It is a short book that collects the text written for the film by the film director Robert Bober, a Frenchman of German Jewish origin.
The first part has an expository tone. It presents the Federal Bureau of Immigration of the United States of America (facilities, inspectors, doctors, questionnaires) on this small island, which came to receive almost sixteen million people and which was the most notable emigration in recent history (1892-1924). It highlights how emigration continues to happen today due to similar problems, even if the emigrants come from other countries or go to other places.
In the second part the author internalizes the anxiety, the uncertainty, the fear of being rejected: he relives the feelings of the emigrants in those few hours they spent on the island. The stylistic change from one part to the other: he moves from prose to verse. This second part begins with a poem.
There is a serene tone of elegy in his words for the lack of origin and the lack of belonging to a community: no homeland, no language, no tradition. He feels like a foreigner.
Georges Perec (1936-1982,) son of Polish Jews, was one of the most important French writers of the 20th century. His works cover several genres (theater, poetry, essays...) He also wrote screenplays for cinema and music.