 A journalist of the "De Heerenveensche koerier" critiqued the second part of the novel for being slightly idealistic.Although the novel is generally seen as a classic, there has also been criticism that the novel represents a 1950s view of the Second World War that is not dominant anymore.While in "Reis door de nacht", taking the right moral choices is seen as one of the main features of being a good person, 21st century historians argue that most Dutch people ended up in certain situations by mere accident.