Geht so, ganz nett aber nicht mein Fall

A book written in a totally different style compared to the famous "Petit Prince". I read it in Russian, and I guess there were some parts translated not so well. In any case, I liked this novel a lot! It is an honest look inside the mind and soul of the author himself, the French society, European society during WWII and the whole humanity. To me, it lacks some consistency and depth, but it is so charmingly honest!!!
And here is my favourite line from this book:
"When the body sinks into death, the essense of man is revealed. Man is a knot, a web, a mesh into which relationships are tied. Only those relationships matter. The body is an old crock that nobody will miss. I have never known a man to think of himself when dying. Never."
("Когда разрушается тело, становится очевидным главное. Человек — всего лишь узел отношений. И только отношения важны для человека.
Мы бросаем тело, эту старую клячу. Кто думает о себе, умирая? Такого я еще не встречал!..")

“To live is to be slowly born. It would be a bit too easy if we could go about borrowing ready-made souls.”

Saint-Exupery truly has a way with prose. It astonishes me at times how he manages to encapsulate the debilitating feeling of the hopelessness of a suicide mission into words–truly genius. I find his prose so enticing, so captivating and entertaining to read my eyes through. He manages to create this world which I feel I am living in with him. His brilliance is most emphatically conveyed through his metaphors; some of my favorites include his description of the German destruction of France as ““the secrete gnawing of bacteria”, how “time has ceased to be a stream that feeds me, nourishes me, adds growth to me as to a tree”, and “thus perhaps shall I see what it is in that dark village that we must die to protect—that which is unseen, yet like an ember beneath the ashes, lives on.”

There’s a certain level of philosophy that Saint-Exupery recounts his experiences with; one with which left a profound and indelible mark on my view on how one goes about his life. Whether it be with a clear and distinct (although not always visible) goal – as Saint-Exupery describes it– or with simple faith in all that is good. Saint-Exupery describes and explores these concepts with such intensity as he contextualizes his experiences to his meditations on death, beauty, childhood, among many other aspects that dictate one’s life.

“We are alive.”
“Well, yes. For the time being.”
For the time being. There was still Arras.”

While airborne, he will relive his childhood memories, pay homage to the governess who shaped his youth, and engage in contemplation concerning the intricacies of the soul, the essence of France (and patriotism as a concept), and the divine presence of God. Above all, him, Dutertre, and Gunner, among his other companions of Group 2-33 will confront the force of destiny when they reach the flames of Arras.

One thing I will say about this work, however, is that there is an incomprehensive aspect to it if you hold a lack of knowledge in regards to things like WW2 and the impact of German occupation on the French. Additionally, at times his descriptions can be slightly repetitive and make it easy to lose yourself within them. He does, though, cleverly make use of these descriptions to describe the chaos of war and the moments leading up to ones demise.

“Man imagines that it is death he fears; but what he fears is the unforeseen, the explosion. What man fears is himself, not death. There is no death when you meet death. When the body sinks into death, the essence of man is revealed.”

I really enjoyed his meditations on death and what it means to live. His philosophy is like a breath of fresh air in comparison to the other philosophical texts I have read. He describes it in a way that is experienceable. You feel the philosophy he is describing rather than just understanding it at a surface level in the way you would by just reading over the lines of any other philosophical text. Again, his prose and literary mastery are truly unmatched, it's rare that I can read a book about war with this much attentiveness and at this speed with little distraction. I am truly in awe of Saint-Exupery and I can’t wait to explore more of his works.