Sandor ination of human interaction that is laced with wistful longings for a vanished way of life.These elements coalesce to create a Rashomon tinged portrait that swirls with smoldering emotion and thwarted passion.

Ilonka, Peter and Judit each deliver their thoughts to unseen friends and present conflicting versions of their entangled web that is suffused with jealousies, betrayals and class conflicts.

The novel is a series of linked monologues that are painstakingly self absorbed perspectives of one marriage and the protagonists’ triangular relationship which impacted the union

The initial setting is in Hungary between the two World Wars. Each protagonist represents a different strata of Hungarian society. Peter is a wealthy member of the bourgeoisie. Ilonka is cultured but less affluent than Peter.Judit is the impoverished servant. Their divergent backgrounds create differing perceptions that lead to mistrust, fears and betrayals that impact their ability to forge viable relationships.

These unreliable narrators present different versions of the same events colored by each person’s unique reality. Their stories spiral through their refracted lenses to create a vortex of emotion and misunderstanding that changes with each turn of the narrative.

The competing voices form a chorus that alternates between cacophony and harmony. Their familiar world is changing but their traditional social and moral touchstones have not equipped them to cope with their altered circumstances. When we leave them, they are floundering and slightly askew, struggling to understand their new circumstances.

Ultimately, their conflicting voices become a harmonious dirge that laments the crumbling of the milieu and the relationships that cocooned them at the start of their life journeys

4.5 starsSandor Marai began his literary career as a poet whose artistry is well suited for this novel of a marriage viewed from the three corners of a love triangle. Continue reading →