Summary of “Life on loan” Remarque
Clerfe runs the car at the gas station. Filling gasoline boy named Hubert Goering finds out in him a race driver. Clerfe’s car frightens the horses carrying a sleigh with a man and a woman. The protagonist stops the animals and helps them to calm down.
In the sanatorium “Montana” is treated for tuberculosis former partner Clerfe – Holman. The last one is happy to see the friend and the racing car “Giuseppe”, on which he participated more than ten times in the races. Holman advises a friend to stop at the “Palace Hotel”. There, the heroes meet a man from a sleigh – Russian emigrant Boris Volkov. His companion – Lilian Dunkirk – is very agitated because of the death of her friend – Agnes Somerville.
Lillian is Belgian. She’s twenty-four years old. Four of them she lives in the sanatorium “Montana”. The girl was ill during the war because of constant malnutrition and flight from the fascists.
Old Richter, who has lived in Montana for the last twenty years, loves to play chess. His constant partner, the French Renier, has recently
At night in the “Mountain Shack” Clerfe jokingly invites Lillian to go to Paris together. The girl agrees seriously. Volkov does not want to let her go. The head doctor of the sanatorium scolds Lillian for an overnight exit, and is very surprised when she finds out that the patient has decided to leave the sanatorium. He asks her to stay, but at five in the morning the girl leaves with Clairef. Conduct Lillian goes all the “Montana”.
Coming down from the mountains, Clerfe with Lillian go by train, right in the “Giuseppe”, most of the time spending in the railway tunnel. On the reverse side, rain and fog await them, which the girl likes very much. In Ascona, Clerfe embraces Lillian.
In Paris, Lillian settles in the hotel “Relais Bisson”, which she saw first. The girl is visiting Uncle Gaston, the elder brother of his father. She asks for the money owed to her. The eighty-year old man is afraid that his niece will throw them into the wind. In the evening, Clerfe and Lillian dine at the Gran Véfur restaurant. They talk about love and freedom.
She spent two weeks in Rome. In Paris, he returns with his mistress – Lydia Morelli. In Rome, Lillian seems to Clerfe not knowing life, a demanding teenager.
At Balenciaga, Lillian buys four fashionable costumes. She chooses models so well that Balenciaga himself comes to see it. The senior saleswoman for a song offers the girl a dazzlingly beautiful silver dress.
Uncle Gaston is terrified of spending niece. In the restaurant, he tries to impose her diet food, but Lillian orders sea urchins.
In the Chapel of Saint-Chapelle, surrounded by the pouring light on her, Lillian feels happy. Received from Balenciaga dress girl hanging around the room. Exquisite outfits comfort her at night, relieve nightmares.
Returning to Paris, Clairef sees that from a teenager Lillian turned into a beautiful, confident young woman. At the restaurant “Gran Vefour” Lillian meets Lydia Morelli. Clairef hopes that the girl will be jealous, but mistakes – the main character does not have time for negative feelings. In the garden of the Palais Royal, a man admits Lillian in love. In anticipation of cars, Lydia and Lillian exchange causticism. The latter emerges from the conversation as the winner.
Clerfe is afraid of losing Lillian, but the girl herself invites him to the hotel. Night heroes spend together.
Uncle Gaston arranges a dinner in honor of his niece. He dreams of marrying her. Rich bachelor Viscount de Pest escorts Lillian to the hotel. All evening and night the girl spends with Clerfe. They walk around Paris, go to restaurants and cabaret.
Because of Lydia, who calls her in the room and tells him to leave Paris, Lillian decides to move to Ritz. The next day the heroes go to Sicily for the race “Targa Florio”. Clerfe places Lillian in the villa of his friend, the owner of the Levalli flotilla. One day the owner arranges a holiday, which attracts guests from all over Italy.
As soon as Clerfe begins to think about racing about Lillian, he immediately loses his tire. Car carries out from the road, the hero dislocates his hand. He is replaced by Torriani, but on the last round the guy gets a heat stroke. Clerfe completes the race with a painful shoulder. Lillian is furious with the recklessness of the hero. Suddenly she realizes that nothing in the world does not disappear without a trace, but only experiences a number of transformations. Together with the love for Clerfe to Lillian comes the realization that she will leave him soon.
The girl leaves the rider in Palermo, and herself for the first time in her life flies by plane to Rome. From there she goes to Venice, without saying anything about this to Clerfe. In the local theater, Lillian is bleeding. The young gigolo Mario helps her to get to the hotel. A week Lillian spends in bed while Clerfe waits in vain for her in Paris and goes mad, thinking that she left him.
In Paris, the girl lives for a few days alone – she wants to regain strength in order to appear healthy and be able to enjoy life again. The first visit after recovery Lillian strikes Uncle Gaston to take from him some of his money.
Clerfe finds Lillian in the window of the hotel “Relais Bisson”. A girl sits on the windowsills and eats shrimp. The racer invites her to marry him. Lillian asks to leave everything as is. After the evening walk, Clerfe escorts the girl to the hotel and says that she needs to rest. As soon as the hero leaves, Lillian goes to the Boulevard Saint-Michel. Clerfe finds her in a cafe in the company of the hungry poet Gerard.
A week later, Clerfe is sent to the “Millet Millia” – a thousand mile race across Italy. On the Avenue of George the Fifth, Lillian meets Viscount de Pestre. They drink coffee and follow the progress of the races on a portable radio. In “Bissone” Lillian receives two telegrams from Clerfe and one from Holman from Montana. Protea brings her a receiver. Thinking about the pointlessness of racing, Lillian begins to suspect that she made a mistake when she left the sanatorium.
Clerfe waits for a telegram from her beloved. Lillian calls Holman to find out how Boris is. Holman says that in the near future he will be discharged. Viscount de Pester offers Lillian to become his mistress. In the cafe on Boulevard Saint-Michel, the poet Gerard unravels the secret of the girl. In the street, Lillian finds a dead woman. Gerard escorts the heroine to the hotel. In the morning, Lillian calls Clerfe – he came in the sixth of five hundred participants.
Clerfe is taking the girl to her little villa. A boring house does not like Lillian. In the casino, Clerfe wins by placing nine times in a row to “red.” Prince Fiola tells Lillian that before the war thirteen times dropped out “black” and the figure thirteen won Boris Volkov. Claire is jealous. Lillian plays “thirteen, black.” In the morning the girl realizes that Clerfe is not afraid of Volkov, but of her death. Lillian decides to leave the man after the end of the race in Monte Carlo.
Clerfe’s car crashes into another car. The rider is taken to the hospital. Lillian follows him in a cab. Clerfe is dying without regaining consciousness of serious injuries. In Monte Carlo, the driver’s sister comes. The woman tries to extract from the death of her brother the maximum benefit, demanding monetary compensation from the car company.
Lillian calls Boris and finds out that he left. Shepherd Volkova finds a girl at the station of Monte Carlo. Lilian and Boris return to the sanatorium. In the mountains they meet Holman. He recovered and signed a contract with the car company to participate in the race instead of Clerfe. Six weeks after returning to Montana, Lillian dies.
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