Veromika's Reviews > I Was Jack Mortimer

This was an in-depth exploration of the desperation of middle-class and the ambiguity of love, in the guise of a thriller.

Ferdinand Sponer is a day-time taxi drive in Vienna. He has a girlfriend he intends to marry, but is obsessed with a women out of his reach, and he has a dead man that seems to cling to life through him.

Sponer is extremely unpredictable. We begin the story with him stalking Marisabelle, a high-society socialite who rides in his cab one day. He repeatedly stalks and harasses her in the day, and goes on to meet Marie, his girlfriend, in the night. We have no clue what motivates him or why he behaves in the way he does. The writing shields Sponer's thoughts from us. Like in a play you watch him act.

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dead man and desperation

It is when he finds himself unexpectedly with a dead body in the back seat of his cab, that he starts to showcase his real self. His reaction to the corpse and the ramifications of reporting to the police is wild and erratic. I struggled to understand his actions initially and felt like a crucial piece of information was being hidden from me. As the night chases dawn, you learn more and more about Sponer's thoughts and his past and slowly begin to perceive him.

He is a man desperate to escape the reality of his poverty. Marie, his taxi, his apartment, his plain clothes - are all part of the world he lives in, the reality of what makes him Ferdinand Sponer. But, what he aspires for throughout the story is Marisabelle, Jack Mortimer's, hotel, clothes, and identity itself. He experiences periods of anxiety and unreal periods of calm as he struggles to balance between these two worlds - one he comes from and one he wants to be in.

His impersonation of Jack Mortimer could be the act of a man creating an alibi, but also the act of a man suddenly enamoured and curious about this mysterious American. He sets out to steal one night. One night of living as someone far removed from his reality and one night for subjugating his fate. But in the end he inevitably has to return to his former world.

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favourite moments

There were so many symbolic moments in the story that I could write about them in detail for hours on end. Here are a few: (view spoiler)[
★ The depiction of 1930s Vienna. Sponer being a taxi driver, we explore the city through him. The routes he take, the landmark he uses, and the places he visits. With the places having German names, I found it hard to keep track of them, but I thoroughly enjoyed the visual depiction of Sponer's Vienna.
★ While fleeing the Montmayors, Sponer grabs for Mortimer's passport and nothing else, not even money that would help him flee. He grabs for the passport that could give him another identity.
★ The description of Sponer's savings as just few notes when the police find the envelope. When Sponer talks about his savings, it is significant but when the police find it you realize how poor he really is.
★ 'The air in the apartment feels stuffy and smells of food' - Sponer continuously connects this phrase with the world he inhabits, the same as Marie's. When he reveals that he went to Cadet school but couldn't complete it, you feel the regrets and past opportunities weighing down on him.
★ The final chapter and Winfred's reaction to Sponer. Sponer makes a heroic effort returning to Mortimer's hotel and intends to 'surrender with some dignity'. He prefers his wrongful conviction to his mundane unsatisfactory life. When everyone in the hotel ignores him and doesn't seem interested in arresting him, he's forced to let the night go and return to a normal day.
★ 'I was Jack Mortimer' - Sponer accepts in the very end that he was a distinct man for a night, but with Marie in his arms and safely back in his old reality. (hide spoiler)]

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-1 star for the horrible treatment of female characters

The writing and symbolism is so strong that it's really heart-breaking the way the female characters are written. They are either fiercely loyal to their men or heartless bitches who use men. They are linear and have no shades of their own. I hated how Marisabelle and Marie were treated.

Sponer literally stalks and harasses Marisabelle and yet towards the end she is shown as vain and lacking compassion. She sees him worthy of her attention only when Sponer has a cloud of crime and mystery hung over him. Once he is deemed innocent she chides him for returning to her. She might be an opportunist and that would be okay, but given that all the other female characters share a similar disregard to their development, I resented the end to her story.

Marie on the other hand is an angel. She knows very evidently that Sponer doesn't love her and only keeps her close because she is convenient, yet she will go to the edges of the world to save him. Her escape from the police while retrieving Sponer's money was elaborately written as though to show the reader how much she cares for Sponer. But when she returns, Sponer has already left. My heart broke for her. I get the era this was written in, but she deserved to be someone more than Sponer's aid. She is incredibly intelligent, resourceful, and kind. I loved her.

Winfred on the other hand is Marie for a different man. And Consuela is Marisabelle for another man. All the four female characters are shallow, unexplored, and primarily drive the plot for the male characters. Jack Mortimer was more developed than these four combined.

#JusticeforMarieAndMarisabelle

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You should read it but with a pinch of salt, if you're a feminist.

Like I said, I get the era this was written in. I ultimately choose to critique the bad and accept the good. The story is not indeed a thriller, because who killed Jack Mortimer is fairly evident mid-way. The story is rather a study of Sponer and his quest for the unattainable and his gamble over a night to merge worlds and rid the misery of his reality.