Who Would Like This Book:
If you're craving a psychologically rich, emotionally intense novel, "The Door" is a feast. Szabo’s tale explores the prickly, enigmatic bond between a writer and her fierce, secretive housekeeper, Emerence - a character who practically leaps off the page. The book offers layers of mystery and metaphor, with postwar Hungary as a subtle backdrop, inviting readers to ponder dignity, love, and the walls we keep up. Lovers of character-driven stories, literary fiction, and anyone fascinated by complex female protagonists will be absolutely captivated (and probably haunted) by this modern classic.
Who May Not Like This Book:
If you prefer fast-paced plots or clear-cut, likable characters, "The Door" might try your patience. Some readers have found the narrative repetitive or slow, felt disconnected due to cultural and historical references, or simply couldn’t warm up to Emerence's thorny ways. A few struggled with the melancholy tone or felt the translation muted the prose’s impact. It’s not the best pick if you want a tidy, uplifting story or a straightforward friendship tale.
About:
'The Door' by Magda Szabo is a compelling and complex tale that delves into the intricate relationship between a writer named Magda and her enigmatic housekeeper Emerence in post-Communist Hungary. The narrative follows the evolving dynamics between the two women, exploring themes of love, death, human dignity, and the boundaries we set in our relationships. Szabo's writing style is elegant and poetic, gradually revealing the layers of the characters and their intertwined lives.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
The Door addresses themes of emotional manipulation, mental health struggles, and the backdrop of historical trauma, which may be sensitive for some readers.
From The Publisher:
One of The New York Times Book Review's "10 Best Books of 2015"
An NYRB Classics Original
The Door is an unsettling exploration of the relationship between two very different women. Magda is a writer, educated, married to an academic, public-spirited, with an on-again-off-again relationship to Hungary's Communist authorities. Emerence is a peasant, illiterate, impassive, abrupt, seemingly ageless. She lives alone in a house that no one else may enter, not even her closest relatives. She is Magda's housekeeper and she has taken control over Magda's household, becoming indispensable to her. And Emerence, in her way, has come to depend on Magda. They share a kind of love-at least until Magda's long-sought success as a writer leads to a devastating revelation.
Len Rix's prizewinning translation of The Door at last makes it possible for American readers to appreciate the masterwork of a major modern European writer.
Ratings (8)
Incredible (3) | |
Loved It (3) | |
Liked It (1) | |
Hated It (1) |
Reader Stats (42):
Read It (9) | |
Currently Reading (1) | |
Want To Read (27) | |
Not Interested (5) |
What can you read after
The Door?
About the Author:
Magda Szabó was born in 1917 in Debrecen, Hungary. She began her literary career as a poet. In the 1950s she disappeared from the publishing scene for political reasons and made her living by teaching and translating from French and English. She began writing novels, and in 1978 was awarded the Kossuth Prize, the most prestigious literary award in Hungary. Magda Szabó died in 2007.
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