Egy kis torok- és fejfájással, egész nap az ágyban - mit olvasson az ember? Valami ilyet. Egy snájdig. szőke úr - aki már csak az emlékeiben nagy nőfaló - visszanéz, és (dicsekedve) leltárt csinál minden leimádkozott bugyiról, de hogy ne legyen olyan átlátszó az egész, szó esik a velencei történelemről is. A sok szex miatt enyhén kéjes, kukkoló érzése van az embernek, és épp csak annyira szégyelli magát, amennyi nem árt. Az egyik poén olyan szép, hogy érdemes itt lelőni: a feleség akkor fog gyanút, hogy a férje csalja, amikor az elkezd rendes alsógatyákat hordani. Tanulság: okos ember a (saját) feleségét is jó nőnek nézi... (Na, ez olyan nívós mondatnak sikeredett, mint az a hírhedt Gábor Zsazsa visszakérdezés: Riporter - Hány férj volt az életében, művésznő? Zsazsa: Úgy érti, a sajátjaimon kívül?)
Az eléggé bosszantott, hogy az író ezer kis hülye sztoriját sokszor mind az öt kötetben elmesélte, néha többször is néhány lapon belül.
És akkor miért olvastam három napig? mert közben ott volt benne az egész borzasztó magyar történelem. Amitől nincs szabadulás.
I will not write about this book in English. I hope it will be never translated, even if it would, you will not get it - you should have been an insider in many centuries of Hungarian history.
Az eléggé bosszantott, hogy az író ezer kis hülye sztoriját sokszor mind az öt kötetben elmesélte, néha többször is néhány lapon belül.
És akkor miért olvastam három napig? mert közben ott volt benne az egész borzasztó magyar történelem. Amitől nincs szabadulás.
I will not write about this book in English. I hope it will be never translated, even if it would, you will not get it - you should have been an insider in many centuries of Hungarian history.
May 6, 2012Hungarian
Kapott-e bármelyik ember arra felhatalmazást, hogy megpróbálja megváltoztatni egy másik, tudatos, felnőtt ember életét, annak akarata ellenére? Mivel semmi égi hatalomban nem hiszek, csak valami morális érték adhatna ilyesmit bárki kezébe, segítőkészség, szolidaritás, könyörület vagy akármi más nevében - és régóta vívódok, hogy ad-e? Fájdalmasan és váratlanul, újra meg újra felteszi ezt a kérdést az élet. Van-e "helyes válasz"? Egy ideje határozottan úgy vélem, hogy nem lehet, nem szabad igennel válaszolni. Nem, nem, nem.
Szabó Magda világszemlélete - amennyit tudok róla - nem áll közel hozzám. Váratlanul ért és tisztelem az írót, hogy nagy lelki erővel tudott ebben a könyvben elszámolni egy tragédiával, amit ugyan akaratlanul, de azzal okozott, hogy rosszul válaszolt erre a kínzó kérdésre.
Nem ilyen könyvet akartam az elmúlt hetekben olvasni, fel volt kavarodva a lelkem, azért is, mert valaki, akit szerettem, homlokegyenest fordítva válaszolt a szóban forgó dilemmára, mint én. Ártalmatlanabb olvasmány is kerülhetett volna a kezembe... Mégis, nagy és mély élmény volt Az ajtó.
*
Has anyone a moral mandate to try to change the life of any other conscious adult against the other's will? I do not believe in any spiritual power so any such mandate could only come from human moral grounds - solidarity, courtesy, mercy or whatever - and I have been struggling for a long time to answer the question. show more Now I tend to say there is NOT such a mandate.
Szabó Magda is a famous Hungarian writer, winner of the 2004 Femina price in France. She does see the life in many ways different as me (as far as I know that from interviews). It was a sudden, deep surprise, how much her book touched me - the book, which is about a story which revolves around the question we deal with. I respect the writer very much for her fortitude to reckon with the tragedy her unintended but bad decision has caused.
An other book could have been a better read for me in the last weeks: my soul was deeply troubled, partly because a loved one answered this deep dilemma in the totally opposite way as me. I could have read a more harmless book... Yet, this was a great and deep experience.
The book is available in German and English. http://www.hlo.hu/object.33254F4A-E1D1-4DC2-A7A7-482639EE9EE1.ivy is a very interesting review in English from a Hungarian Literature online periodical. The Guardian has also a review of it. http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,6121,1602940,00.html show less
Szabó Magda világszemlélete - amennyit tudok róla - nem áll közel hozzám. Váratlanul ért és tisztelem az írót, hogy nagy lelki erővel tudott ebben a könyvben elszámolni egy tragédiával, amit ugyan akaratlanul, de azzal okozott, hogy rosszul válaszolt erre a kínzó kérdésre.
Nem ilyen könyvet akartam az elmúlt hetekben olvasni, fel volt kavarodva a lelkem, azért is, mert valaki, akit szerettem, homlokegyenest fordítva válaszolt a szóban forgó dilemmára, mint én. Ártalmatlanabb olvasmány is kerülhetett volna a kezembe... Mégis, nagy és mély élmény volt Az ajtó.
*
Has anyone a moral mandate to try to change the life of any other conscious adult against the other's will? I do not believe in any spiritual power so any such mandate could only come from human moral grounds - solidarity, courtesy, mercy or whatever - and I have been struggling for a long time to answer the question. show more Now I tend to say there is NOT such a mandate.
Szabó Magda is a famous Hungarian writer, winner of the 2004 Femina price in France. She does see the life in many ways different as me (as far as I know that from interviews). It was a sudden, deep surprise, how much her book touched me - the book, which is about a story which revolves around the question we deal with. I respect the writer very much for her fortitude to reckon with the tragedy her unintended but bad decision has caused.
An other book could have been a better read for me in the last weeks: my soul was deeply troubled, partly because a loved one answered this deep dilemma in the totally opposite way as me. I could have read a more harmless book... Yet, this was a great and deep experience.
The book is available in German and English. http://www.hlo.hu/object.33254F4A-E1D1-4DC2-A7A7-482639EE9EE1.ivy is a very interesting review in English from a Hungarian Literature online periodical. The Guardian has also a review of it. http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,6121,1602940,00.html show less
Hogyan dícsérjem meg a könyvet, hogy ne legyen benne sok fanyalgás? Tisztes szándékkal íródott, érzhetően egy jó barát elvesztése miatt, és a hospice mozgalomnak biztos jót tesz, ha egy ennyire népszerű valaki ír róluk. Meg aztán meglepően jó is az irói technika. De a sztori nem. Csak azt volt nagyon jó olvasni, amikor Sienáról írt - talán nem is azért, amit írt, hanem az emlékeim miatt.
How to tell it is a well written, well-intentioned book, most probably inspired by the loss of a friend, at it makes good publicity to the hospice movement (Wikipedia tells me it is now called "palliative care") - also how to tell all this without pouting that the story is simply flat and bad. The only magic moments were around Siena - maybe not due to what he had written but due to my remembrances.
How to tell it is a well written, well-intentioned book, most probably inspired by the loss of a friend, at it makes good publicity to the hospice movement (Wikipedia tells me it is now called "palliative care") - also how to tell all this without pouting that the story is simply flat and bad. The only magic moments were around Siena - maybe not due to what he had written but due to my remembrances.
Das Schicksal ist ein Kläffer, / der schnell den Schwanz einzieht
Félénk eb a sors, csak csahol; / A bátraktól szalad
Milyen kár, hogy nem olyan a világ, mint amilyennek Petőfi leírta. Vagy nem tudjuk, hogy kell bátornak lenni.
Kicsit olyan ez a könyv, mint amilyen film volt a Goodby Lenin. Jól van "megírva" - de nem tudja az ember, minek? Emléket akart állítani annak az 1989-es esztendőnek? a Magyarországra utazó sok tízezer németnek?
Félénk eb a sors, csak csahol; / A bátraktól szalad
Milyen kár, hogy nem olyan a világ, mint amilyennek Petőfi leírta. Vagy nem tudjuk, hogy kell bátornak lenni.
Kicsit olyan ez a könyv, mint amilyen film volt a Goodby Lenin. Jól van "megírva" - de nem tudja az ember, minek? Emléket akart állítani annak az 1989-es esztendőnek? a Magyarországra utazó sok tízezer németnek?
May 6, 2012Hungarian
This book is one of the best I have read in the last years, so exciting like Middlesex (by Jeffrey Eugenides). T. C. Boyle, the author of more than ten bestsellers, is a writer of 'real' American stories, so the interest in his books can be limited outside the US. But this one is about the famous sex researcher, Dr. Alfred Kinsey, who wrote the two earth-breaking books near the beginning of the 50's about human sexuality. Those scientific publications were sold better as any other books from that era, and were the main vehicle to debunk Victorian morality and tear down sexual repression in America (I am not sure if using past tense is totally right here).
Prok (this is the name of Dr. Kinsey used by friends) is the real hero of the book, even if it is told by one of his assistants, Milk, and formally is about Milk's life, his common life with Iris, his wife. Clara, Prok's wife is also an important figure.
Prok is a sex- and science-maniac tyrant, there is no doubt on that, even if he is adored by a lot of or even all of his 'inner circle'. Clara and Iris are the most sympathico figures (and as usual, all the everyday duties of the families are on the shoulders of the wives, while the men are doing 'research' and all that stuff).
What confuses me is where exactly to find the right balance between the "human animal's" needs and the miracle of love and marriage. There are many situations in the book where the reader easily sees some extremes are out of question, but there are show more too many others as well where it is not clear at all if a possible refusal would come from our shyness, false reflexes or from our good taste? I think there is a big dilemma and a problem with finding the proper way to interiorize or suppress our 'human animal' needs, due to our morals or cultural believes.
There is an independent movie titled 'Kinsey' (2004) from Bill Condon, which tells the same story. Of course, it is hard to be basically different, but as usual, a book and a movie are not in the same worlds. I was amused, however, by the story of Clara, teaching the naive John Milk in both worlds. This is one of the rare occasions where the film was unbeatable - Prok (played by the marvelous Liam Neeson) standing totally perplexed on the first floor and shouting up to the own bedroom to the strange pair... Laura Linney as Clara is unforgettable. show less
Prok (this is the name of Dr. Kinsey used by friends) is the real hero of the book, even if it is told by one of his assistants, Milk, and formally is about Milk's life, his common life with Iris, his wife. Clara, Prok's wife is also an important figure.
Prok is a sex- and science-maniac tyrant, there is no doubt on that, even if he is adored by a lot of or even all of his 'inner circle'. Clara and Iris are the most sympathico figures (and as usual, all the everyday duties of the families are on the shoulders of the wives, while the men are doing 'research' and all that stuff).
What confuses me is where exactly to find the right balance between the "human animal's" needs and the miracle of love and marriage. There are many situations in the book where the reader easily sees some extremes are out of question, but there are show more too many others as well where it is not clear at all if a possible refusal would come from our shyness, false reflexes or from our good taste? I think there is a big dilemma and a problem with finding the proper way to interiorize or suppress our 'human animal' needs, due to our morals or cultural believes.
There is an independent movie titled 'Kinsey' (2004) from Bill Condon, which tells the same story. Of course, it is hard to be basically different, but as usual, a book and a movie are not in the same worlds. I was amused, however, by the story of Clara, teaching the naive John Milk in both worlds. This is one of the rare occasions where the film was unbeatable - Prok (played by the marvelous Liam Neeson) standing totally perplexed on the first floor and shouting up to the own bedroom to the strange pair... Laura Linney as Clara is unforgettable. show less