Whoever knows me, is aware that I love Nobel Prize laureates and that I try to read at least one book of every new recipient (plus a few more of some former ones).
This year, it was a Hungarian author that I had never heard of. But that is often the case. This was his first novel for which he received a lot of praise. Qutie a few of his books (including this one) were also turned into films.
But, as I said, for me he was completely new, probably for most Westerners. I had no idea what I was going to read. The story tells us about an almost abandoned village somewhere in the middle of nowhere. People have lost all hope that anything good will still come to them.
We get to know them one by one. First you have the feeling that these are short stories that have nothing to do with each other. But, gradually, the pieces fit togethers and we get to know the whole dilemna.
The story reads almost like dystopia. But you have to make yourself clear that this was the reality for many people behind the Iron curtain. And that there are still people there who want them to go back to that. They should read this book and see where all this leads.
Book Description:
"In the darkening embers of a Communist utopia, life in a desolate Hungarian town has come to a virtual standstill. Flies buzz, spiders weave, water drips and animals root desultorily in the barnyard of a collective farm. But when the charismatic Irimias – long-thought dead – returns to the commune, the villagers fall under his spell. The Devil has arrived in their midst."
László Krasznahorkai received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2025 "for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art".
I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.
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