”. The generation that survived the war and lost health, strength, faith in life and the future. Among the most famous are "Three Comrades", "Arc de Triomphe". "Life on loan" - the twelfth novel of the writer. Later the author changed the title to "Heaven knows no favorites", but in the Russian translation the book is better known under the original title. The novel is set in the Alps and post-war France.
main characters
Clerfe is a famous race car driver, the protagonist of the novel;
Lillian Dunkirk is a young woman with tuberculosis. She is undergoing treatment in a sanatorium in the Alps, the main character of the novel;
Holman is a former well-known racer, partner of Clerfe. Suffering from tuberculosis, is being treated in a sanatorium in the Alps. Not a central character.
Boris Volkov is a close friend of Lillian. Suffering from tuberculosis, is being treated in a sanatorium in the Alps.
In the sanatorium Montana
Clerfe is driving from the races in which he participated. He is going to visit his friend Holman, who has been undergoing treatment for tuberculosis in the Alpine mountains for a year now. On the way, he notices a malfunction in his old racing car and tries to figure out the reasons. At the same time, the sound of the engine scares the horses harnessed to the sled, who find themselves on the road at the same time. Clerfe stops the frightened animals, but does not expect gratitude from either the man who drives the sleigh, or from the woman sitting in the sleigh. However, Clerfe manages to notice in a short time that the woman is young and beautiful.
Having reached the sanatorium, Clerfe meets a friend. Holman, who has been in the Alps for a year now, yearns for racing and racing cars. Talking to Holman, Clerfe notices how the very sleigh is approaching the sanatorium, and again meets the woman and learns that her name is Liliane Dunkirk, and the man is her close friend Boris Volkov. Both of them are also ill and are undergoing treatment in a sanatorium.
On that day, Lillian's friend died, and the girl could not be alone. After dinner, she met with Holman and Clerfe in an attempt to find some kind of society and avoid the loneliness that was especially pressing on her that evening. Clerfe and Lillian spent the evening together at a local hotel bar.
The next day, Clerfe sent white orchids as a gift to Lillian, the most beautiful flowers he had bought at the local store. However, seeing them, Lillian was horrified: these were the very orchids that she, having ordered from another city, put on the coffin of her friend. Not knowing how these flowers again got to her, Lillian considered this a bad sign and was very frightened. The misunderstanding was quickly cleared up: the flowers were taken by the crematorium workers and resold to the local flower shop. However, the incident itself deeply wounded the thin, sensitive girl.
Lillian and the driver met every night. However, such a regime was not welcomed in the sanatorium, as it had a detrimental effect on the poor health of patients with tuberculosis. Lillian was informed about this by the director of the hospital. In response, Lillian refused to continue treatment and decided to leave the Alps and return to her native Paris.
Volkov, sincerely in love with her and worried about her future, tried to dissuade the girl from the extravagant idea. The attempt was unsuccessful. With a request to take her to Paris, Lillian turned to Clerfe.
Phantom freedom
Even on the way to Paris, Lillian feels that she is coming to life. He does not wait for death, does not live every day, as if serving a heavy duty, but lives, fully feeling the colors, smells and movements around him.
When she returns, the girl takes all her money, which was kept by her uncle, and plunges headlong into a free life full of pleasure. She doesn't think about the future - she has no future - and enjoys every day given to her. She settles in a hotel, buys dresses and many expensive outfits, visits all the interesting places in Paris. Clerfe does not interfere with this. He, too, is a person who lives for one day - from race to race.
The relationship ends when Clerfe leaves for negotiations and the signing of a contract for the next competition. Away from Lillian, he begins to think that their relationship was fleeting and should not be continued. Having made this conclusion, he decides that the relationship with the girl is over and only occasionally remembers her. However, fate, after a short time, again brings him to Paris, where the racer, seeing the updated, transformed Lillian, realizes that he was making hasty conclusions. His feelings return and become even stronger.
And Lillian does not want to waste time, which she already has little, on torment and routine. She wants to live in full force. Therefore, she does not answer when Clerfe confesses his love to her. However, she does not end her relationship with him. Lovers live in the same hotel and spend a lot of time together
Clerfe will take part in the Targa Florio races in Sicily. Lillian and Clerfe leave for the island together. Here they rarely see each other: he is always busy preparing for the competition, she is waiting for him at the villa. Lillian does not share Clerfe's hobbies. Racing does not seem to her to be a serious occupation, and she does not understand how you can risk your life for such insignificant reasons. She also sees them as childish bragging.
During the races, Clerfe is injured. He needs time to recover, and he invites Lillian to go on a journey through Europe until he is ready to return to his main occupation. But the girl replies that it is better for him to go alone, and she will wait for him in Paris. In fact, she decides to end the relationship. Obligations and affections weigh on her. Instead of Paris, she travels to Rome and then to Venice. This city became fatal for her. The wet, windy city provokes the rapid development of the disease. Lillian is bleeding. She realizes that she has very little left, but says nothing about this to Clerfe. Pity, condescension and concern weigh on her.
And Clerfe is looking for a beloved in vain. Realizing that his efforts are in vain, he tries to live his life, but loses interest in his surroundings and in life itself. And life brings them together again. Clerfe meets Liliane in Paris by accident. The girl does not tell him about the real state of her health.
To tie Lillian to himself, the racer offers her his hand and heart. Moreover, he received an offer to sell cars, that is, a more stable future loomed ahead and the opportunity to leave racing sport, which Lillian did not like so much. But this is what makes the difference between them even stronger. Clerfe is now looking to a future that Lillian does not have. She insists on postponing the wedding until next year, because she knows that she will not live to see it.
Clerfe looks forward with increasing hope. He plans to tidy up a house on the Riviera. He is angry about losing to the casino, although money and their amount have never been of value to him before. He wants to live and plans this life.
And Lillian doesn't want to plan anything. She has very little left, and the biggest problem for her is that boredom and routine will penetrate into this last stage of her life. It makes no sense for her to be ordinary. And she again decides to run away from the groom.
the end
She plans to leave on the day when the very important race in Monte Carlo is coming to Clerfe. She wants to watch and leave before the race is over to avoid questions and explanations. She already bought a train ticket.
The race turns out to be fatal for Clerfe. Having lost control of the oil poured out of the car in front, he loses speed, and at this moment he is swept away by the car following at full speed. The injuries are too serious, after a short time the rider dies.
And there and then the applicants for his property are discovered. The unrelated sister of Clerfe comes to Paris to catch her bite. Upon learning that the house on the Riviera was bequeathed to Lillian, the woman tries to force her to give up her rights. Lillian doesn't give in.
She doesn't need a home. She is struck by the injustice: how could Clerfe die before her. After all, she must die, she is sick, and he is healthy. It seems to her that she is taking his place, having no right to it. The emotional distress is so strong that Lillian calls Volkov. Unsuccessfully.
And Lillian goes to the station. Boris finds her there. He went after her immediately after the news of the death of Clerfe. The girl is depressed. The realization comes to her that life is priceless, and it is criminal to scatter it. Volkov takes Lillian back to Montana.
On the way, they meet Holman. He reports that he is healthy, returns to his racing career and is now being taken to the place of Clerfe.
Lillian dies in Montana a few weeks later. In the last minutes, Boris Volkov is next to her.
Later, a film was made based on Remarque's book.
