BOOKS FROM HUNGARYThe Door
by Magda Szabo
Tags:
Set in Hungary
Female author
Description:
One of The New York Times Book Review's "10 Best Books of 2015" An NYRB Classics Original The Door is an unsettling exploration of the relationship between two very different women. Magda is a writer, educated, married to an academic, public-spirited, with an on-again-off-again relationship to Hungary’s Communist authorities. Emerence is a peasant, illiterate, impassive, abrupt, seemingly ageless. She lives alone in a house that no one else may enter, not even her closest relatives. She is Magda’s housekeeper and she has taken control over Magda’s household, becoming indispensable to her. And Emerence, in her way, has come to depend on Magda. They share a kind of love—at least until Magda’s long-sought success as a writer leads to a devastating revelation. Len Rix’s prizewinning translation of The Door at last makes it possible for American readers to appreciate the masterwork of a major modern European writer.
Reviews:
(7 years ago) |
31 Jan, 2018
Absolutely beautiful book about the family we find.
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(1 year ago) |
30 Jun, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. The story of the relationship between a woman and her housekeeper, who exerts an interesting sort of psychological control. Themes of friendship, class, human connection, betrayal. The writing is gorgeous and the translation excellent - I'd've assumed it was written in English if I didn't know better. It was a page-turner for me, a "just one more chapter before I go to sleep" book.
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(1 month ago) |
25 Aug, 2025
Loved it and an immediate favourite.
An intriguing and provocative story about the relationship between two fascinating characters: The narrator (referred to as “Lady Writer”), and Emerence, the enigmatic, primal force who is her housekeeper (and much more). Emerence is frequently silent but sees clearly and insightfully, while the narrator, who believes she is telling a faithful story, lacks insight and sees much less than she imagines.
Szabó’s writing is genius. Somehow she made me exasperated and distrustful of the unreliable, self-centred narrator, while at the same time making me identify with her and all her flaws. By making the narrator unreliable, Szabó also led me to consider the real motivations of the characters, which deepened my understanding of them both. I suspect this says something profound about novels.
Translated by Len Rix
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