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Tövispuszta
A tízévente újrahazudott hivatalos történelem helyett a valóságként és igazságként megélt családi anekdotákból próbáljuk kirakosgatni a múltat, ezt a szerelemtől, gyűlölettől, barátságtól, árulástól és pátosztól csöpögő szappanoperát, ahol mindenki úgy véli, ő maga játssza a főszerepet, a többiek csupán epizodisták.
Kepes András a Tövispusztában, hol fanyar humorral, hol felkavaró drámai erővel négy eltérő származású és értékrendű család sorsát kíséri végig. Az arisztokrata, a szegényparaszti, a falusi zsidó és a polgári família története három generáción keresztül ível át a 20. századon. A szerző a „Nagy háborútól” a Horthy korszakon, az újabb világháborún, az 50-es éveken és a Kádár- korszakon át egészen a rendszerváltozást követő évekig mutatja be hősei hányattatott életét. Eközben pedig olyan tükröt tart elénk, amelyben alighanem saját családunk története is felrémlik, és az is, miért nem értjük egymást a mai napig.
Kepes András a Tövispusztában, hol fanyar humorral, hol felkavaró drámai erővel négy eltérő származású és értékrendű család sorsát kíséri végig. Az arisztokrata, a szegényparaszti, a falusi zsidó és a polgári família története három generáción keresztül ível át a 20. századon. A szerző a „Nagy háborútól” a Horthy korszakon, az újabb világháborún, az 50-es éveken és a Kádár- korszakon át egészen a rendszerváltozást követő évekig mutatja be hősei hányattatott életét. Eközben pedig olyan tükröt tart elénk, amelyben alighanem saját családunk története is felrémlik, és az is, miért nem értjük egymást a mai napig.
396 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
4 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
András Kepes
15 books40 followersHungarian journalist, documentary filmmaker and author, has been one of the most prominent and popular TV personalities in Hungary for more than 30 years. A number of his books of nonfiction and fiction have been number one national bestsellers. He is University Professor and Dean of the Communication and Art Faculty of the Budapest College of Communication and Business.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 23, 2019
Olvasmányos, élvezetesen megírt könyv, érdekes családregény, ami önmagában tökéletesen elég is volna. Azonban az író többre vágyott, alternatív történelemkönyvet akart a kezünkbe adni magunkról, a magyar XX. századról és ezzel úgy érzem, túlterhelte a regényt, túlfeszítette a kereteket. Egy regény, amelyben állatorvosi lóként a végigkísért családok útja hivatott bemutatni az előfordulható szinte összes magyar sorsot, nem képes pótolni a saját család- és helytörténeteinket. Egyet kell értsek Kepes felkiáltásával, hogy újra és újra hazug, koncepciózius, torz narratívák születnek az elmúlt kb. 150-200 évünkről. Valóban emlékezetpolitikát csináltak a múltunkból és ellenünk, a rajtunk való uralkodás eszközeként használják. A szakmai történetírást a politika nyírja, ahol csak tudja, a birkább? kritikátlan? megfelelési kényszeres? közvélemény pedig lenézi, lesajnálja, helyette pedig sarlatánoknak, botcsinálta „történészeknek”, művelődéstörténészeknek akar hinni és harcosan védi is a hiedelmeit. Ez a regény nem oldja meg a problémát és a vállalt feladatának sem tesz eleget, nem ad hitelesebb történelmet a kezünkbe, azonban azt el kell, hogy ismerjem, a hangulatot, atmoszférát rendesen hozza! Egy külföldre szakadt honfitársunknak például érdemes a kezébe nyomni, hogy érezze, akár ilyen is lehetett volna. Vagy a még sematikusabban gondolkodó, de olvasni szerető középiskolásnak is jó választás lehet.
Kepes rengeteg apró történetből komponálta meg a cselekményfolyamot, amelyek jó része valahonnan ismerős, gyanítom, hogy mind megtörténhetett valakivel, az író valószínűleg pontosan tudja, hogy mikor, kivel. Sajnos nem hiteles azonban, hogy az egyes társadalmi rétegek minden képviselőjét olyan bölcsességgel ruházta fel, ami nem életszerű. Nagyon gáláns és jóindulatú Kepes részéről, de egy-egy helység népessége ritkán van ennyire tisztában a nagy volumenű eseményekkel és alkot megfontoltan véleményt saját helyzetéről. Békaperspektívából nehéz rálátni az egészre. De Kepes mindenkinek hangot akart adni, az egyszerű parasztasszonytól kezdve a báróig lehetőleg minél többféle embernek: gyönyörű, idézhető megállapításokat, amik arra a következtetésre késztetnek, hogy lám-lám, ott is bölcs emberek vannak. Ez egyébként valóban nagyon is fontos lenne a társadalmi kiengesztelődéshez. Látom az író ez iránti jó szándékát és megtett (néhol izzadságszagú) erőfeszítéseit. Arra törekedett, hogy feltárja, a szekértáborokon túl is emberek vannak, akik ugyanúgy abból indulnak ki, hogy magukért, családjukért megtegyék a tőlük telhető legjobbat. Ezt a feltételezést sajnos nem (jelenleg sem) engedi meg egyik tábor a másiknak.
Minden kritikám ellenére egy jó olvasmányélményt szerezem, szívesen ajánlom bárkinek,kritikus értelmiségieknek talán csak a kellő jóindulat birtokában. :-)
Kepes rengeteg apró történetből komponálta meg a cselekményfolyamot, amelyek jó része valahonnan ismerős, gyanítom, hogy mind megtörténhetett valakivel, az író valószínűleg pontosan tudja, hogy mikor, kivel. Sajnos nem hiteles azonban, hogy az egyes társadalmi rétegek minden képviselőjét olyan bölcsességgel ruházta fel, ami nem életszerű. Nagyon gáláns és jóindulatú Kepes részéről, de egy-egy helység népessége ritkán van ennyire tisztában a nagy volumenű eseményekkel és alkot megfontoltan véleményt saját helyzetéről. Békaperspektívából nehéz rálátni az egészre. De Kepes mindenkinek hangot akart adni, az egyszerű parasztasszonytól kezdve a báróig lehetőleg minél többféle embernek: gyönyörű, idézhető megállapításokat, amik arra a következtetésre késztetnek, hogy lám-lám, ott is bölcs emberek vannak. Ez egyébként valóban nagyon is fontos lenne a társadalmi kiengesztelődéshez. Látom az író ez iránti jó szándékát és megtett (néhol izzadságszagú) erőfeszítéseit. Arra törekedett, hogy feltárja, a szekértáborokon túl is emberek vannak, akik ugyanúgy abból indulnak ki, hogy magukért, családjukért megtegyék a tőlük telhető legjobbat. Ezt a feltételezést sajnos nem (jelenleg sem) engedi meg egyik tábor a másiknak.
Minden kritikám ellenére egy jó olvasmányélményt szerezem, szívesen ajánlom bárkinek,
December 15, 2020
Az év egyik legjobb könyve számomra. Az új kiadást olvastam, ami most jelent meg 2020 végén, és ez nem csupán újranyomást jelent – Kepes saját bevallása szerint sok helyen bele is nyúlt a szövegbe az eredeti, talán 2017-es kötethez képest. A huszadik század történelmét követhetjük végig négy család (egy arisztokrata, egy jómódú polgári, egy falusi zsidó és egy szegényparaszti) személyes történetein keresztül. Olyan erővel, olyan rálátással, itt-ott kellemes tájszavakkal, leíró blokkokkal dolgozik az író, hogy az eredmény jobb, mint bármilyen történelemkönyv. Nem akar ideológiákat isteníteni vagy porba tiporni, egész egyszerűen csak regényes formában tapasztaltatja meg velünk az események súlyát, hatását, következményeit. Az említett négy család négy generációja összekapcsolódik egymással, barátságok, házasságok köttetnek, miközben az egyének közül néhányan a nyilasok, mások a kommunizmus felé húznak, páran tudományba menekülnek, vagy a teljes csalódottsággal lelkileg lenullázva csak várnak valamire, valami másra. Zsidók, cigányok, magyarok, szlávok, svábok – mindenkinek máshogy nehéz, de végső soron Kepes olyan kedvesen, de mégis egészen pontosan mutat rá a lényegre: mindannyian csak emberek, akik boldogulni szeretnének.
February 3, 2020
Very interesting read. Describes the challenges Hungary went through after the first world war until today from the perspective of the people from a small village.
July 3, 2022
"I was in the field this afternoon as the cows were being driven in, and as one got up from where it had been lyingI looked at how the grass had been crushed under it. Then, after a while, the flattened stems began slowly to move, came to, and gradually straightened up. And I thought, that's how we shall be. If this new regime tramples on us, certainly for a while we shall be downtrodden, but then we shall come to and straighten up."
Pity this book was so hard to find in english and haven't been translated yet to languages such spanish. A good account of the 20th century struggles of Hungarians
Pity this book was so hard to find in english and haven't been translated yet to languages such spanish. A good account of the 20th century struggles of Hungarians
March 2, 2022
Erdekes olvasmany, az a fajta konyv, amit gyorsan vegig lehet olvasni. Szamomra a megszokott 20. szazadi csaladtortenetek hangulatat hozza, ahol a tortenelem biztositja az esemenyek es sorsok megdobbento fordulatait. Ami vakamennyire kiemeli a regenyt a tobbi hasonlo kozul, hogy a konyv karakterei nagyjabol lefedik a a 20. szazadi Magyarorszag szines palettajat, megmutatva, hogy ebben a szazadban tenyleg mindenkinek kijutott a nehezsegbol.
February 12, 2017
The title in Hungarian is Tövispuszta, the name of a fictional village near Budapest. The descriptions of what happened to people living under fascism and then Soviet communism are stark and illuminating. It's a cautionary tale as we move into the 21st Century with its manifestations of a dystopian world.
This book is much more than a history lesson. It’s a story of how our allegiances and alliances, set against our grounding in what we experience in daily reality, including personal relationships and sense of community, plays out in modern times. This is the story of three boys, Pál, István, and Dávid, as they grow to adulthood and old age. Each one comes from a different social and economic background, and has beliefs formed by experience in their particular families as well as in the village. In each life humor and love occur along with hints of madness and sorrow. They are swept up in the turbulent socio-economic and political changes of the early and mid-20th century. They have to make decisions they determine best for them, their families, their country, and ultimately what they hope is on the side of the greater good. Each one has a moral and ethical sense, which tempered or informed by a survival instinct, is at the heart of their major decisions. And sometimes they make choices that put their freedom and their lives in danger. At the same time these exact same choices are necessary to give them a chance to survive, with or without integrity.
Several women play large and equally interesting roles. Elza is adopted by a Jewish family after found wandering in Budapest and taken to their home in Tövispuszta. She is passionate and independent. Then there is Lucky Gizi, another wonderful character, steadfast and resourceful. She is both lucky, and unlucky, to be married to István’s father. These and other female characters give the story much greater depth.
Kepes takes the characters through the decades of change. World War I “had left people hungry, defeat had left them bitter, and the disintegration of Hungary had humiliated them.” Word of worker and peasant power came with soldiers returning from the Russian front. Inequality between the landed gentry and peasant farmers threatened to blow up into armed conflict. By the 1930s, with Russian communism on one side, and German fascism on the other, Hungarians struggled with a choice of futures. By allying with Germany, some Hungarians believed their country could take back territories ceded to Czechoslovakia after World War 1. Other Hungarians were attracted to communism as a hoped-for improved form of socio-political arrangement. People in the small village took different sides. Some simply tried to survive. Kepes makes it clear that no one—the educated or uneducated, idealistic or pragmatic, rich or poor—escaped harm in the ensuing conflicts.
Another current was anti-Semitism. The Jewish people were blamed by the Nazis for tainting the strong native character of Europeans. Even though, as the author shows with ironic amusement, Hungarian families had tangled ethnic and racial roots, this prejudice became part of the nationalistic movement. The mass killing and deportation of Jews is told in the context of the characters’ lives in chilling detail.
The book has its flaws, but it shines in those episodes where the personal stories take center stage. Some of the most moving stories are about the Jewish family in Tövispuszta. The father’s abiding faith in human compassion is powerful. Although it doesn’t save his life, he faces reality with courage and makes his life positive, so much so that one of the boys, now a young man, is moved to punish his killers and publicly honor his memory. There’s a twist at the end in the tale of one of the other boys, in which his choices are re-evaluated by his family and country, but I don’t want to give too much of the story away.
The Germans and the Hungarian Arrow-Cross were brutal, but the Soviet-controlled communist leaders practiced a pervasive and corrosive control of people’s lives. People were imprisoned and tortured for having said the wrong thing or spoken to the wrong person. Then years later they were released and re-instated to their jobs and position, only to have it later taken away again. Under both systems, children were removed from families, names were changed. No one was safe. Personal control and responsibility, and the sense of community, were under siege. Who could be trusted?
While I was reading I wondered at the concerns of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and Hannah Arendt. Can evil be institutionalized and made the norm? Apparently it can, to a certain degree and only with popular complicity, for months, even years. Even then its destructiveness is terrifying, though it must be endured as part of the daily reality. Anyone who has experienced brutality knows it’s not banal. Then, sometimes sporadically at first, but always eventually, evil breaks out of efforts to contain and distribute it. But in those moments when it terrifies most, it begins to lose its power. To read this book is to remember those who have gone before in this struggle, and to see how they responded. While cruelty and oppression have often won the day, we can also see the perseverance of people toward what Sartre said is the most fundamental aspect of being human: freedom.
This book is much more than a history lesson. It’s a story of how our allegiances and alliances, set against our grounding in what we experience in daily reality, including personal relationships and sense of community, plays out in modern times. This is the story of three boys, Pál, István, and Dávid, as they grow to adulthood and old age. Each one comes from a different social and economic background, and has beliefs formed by experience in their particular families as well as in the village. In each life humor and love occur along with hints of madness and sorrow. They are swept up in the turbulent socio-economic and political changes of the early and mid-20th century. They have to make decisions they determine best for them, their families, their country, and ultimately what they hope is on the side of the greater good. Each one has a moral and ethical sense, which tempered or informed by a survival instinct, is at the heart of their major decisions. And sometimes they make choices that put their freedom and their lives in danger. At the same time these exact same choices are necessary to give them a chance to survive, with or without integrity.
Several women play large and equally interesting roles. Elza is adopted by a Jewish family after found wandering in Budapest and taken to their home in Tövispuszta. She is passionate and independent. Then there is Lucky Gizi, another wonderful character, steadfast and resourceful. She is both lucky, and unlucky, to be married to István’s father. These and other female characters give the story much greater depth.
Kepes takes the characters through the decades of change. World War I “had left people hungry, defeat had left them bitter, and the disintegration of Hungary had humiliated them.” Word of worker and peasant power came with soldiers returning from the Russian front. Inequality between the landed gentry and peasant farmers threatened to blow up into armed conflict. By the 1930s, with Russian communism on one side, and German fascism on the other, Hungarians struggled with a choice of futures. By allying with Germany, some Hungarians believed their country could take back territories ceded to Czechoslovakia after World War 1. Other Hungarians were attracted to communism as a hoped-for improved form of socio-political arrangement. People in the small village took different sides. Some simply tried to survive. Kepes makes it clear that no one—the educated or uneducated, idealistic or pragmatic, rich or poor—escaped harm in the ensuing conflicts.
Another current was anti-Semitism. The Jewish people were blamed by the Nazis for tainting the strong native character of Europeans. Even though, as the author shows with ironic amusement, Hungarian families had tangled ethnic and racial roots, this prejudice became part of the nationalistic movement. The mass killing and deportation of Jews is told in the context of the characters’ lives in chilling detail.
The book has its flaws, but it shines in those episodes where the personal stories take center stage. Some of the most moving stories are about the Jewish family in Tövispuszta. The father’s abiding faith in human compassion is powerful. Although it doesn’t save his life, he faces reality with courage and makes his life positive, so much so that one of the boys, now a young man, is moved to punish his killers and publicly honor his memory. There’s a twist at the end in the tale of one of the other boys, in which his choices are re-evaluated by his family and country, but I don’t want to give too much of the story away.
The Germans and the Hungarian Arrow-Cross were brutal, but the Soviet-controlled communist leaders practiced a pervasive and corrosive control of people’s lives. People were imprisoned and tortured for having said the wrong thing or spoken to the wrong person. Then years later they were released and re-instated to their jobs and position, only to have it later taken away again. Under both systems, children were removed from families, names were changed. No one was safe. Personal control and responsibility, and the sense of community, were under siege. Who could be trusted?
While I was reading I wondered at the concerns of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and Hannah Arendt. Can evil be institutionalized and made the norm? Apparently it can, to a certain degree and only with popular complicity, for months, even years. Even then its destructiveness is terrifying, though it must be endured as part of the daily reality. Anyone who has experienced brutality knows it’s not banal. Then, sometimes sporadically at first, but always eventually, evil breaks out of efforts to contain and distribute it. But in those moments when it terrifies most, it begins to lose its power. To read this book is to remember those who have gone before in this struggle, and to see how they responded. While cruelty and oppression have often won the day, we can also see the perseverance of people toward what Sartre said is the most fundamental aspect of being human: freedom.
October 21, 2013
András Kepes is a well-known TV journalist in Hungary. His first novel, Tövispuszta, was recently translated into English by Bernard Adams and edited by Emma Boden-Lee. Re-named ‘The Inflatable Buddha,’ the novel was published and launched by Armadillo Central in September 2013 at the Hungarian Cultural Centre in London.
* * *
These beautifully written epic narratives explore the experiences of ordinary Hungarians during the twentieth century, as perceived by three protagonists, Pál, Isti and Dávid, an aristocrat, a peasant, and a Jew, and their families. Bonded through friendships and village traditions, they are slowly torn apart by pre-war, war and post-war events, and branch out - to Budapest, Paris, London, New York, to eventually return to the place of their childhood, connecting children and grandchildren to their memoirs, be it before their grave.
At one point or another, this bitter half century of high-flown ideologies, whose fascist and communist totalitarianism spread its spidery web throughout Europe, humiliated everyone, those implicated as well as onlookers. Hungary was not spared, people disappeared over night, names were changed often, estates were carved up and families forcefully re-located. The interlude of the 1930s seemed like a fading dream.
In these fascinating accounts, the subtle and idiosyncratic exchanges of characters brim with humour as well as tragic poignancy - and belie all black and white accounts of history books. Loyalties are fluctuating. Interpretations and opinions of incidents are many-shaded, from naïve to fanatic to cynical. The archetypal theme of human tragedy - one moment your neighbours are friends, the next moment they are enemies and likely to betray you in order to save their skin, the lives of friends and those of their own blood.
After the Soviets had left Hungary, religious statues were restored, others, including Lenin's, were toppled or buried as symbols of broken promises. At the same time values slipped, greed took hold, business lost its personal touch, and even previously honourable craftsmen shed their sense of shame as something they could no longer afford.
The characters, each one them, enchant with their peculiarities. At times I wanted to dive deeper into the story of one or the other, like Elza, the rejected and adopted girl who suffered premonitions. Equally, I'd have liked to hear more about the fascinating traditions of people in the Carpathian Mountains - narratives yet to be told. With the epic fates of three families and the fictional village that connects them, the author is speaking to grandchildren the world over, because the lessons of the twentieth century cannot be conveyed in numbers and algorithms - an approach still adopted in schools, It alienated me from taking up history as a study subject, as it did my son, so enthusiastic at first, three decades later.
Stories allow us to absorb the human complexities and secrets hidden in our tangled histories. With a little magic thrown into realism it becomes possible to explore our preconceptions and fears, have a dialogue with the enemy inside and outside, and become more tolerant. This, for me, sums up this mesmerising novel.
Available through Amazon
or Armadillo Central http://www.armadillocentral.com/index...
* * *
These beautifully written epic narratives explore the experiences of ordinary Hungarians during the twentieth century, as perceived by three protagonists, Pál, Isti and Dávid, an aristocrat, a peasant, and a Jew, and their families. Bonded through friendships and village traditions, they are slowly torn apart by pre-war, war and post-war events, and branch out - to Budapest, Paris, London, New York, to eventually return to the place of their childhood, connecting children and grandchildren to their memoirs, be it before their grave.
At one point or another, this bitter half century of high-flown ideologies, whose fascist and communist totalitarianism spread its spidery web throughout Europe, humiliated everyone, those implicated as well as onlookers. Hungary was not spared, people disappeared over night, names were changed often, estates were carved up and families forcefully re-located. The interlude of the 1930s seemed like a fading dream.
In these fascinating accounts, the subtle and idiosyncratic exchanges of characters brim with humour as well as tragic poignancy - and belie all black and white accounts of history books. Loyalties are fluctuating. Interpretations and opinions of incidents are many-shaded, from naïve to fanatic to cynical. The archetypal theme of human tragedy - one moment your neighbours are friends, the next moment they are enemies and likely to betray you in order to save their skin, the lives of friends and those of their own blood.
After the Soviets had left Hungary, religious statues were restored, others, including Lenin's, were toppled or buried as symbols of broken promises. At the same time values slipped, greed took hold, business lost its personal touch, and even previously honourable craftsmen shed their sense of shame as something they could no longer afford.
The characters, each one them, enchant with their peculiarities. At times I wanted to dive deeper into the story of one or the other, like Elza, the rejected and adopted girl who suffered premonitions. Equally, I'd have liked to hear more about the fascinating traditions of people in the Carpathian Mountains - narratives yet to be told. With the epic fates of three families and the fictional village that connects them, the author is speaking to grandchildren the world over, because the lessons of the twentieth century cannot be conveyed in numbers and algorithms - an approach still adopted in schools, It alienated me from taking up history as a study subject, as it did my son, so enthusiastic at first, three decades later.
Stories allow us to absorb the human complexities and secrets hidden in our tangled histories. With a little magic thrown into realism it becomes possible to explore our preconceptions and fears, have a dialogue with the enemy inside and outside, and become more tolerant. This, for me, sums up this mesmerising novel.
Available through Amazon
or Armadillo Central http://www.armadillocentral.com/index...
November 18, 2016
I couldn't get it in Hungarian so went ahead with the English version. The translation felt a little awkward or forced in some places but overall it is nicely done I think. As I said I didn't read it in Hungarian.
The first half of the book is superb the story lines nicely tied together and it feels all natural. Then it seems like the writer lost his interest around 1956. The chapter(s) depicting the revolution felt a bit rushed and shallow, I still liked it but compared to the first half of the book it was less personal and less detailed. It is also getting more and more difficult to keep up with the new characters as the families grow (we follow 3 families for generations) From there (1956), the story felt slower and slower until the part in the end with the gangster boss in the club which was again very lively and felt real but that is nearly the end of the book.
Overall I loved it very much, especially the first half -as I said- and would recommend it to anyone interested in Eastern-European history. Hungarians will also find it enjoyable but I would go with the Hungarian version although I didn't read it, knowing the author I believe there must be a lot more flavor in his own language.
The first half of the book is superb the story lines nicely tied together and it feels all natural. Then it seems like the writer lost his interest around 1956. The chapter(s) depicting the revolution felt a bit rushed and shallow, I still liked it but compared to the first half of the book it was less personal and less detailed. It is also getting more and more difficult to keep up with the new characters as the families grow (we follow 3 families for generations) From there (1956), the story felt slower and slower until the part in the end with the gangster boss in the club which was again very lively and felt real but that is nearly the end of the book.
Overall I loved it very much, especially the first half -as I said- and would recommend it to anyone interested in Eastern-European history. Hungarians will also find it enjoyable but I would go with the Hungarian version although I didn't read it, knowing the author I believe there must be a lot more flavor in his own language.
February 7, 2012
My mom bought this book for me for Christmas. She bought it in October or November but she read so many good reviews of it that she decided to read it before giving it to me. And then she gave it to my granddad. And then a family friend. And then my sister. And so on ... So I got a 'recycled' book for Christmas, but who cares! This book is so good, I just don't know what to say! It made me laugh, it made me cry. It made me remember all the stories I'd heard from my grandparents about what it was like during the war and Communism. And I recalled the little I remember of the last 10 years of Communism.
I hope that an English translation is on the way so even more people can read it! Weirdly enough, I'd just started deciphering and transcribing my great granddad's diary (which covers most of the period Kepes writes about), and Kepes mentions people my great granddad knew as well! Freak out!
I hope that an English translation is on the way so even more people can read it! Weirdly enough, I'd just started deciphering and transcribing my great granddad's diary (which covers most of the period Kepes writes about), and Kepes mentions people my great granddad knew as well! Freak out!
November 1, 2017
I'm really young with old parents and confused childhood. I was born after the end of socialism, but I could see what it left behind itself. This book shows me what's happened with those people who lived at this era and I had met them before I read Tövispuszta.
András Kepes is one of my favourite Hungarian writers and his book let me know, through his narrator, why the Hungarian history is so difficult, what happened with the characters of my childhood. This book is for readers who want to see this part of the Hungarian history from different aspects and don't mind to think about it.
András Kepes is one of my favourite Hungarian writers and his book let me know, through his narrator, why the Hungarian history is so difficult, what happened with the characters of my childhood. This book is for readers who want to see this part of the Hungarian history from different aspects and don't mind to think about it.
August 20, 2025
Fairly easy read that shows the intergenerational trauma of Hungarians in the twentieth century through the story of a few families of different classes, all tied to the eponymous village. Although it's often hard to suspend disbelief when a book character *always* had to be there at all important events / aspect of each part of history. That felt very contrived, as if the author had a checklist where he was desperate to tick every possible experience in the previous century of Hungary.
August 6, 2019
Really good one! Anyone who is familiar withHungarian history will enjoy and understand, who is not, it is a must-read also.
Quite scarry how we are reproducing the same thoughts all over again- however, it still can be true that the book is overemphasising a phenomenon. It is up to you to decide!
Easly readable.
Quite scarry how we are reproducing the same thoughts all over again- however, it still can be true that the book is overemphasising a phenomenon. It is up to you to decide!
Easly readable.
June 28, 2021
2,5 csillag.
January 11, 2024
Nagyon jó humorral átitatott keserű pirula ez a könyv. Én aki vidéken nőttem fel sok embert "ismertem" a könyvből és sok helyzetben még magamra is raismertem a szituációkban. Ajánlom
February 17, 2012
Alapvetően tetszett a könyv, jól volt megírva, végig érdekes volt és lehetett izgulni a karakterekért. Amiért mégis három pontot adtam rá, az az volt, hogy kicsit olyan volt, mintha összegyúrt volna Závada Pál regényeket, Berkesi Andrással és a Napfény ízével. Aki még nem találkozott korábban ehhez hasonló "így jöttem" történettel, annak biztosan sokkal nagyobbat szól, mint nekem. Szerintem mindenkinek érdemes lenne olvasnia ezek közül, mert mégiscsak a közös múltunkról szól és tetszett az a gondolat, hogy hiába hiszi a mi generációnk, hogy ez nincs hatással az életünkre, így vagy úgy, mégis van.
January 30, 2013
eglepően jó volt, nem gondoltam, hogy egy hétvége alatt elolvasom, de nehéz abbahagyni. Külön bravúr, hogy a teljes 20. századi magyar történelmet sikerült bemutatni egy családregény formájában kevesebb mint 400 oldalon.
Továbbra is azt gondolom, hogy kevesen szívtak annyit mint akik átélté ennek a századnak a nagy részét itt a nálunk: világháború, vörös terror, fehér terror, gazdasági válság, világháború, holokauszt, rákosi diktatúra, 56, kádár diktatúra. Riszpekt nekik!
Továbbra is azt gondolom, hogy kevesen szívtak annyit mint akik átélté ennek a századnak a nagy részét itt a nálunk: világháború, vörös terror, fehér terror, gazdasági válság, világháború, holokauszt, rákosi diktatúra, 56, kádár diktatúra. Riszpekt nekik!
June 12, 2012
This is the first book I've ever read about him. I never thought that he can write so nicely, a funny book about a controversial era. I'd love his caracters. It's interesting I am reading more books about the history of Hungay in the XX. century, and fortunately such a great books find me. I will give his other books a try.
January 8, 2012
Hihetetlen, hogy ez még csak az első regénye!
April 5, 2018
If it was part of official Hungarian literature studies for all maybe Hungarians could understand each other easier... Fantastic dive into what happened after the 1st World war to all social classes, their subjective views, why are we so close and so far to each other...
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