I appreciated learning what life was like for European Jews in the early 20th century in Austria. The characters are intellectuals, professionals, and artists. However, the characters were very 2-dimensional and each represented a certain idea. There were also too many characters presented for me to be able to remember each well. ( )

The Road into the Open is an unnerving and prescient indictment of early 20th century Vienna and the disintegration of a civilization’s culture. Schnitzler uses, I believe, the symbolism of child/parent to describe, both literally and figuratively, the hopelessness and demise of a once thriving, industrious and creative culture. That the book was written in 1908, pre-dating both world wars is truly astonishing.
The novel follows Baron Georg von Wergenthin, an aristocratic young composer over the course of a year that begins with the death of his father and ends with the stillborn birth of his illegitimate son. During this time, we meet his friends and acquaintances and many of their parents. We witness firsthand the growing and ominous development of overt anti-Semitism. We also observe the birth of Zionism as well as expansion of socialism.
The characters in the book (and there are so many that it’s tough to keep up initially) all are deeply rooted in the customs and mores of the time but many – most prominently the book’s protagonist - seem to languish in those customs without a sense of direction or purpose. Others see something threatening in Vienna’s political and societal direction and become either desperate or look for escape. The overriding sense of looming menace is pervasive throughout the novel.
This is a fascinating book on so many levels – as a work of fiction, as a psychological and cultural study and finally, as a peek into the times. It is a gloomy and sad book, but one that I found I couldn’t put down. ( )