Embers

Rating:
Summary: Everything Dies Away
Review: We live in the Age of Uncertainty. After a century of wars, holocausts, gulags, mass displacements, migrations, and environmental destruction, coupled with out-of-control technological change and social disruption, we no longer know who or what we are, nor where we want to go. Everything is divided and much has become empty. EMBERS, written in 1942, about the late Austro-Hungarian Empire, is like a message in a bottle from another time. The author fled Hungary after World War II and wound up committing suicide in San Diego in 1989. His novel, one of many he wrote, was translated only in 2001 (from German not the original Hungarian). So, 59 years after its first publication and 102 years after the central event of the story, we read. The message in this bottle is almost incomprehensible to us in many ways. It is a message from the Age of Certainty, a time when everything (in Europe and North America) was in its place, social status and position were known and preserved as far as possible. King, country, family, honor and duty were rigid, to be taken seriously with no questions asked. How then are we to understand this novel in our age of fluidity, relativity, political correctness, and doubt ?

EMBERS is the story of three people who eventually form (or don't form) a love triangle. The General, scion of an old Hungarian aristocratic family, his poor friend Konrad from military academy days, and the General's wife, Krisztina. The two men meet as child cadets in the 1870s and remain the closest of friends until 1899, when something happens during a hunt. All three then separate forever. Krisztina dies in 1907, the two men lead entirely separate lives until, World War II having begun, Konrad comes to visit the General in 1940. They are both 75 years old. They represent an Empire, a culture, and a view of the world almost gone, soon to disappear entirely. Most of this unusual novel becomes a soliloquy by the General in which he voices his view of what happened all those years ago, why, and what value this knowledge would have for two old men. I strongly recommend that you read this novel to find out what he says, but be advised that this is a 'thinking person's' novel, not a love story or adventure tale in the usual sense. In the long soliloquy, Marai introduces many ideas and contrary views about love, trust, honor, desire, death and life itself. When the old General is about to disappear from the Earth, like his beloved Empire and all its sureties, what difference can old emotions like love, hatred, and desire for revenge make ? They are only embers of the passions that rule all mankind, but must inevitably fade till in the end, nothing remains.

Rating:
Summary: A story of friendship and betrayal
Review: Embers is a story about friendship, betrayal and a 41-year plan for revenge. Henrik and Konrad meet as boys and become friends for life. Did Konrad plot the death of his dear friend, and was Henrik's wife in on the plot? Henrik suspects so and shuts his wife out of his life.. Beautifully crafted tale.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing Short of Brilliant
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: You Have To Give Konrad Some Credit
Review: EMBERS takes place in 1939 Hungary on a country estate near Budapest. The story begins with the arrival of a letter. In this letter, Henrik, a former Austrian general, learns that he is going to receive a visit from his childhood friend and onetime fellow officer, Konrad, the man who once betrayed Henrik with Henrik's beautiful wife, Krisztina and who Henrik has not seen in forty years.

Krisztina has been dead for thirty-two years and since that time, with the exception of the servants, Henrik has been the estate's only inhabitant. Once he learns of Konrad's impending arrival, he immediately begins making preparations for the visit, seeking to recreate, down to the candles, silver, flowers and food, the last dinner he, Krisztina and Konrad shared together. This dinner followed a long day of hunting that changed the lives of all three persons forever.

Before Konrad's arrival, however, we learn about Henrik's childhood and his first meeting with Konrad at the Imperial Military Academy. It is, in fact, Konrad who introduces Henrik to the beautiful Krisztina.

Henrik believed that he, Konrad and Krisztina comprised an inseparable threesome until the day he is betrayed by both friend and wife, a betrayal he discovers only when Krisztina fails to control herself and utters two revealing words.

Henrik's world falls apart. He retreats to his hunting lodge and he and Krisztina never see each other again; she dies eight years later. Henrik severs his friendship with Konrad, not speaking to him for forty years.

On the night of Konrad's visit, however, Henrik certainly makes up for his forty-year silence. EMBERS is almost a monologue-a rant even-as Henrik unleashes all his long pent up fury and rage. I found this "almost monologue" far too long-winded and melodramatic. I feel the book would have been vastly improved had Marai let Konrad speak instead of writing a long diatribe directed against him. I could understand Henrik's rage, but, my goodness, it's been forty years, I felt like telling him, get over it. Konrad did betray Henrik's trust and friendship but Konrad certainly deserves credit for staying the night and listening to the bitterness of an old man who can't get over the injustices of life and the foibles of love.

While Marai writes elegant, lovely prose, I really can't understand the popularity of this book. The story is terribly predictable and the ranting bitterness of Henrik gets to be "too much." I really wouldn't recommend EMBERS, but if you do read it and, like me, don't like it, be comforted. It's a short book and it really won't take up much of your time.

Rating:
Summary: A Novella (not a novel) but a great one
Review: I consider this one of my favorite books of the year though I wouldn't recommend it to everybody. If you enjoy lengthy descriptions of furniture, scenery, clothes, fireplaces and interior and exterior monologues, then you will like this book. If you need a lot of action, several plots and subplots and/or multiple character development, then you should look elsewhere.

Embers develops two characters very well, describes their friendship in detail, and infers several powerful themes (jealousy, greed, revenge, importance of class structure) from their mutual story. After I read it, I wanted to discuss it and debate it immediately with another person. The themes resonated that strongly with me. My mother had also read it so we could and did debate the ending at length. We both loved the book; however, we both could see how others might find it less riveting.

Rating:
Summary: embers
Review: I found this book utterly fascinating and look forward to more of this master's work being translated. Sylvia Winner

Rating:
Summary: WOW, WOW and more WOW
Review: I had never heard of this book before, nor of the author--I picked it through one of my Amazon "book hunts", where I look up a book I've read and liked, then start checking out the "If you liked this" recommendations, and Listmania lists. "Embers" kept coming up as a connection to numerous books that I had enjoyed. So I figured...why not?

Am I glad...no THRILLED, that I did.

"Embers" was one of the best books I've read in quite some time. The writing is simple, and the story seems equally so, at first. But as more background comes out between the friendship of the General and Konrad, the reader becomes more intrigued, wondering where the story is a actually going. The two friends' characters are so skillfully drawn, I was just in awe of Marai's writing. It's just the perfect book to curl up with in the early evening--but be prepared to be up till the wee hours (or midnight, if you're a fast reader), because you won't be able to put it down!

Thank you all you Amazon list-makers!

Rating:
Summary: This was a very pleasant discovery
Review: I just finished this book and it is an amazing read. Novel grabbed me from the first sentence, and it kept me enraptured until the very last sentence. The flow of the words, the coherence of thought, and the descriptions were all impressively alluring. What was most impressive is the thought and emotional forethought that went into plotting the novel. I truly enjoyed the story but the way the story was told was simply exquisite.

I bought the book the week of Christmas, and I read it over the holidays. It wasn't hard reading but it was very satisfying.

Some have found fault with the translator's work. All I can say is that the translated text flowed beautifully and the plot was nicely relayed to the reader.

I have Casanova in Bolzano on my nightstand right now. I can't wait to start reading.

Rating:
Summary: If music be the food of love ...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Competent but that's all.
Review: I'm open to the possibility that the translation didn't work, or that I'm not sophisticated enough to appreciate this book, but I found it to be a story about very little, written as well as only about 40% of the world's population can write. Competent and even interesting at times, but nothing more. Mr. Marai has nothing to apologize for based on this satisfactory book, but the reviewers who called it one of the best ever written owe me and countless others thirteen dollars each.