Questo è uno di quei libri che ho iniziato a leggere senza farmi troppe domande: ho letto il titolo, poi la trama e l'ho preso. A lettura ultimata, devo dire che ho fatto bene.

La donna giusta è un romanzo che si fa amare lentamente, quasi senza che il lettore se ne accorga. Pagina dopo pagina, ci si ritrova immersi in ognuno dei quattro monologhi che compongono il romanzo e che ci offrono quattro punti diversi su vari temi, dai cambiamenti sociali dell'Ungheria alla disillusione della vita matrimoniale, dall'impatto del consumismo nelle vite delle persone all'amore, sempre cercato, ma mai trovato.

Il monologo che ho apprezzato di più è stato quello di Judit, il terzo, che offre uno sguardo limpido sui primi due, quello di Marika e quello di Peter. L'ultimo, quello del musicista, tira le file delle vicende narrate.

Una menzione speciale la merita lo scrittore Làzàr, amico di Peter. Sebbene non sia mai voce narrante, compare in tutti e quattro i monologhi e avrà un ruolo tutt'altro che secondario. Làzàr è uno scrittore che non scrive più e si limita ad attendere la fine del mondo così come era conosciuto fino ad allora. Infatti, sparirà dall'Ungheria con la fine della Seconda Guerra Mondiale e l'arrivo dei sovietici, che spazzeranno via le ultime vestigia di una società ormai disgregata. ( )

I like this author's work very much, initially introduced to him in his brief, great novel Embers. All of his books were written in Hungarian, and only five of them have been translated into English.

Portraits is a story of a marriage told by three protagonists - the wife, the husband, and the other woman/love of his life. Each tells the story to one other person. The issues are class differences and their effects on the relationship, the making of a marriage, and expectations of a marriage. This novel is another example (after the two of his books I had already read) of the author's remarkable insight into human beings. It is outstanding.

An artifact - Marai was the first person to review Franz Kafka's books. ( )

bought by mistake. Maria is known as one of Hungarian's best authors.
4 monologues of one marriage in Budapest 1930--1956(in USA), the first wife was Bourgeous but not rich, husband was Bourgeous born and bred and wealthy, 2nd wife was the maid, from very poor Proletariat background who worked her way up trying to become Bourgeous, and 4th monologue from 2nd wife's lover after the war. He is a good writer, but very repetitive and long winded. each monologue had the same "voice". about the different classes before the Communist came, what make s one bourgeois or proletariat and are people happier in the USA where they try not to have class differences. and, are there still class differences in the USA--can we ever really change? ( )

Una tarde, en una elegante cafetería de Budapest, una mujer relata a su amiga cómo un día, a raíz de un banal incidente, descubrió que su marido estaba entregado en cuerpo y alma a un amor secreto que lo consumía, y luego su vano intento por reconquistarlo. En la misma ciudad, una noche, el hombre que fue su marido confiesa a un amigo cómo dejó a su esposa por la mujer que deseaba desde años atrás, para después de casarse con ella perderla para siempre. Al alba, en una pequeña pensión romana, una mujer cuenta a su amante cómo ella, de origen humilde, se había casado con un hombre rico, pero el matrimonio había sucumbido al resentimiento y la venganza. Cual marionetas sin derecho a ejercer su voluntad, Marika, Péter y Judit narran su fallida relación con el crudo realismo de quien considera la felicidad un estado elusivo e inalcanzable.

Funny how one's opinion of a book shifts, both during the reading and after reading as we continue to ruminate. Portraits of a Marriage was one that changed for me dramatically as I read. Okay at first - well written, but not thrilling - but gradually as I read it hooked me more and more and my concept of what it was all about changed along with the narrative. I can't even say that the first part - the part I read before the excitement came - was dull, because everything that followed built upon all that came before and the final picture that emerged relied on each piece and was powerful and fascinating. It's definitely a book to revisit once you are able to see each part from a distance with the full picture in mind. Then you can read the details from the start with new eyes. Fascinating things leap out that went unnoticed before.

There are no utterly good characters and no utterly bad. You end up feeling for each character in different ways - and each one so masterfully created, with different sides revealed in the different narratives. You like them in some ways and dislike them in others, but each character is unique. What I like or dislike about any one character in this book feels very similar to how I regard individuals I interact with in my life. That's how real they feel. And through these real characters, you come to understand how they interact with their worlds and therefore a bit more about the worlds they move through.

The concepts of culture and the travels through time and space, the skill with which he captures vastly different worlds and thus brings a sense of the sheer immensity of change we usually don't think about when reflecting on 20th century history - this book truly gave new understanding and new curiosity, something so rare and surprising as the book starts out purportedly about a failed marriage, a love triangle, universal themes - yet somehow it is all unified and the unity only becomes clear toward the end. The movement through time and space takes what in each narrative is a heartbreakingly important situation and zooms out, showing personal romances and tragedies in the context of a greater world - yet this does not lead to the implication that such things are unimportant, but perhaps even more important as they define our short chaotic lives in an ever changing ever expanding world.

A surprising book I enjoy thinking about in lazy reflective moments. ( )