Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"It is not enough to love somebody, you must love courageously.", 18 Nov 2008
Full of the kind of dramatic tension and intimacy usually associated with great stage plays, Hungarian author Sandor Marai's newest novel to be translated into English plumbs the depths of a love thwarted and then revisited years later. Twenty-three years before the book opens, sensible Esther, now in her mid-forties, shared a once-in-a-lifetime passion with Lajos, a man who bewitched everyone who came into contact with him, a man so full of energy--and lies--that life became a dangerous, exciting adventure for everyone. As persuasive as he was charming, he lived the good life, often borrowing valuable items and money from friends.
Now, years later, Esther has decided to record every detail of her relationship with Lajos as part of the family history. Moving back and forth in time, Esther creates a vivid picture of Lajos and the magical, mysterious hold he has exerted on everyone, concentrating on his hold over her and her ability to resist (or not resist) his versions of the "truth." When he proposed to the vulnerable, twenty-two-year-old Esther, she recognized him for the charming scoundrel he really was, but she also looked forward to a future with him. What she did not expect was that within weeks he would marry her younger sister Vilma and leave town forever. Now, twenty years later, following Vilma's death, Lajos has returned to the village, seeking Esther. Their dramatic confrontation and shared memories are the crux of the novel.
As Esther recalls events, the reader gradually sees that Esther has not been a reliable narrator--nor has Lajos, and as details emerge regarding Lajos's marriage to Vilma, the tension within Esther (and the reader) becomes almost palpable. Lajos, we discover, has been even more devious than anyone has suspected, but as he begins to draw the reader into his orbit, the reader discovers that he may be the one person who comes closest to real self-knowledge. The heart-stopping conclusion leaves the reader in awe of Marai's ability to use dramatic irony to its fullest effect.
A master craftsman who compresses his novels so that every word, image, and detail adds to the atmosphere and suspense, Marai has only recently received the world-wide acclaim he deserves. A highly regarded writer in Hungary in the 1930s, he was forced out of the country in 1948, when his opposition to the Communist takeover made him an enemy of the government. Many of his books were believed lost forever, and none were available in English. In 2000, eleven years after Marai's death, Embers, long thought lost, was found in Italy, translated, and published. Esther's Inheritance, originally written in 1938, is the third novel to be translated and reissued since then. With universal themes and characters who reflect universal human failings, Marai's novels offer a fresh look at the age-old struggle to make sense of a confusing and conflicted world. n Mary Whipple
Casanova in Bolzano (Vintage International)
The Rebels (Vintage International)
Memoir of Hungary 1944-1948
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Do you love couragesously?, 15 Feb 2009
Marai's novels are somewhat a different reading experience for me, compared to other authors I enjoy. Rather than gripping me from the very beginning, Marai has the tendency to slowly take hold of you and then ruthlessly not let go. This makes his novels quite a rollercoaster read, despite them sometimes being fairly slim.
Just as EMBERS slowly gripped me, so too did ESTHER'S INHERITANCE.
The story is told by Esther, a woman who recieves a letter from an old love saying that he is going to be visiting her for the first time in twenty years. Since her lost lover, Lajos, left her, she has been living a half life, unable to completely let go of the past. However, the years spent following his departure have enabled her to live a life of quiet solitude. Unti, of course, he tells her he is coming back.
That is a very brief idea of what the story is about. In some ways, not much 'happens' in this book - a bit like EMBERS - yet at the same time, Marai's wriitng is often very profound.
The spell he is able to weave with the plot as you listen to one character's perspective of a relationship is quite incredible. Marai's magic is subtle. Almost to the point that you do not at first recognise that you are falling under a spell at all - not until it is too late.
While there are similarities between this novel and EMBERS, I think I prefer this offering. Rarely before has a character created such feelings in me as Esther did. I found myself feeling sorry for her to begin with, but by the end of the novel, this had turned into something I almost cannot name. Without wanting to give too much away, you begin to doubt her word, just as she doubted Lajos.
I would highly recommend this novel to people who enjoy novels which can touch your soul, if you let them.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive novel by Marai, 28 Nov 2008
A great short novel by Hungarian novelist Sandor Marai (1900-1989). Written in 1939, the novel is about Eszter, the main character and narrator, a single woman in her mid 40s, who fears the impending return of Lajos, a former lover and con man, who left her for her sister twenty years ago leaving her almost bankrupt. With help from her friends, she has reconstructed her life, but she fears that Lajos, who manipulates her at at will, is back to finish his job. As it happens, her worst fears will come to reality. The book is great, and Lajos is a great picture of a swindler. I would have expected the novel to explain a bit more why Eszter is so passive to Lajos' tricks, but despite this, this novel is an impressive work by Marai.
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by Sandor Marai
by Sandor Marai
by Antal Szerb (Author)
by Stefan Zweig
by Sandor Marai
