Embers by Sándor Márai Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Embers
Book Review: Hm.
Summary: 3 Stars
For all it's metaphors and issues about the larger themes of life, friendship, love, betrayal, and death, Embers is not a subtle book; it broadsides you with maudlin emotion under the mask of stoic dignity. One character is an aristocrat, the other a pauper, they are friends and the tension is supposed to reveal something about our own materialistic identity, but the book is delivered in a monologue, and grows boring. The idea of a theme about conflicting social backgrounds is interesting, but the reality is that neither of these two have very much to say. That itself could count for something, but they talk and they talk some more. They are too proud to do any thinking, and you are left to assume the weight of a tortured elderly general that the world left behind. The characters in Embers are shells of something larger, and you stick your finger through it trying to find the substance. I suspect the applause given to Sandor Marai is so the literary world can make a martyr into a legend, it gives critics something new to write about -- everyone wants to claim a new discovery. It's a good book, but it's not great; a footnote of 20th century writing.Book Review: Hungarian masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book after reading rave reviews in the UK and was not disappointed as it is beautifully written. I seem to be going through a Hungarian phase at the moment so if you like this I can also recommend another Hungarian book called Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb. Both are magical, imaginative flights of fancy and both open your eyes to a whole new world. I really enjoyed them both.Book Review: If music be the food of love ...
Summary: 5 Stars
I was fortunate enough to come across Embers at a ridiculously low price in a book sale and having had my appetite for foreign writers whetted by Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, I decided to plunge in at the deep end. For fans of the phenomenon that is 'magic realism' this will definitely appeal but, as much as I loved this novel, there is bound to be a voice out there somewhere that will level the accusation that it is pretentious. Incidentally Embers is written with the same prose quality and the same level of erudition that haunts Invisible Cities (Calvino again) but how to approach it with the intention of writing an original review is another matter!On a superficial level, Embers is a novel about the loyalty, Platonic love and the inevitable betrayal of these values that will occur when a woman comes between two men. Henrik is an aristocrat who has chosen to withdraw from the society around him and is awaiting the renewal of a friendship with Konrad, his former companion who he has not seen for some 41 years. As he prepares for Konrad's arrival it becomes apparent that whilst universal time has continued, the temporal status of Henrik's existence is such that he hasn't adjusted from the moment that his faith in those around him was fractured by an act that he can neither explain nor rationalise. Having maintained an unquestionable fidelity to each other there came a point where the modern collided with the old-world and chose to progress rather than remain stoic to its traditions.
Henrik's only remaining companion is his nurse, Nini, and it is in this permanent isolation, continued stasis that they choose to remain. The friendship between Konrad and Henrik was borne out of childhood meeting and a military upbringing in which the social deference and economic differences were acknowledged and respected. It is this feudal, hierarchical society that demands a constant awareness of place and an individual's importance but Konrad's inability to adjust to rigid constraints leads him to seek expression through the arts, most notably music. It is worth bearing in mind this is a novel with a context that could be seen as politically stifled and so when Konrad discovers a form of communication that is dangerously free and personal he can break rank from the other soldiers around him. By transgressing the rules of his own military world this poses a threat to the life that Henrik has introduced him to.
The opportunity that Henrik offers Konrad reflects the nature of Embers. Although the novel transcends generations it eventually returns to the point at which the decision must be made. Time cannot progress until a resolution has been found, Henrik cannot return to the outside world until he can explain and resolve the problems within his own. It is a matter of duty and honour to his previous generations that Henrik atones for his error in allowing an outsider into the culture and values they created but Konrad must pay his own penance for his decision to put love before friendship.
Above all it is a novel about the desire to return to forgotten cultures, about the different levels of love and friendship but it is also the work of a writer whose prose is immaculate and must be sampled to gain the full flavour.
Book Review: Love lost
Summary: 5 Stars
A beautifully written story of friendship, love, honor and betrayal.The story setting is an old castle estate in the countryside of Hungary where two boyhood friends meet for the first time in 41 years. Konrad has been invited for dinner to the Generals estate. Both men served in the army and are now in their mid-seventies. Although they dine alone their conversation goes on until 5 in the morning.
During the conversation the General expounds on the differences between the two of them regarding friendship and honor and finally confronts Konrad, demanding a truthful answer to two questions that he suspects separated them 41 year earlier.
The dialogue is superb and the ending is a cliff hanger.
Book Review: Nothing Short of Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
Embers is a terrific re-discovery and I for one am thankful that Knopf chose to translate and publish it. Embers is a slim novel filled with human emotion and pain. The novel begins with an old European aristocrat receiving a letter from a friend who the aristocrat then arranges to have brought to his estate for dinner. It turns out that these two friends have not seen each other for 41 years. Marai slowly unfolds the story of why and makes what could have been a mundane domestic drama into a compelling examination of guilt, anger, love and revenge. The men confront each other as the aristocrat slowly reveals how he came to discover what his friend did to make him disappear from his life. He talks on and on that evening, while the embers of the fire burn out, searching for answers to questions from his friend, questions that get to the heart of their relationship. Embers is a well done, well written work. Highly recommended.