Audiobook review of The Twilight World by Werner Herzog

Renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog has written greater than a dozen books and screenplays, however The Twilight World (3.5 hours) is his first novel. Translated by Michael Hofmann and brief sufficient to qualify as a novella, it’s the fictionalized story of Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, the real-life intelligence officer within the Imperial Japanese Army who defended Lubang Island within the Philippines for many years, unaware that World War II had ended. By zeroing in on Onoda’s singular pursuit, the novel explores the method and impression of globalization by one man’s story. 

Herzog narrates the novel in his iconic German accent—pronounced but simple to grasp, with an exacting, measured supply that captures Onoda’s fierce, calculating character. The rigidity is highest when Onoda finds gadgets within the jungle, corresponding to a newspaper or provides, and he approaches them with suspicion and an investigator’s prowess. Herzog’s lifelong fascination with the jungle serves him effectively right here, as he captures the cricket sounds, humidity and total density of the setting.