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Loading... Embersby Sándor Márai
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. As a conversation (mostly one sided) between two estranged friends late in their lives, the book uses a plot and suspense to explore many philosophical questions, most importantly, the meaning of life. Perhaps because I'm old enough to spend more time pondering than living, I found the book thought provoking and one I will continue to enjoy as I mull its points over. It was slow (as the topic would dictate) and there were dated attitudes, ie. the way men are, the way women are. (  )snash | Jun 16, 2009 |   The story takes place in a castle at the foot of the Carpathian mountains in the 1930's. Two men, close friends in their youth meet after forty years. This separation involved a woman and an act of betrayal and as they are nearing the end of their lives the truth is to be revealed. This was a disappointing read and never lived up to the hype . Nice prose but there was a tendency for the story to meander at times and the long winded meditations from the viewpoint of the General became tediously repetitious. On the list for the 1001 Books you must read before you die . (  )jeniwren | Jun 14, 2009 | 1  The book opens with a mysterious letter, and it seems as if the General has been waiting in his castle for this letter for 41 years, 43 days. Henrik (aka The General) and Konrad became boyhood friends while in military school. They were nothing alike. Henrik was rich, had an influential family, and was every inch a soldier. Konrad was poor and musically gifted. Against all odds, they became closer than brothers who shared everything -- at least that's what Henrik believed in his younger years. After 41 years of rumination, stirring up the once-hot coals of memory, the General is ready for the truth. Much of the book is in the form of his soliloquy where he makes accusations and asks questions of which he already knows the answers. He says he is seeking revenge, but it appears to me more like closure on a painful memory. By mulling over the facts, he seeks to understand the betrayal that had consumed him for the past 41 years. Lovely, slow-paced reflective writing with a bit of quiet (very quiet) suspense. This book raises deep questions about friendship, betrayal, and unconditional devotion. ( )Donna828 | Apr 21, 2009 | 1 Hmm, ok. This book was pretty darn boring, really. The author's got an interesting idea, but fails to execute it, in my opinion. In Embers we meet two men, the General and Konrad, whom shared an extraordinary friendship, but do to a woman went their seperate ways never to see each other again. Then one day , after 42 years, Konrad unexpectedly makes a visit. Now the time of reckoning is finally arrived. I think this could have been a good book, but unfortunately it's nothing more than bla, bla, bla. Boring and bland. (  )RedBowlingBallRuth | Apr 8, 2009 | 1 First published in the forties, Marai's book is a reflection on passion and friendship. Two old men, the General and his childhood friend Konrad, meet for the first time in 41 years. The General reflects on the incident that drove away his friend away. I was interested in the descriptions of an aristocratic soldier's way of life and rules of behaviour in the Austro-Hungarian empire before WWI. These rules continue to control the general's behaviour and his perceptions of the world. For forty-one years the general has tried to understand his friend's actions and hopes that in this final meeting Konrad will explain. (  )pamelad | Mar 16, 2009 | 0.044 seconds to build listing
Amazon.com (ISBN 0141004312, Paperback)In Sándor Márai's Embers, two old men, once the best of friends, meet after a 41-year break in their relationship. They dine together, taking the same places at the table that they had assumed on the last meal they shared, then sit beside each other in front of a dying fire, one of them nearly silent, the other one, his host, slowly and deliberately tracing the course of their dead friendship. This sensitive, long-considered elaboration of one man's lifelong grievance is as gripping as any adventure story and explains why Márai's forgotten 1942 masterpiece is being compared with the work of Thomas Mann. In some ways, Márai's work is more modern than Mann's. His brevity, simplicity, and succinct, unadorned lyricism may call to mind Latin American novelists like Gabriel García Márquez, or even Italo Calvino. It is the tone of magical realism, although Márai's work is only magical in the sense that he completely engages his reader, spinning a web of words as his wounded central character describes his betrayal and abandonment at the hands of his closest friend. Even the setting, an old castle, evokes dark fairy tales.The story of the rediscovery of Embers is as fascinating as the novel itself. A celebrated Hungarian novelist of the 1930s, Márai survived the war but was persecuted by the Communists after they came to power. His books were suppressed, even destroyed, and he was forced to flee his country in 1948. He died in San Diego in 1989, one year before the neglected Embers was finally reprinted in his native land. This reprint was discovered by the Italian writer and publisher Roberto Calasso, and the subsequent editions have become international bestsellers. All of Márai's novels are now slated for American publication. --Regina Marler (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:12 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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