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kea9f's review against another edition
4.0
The murderesses thing was much less creepy in the book than the description makes it sound. It was actually a really interesting story and I can definitely believe it's true.
wordnerdy's review against another edition
4.0
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2011/12/2011-book-314.html
dannireadsallthetime's review against another edition
3.0
Not what I expected at all. This one was a very pleasant surprise.
I really like Judit. She was a very enjoyable character.
I wish Marco and Sari lived happily ever after that’s what I would have liked, but it turned from a love story into a sinister almost horror story, something that would be really good if American Horror Story took on, could make it really evil and twisted. I liked this, read it within 24 hours
I really like Judit. She was a very enjoyable character.
I wish Marco and Sari lived happily ever after that’s what I would have liked, but it turned from a love story into a sinister almost horror story, something that would be really good if American Horror Story took on, could make it really evil and twisted. I liked this, read it within 24 hours
thepickygirl's review against another edition
4.0
From thepickygirl.com:
*I received this book from the publisher Soho Press in exchange for an honest review.
When her father dies, Sari Arany stays motionless, “soaking in the impossibility that she could still be living while her father was dead” and stays there until she feels his presence gone. As she says, “It was all right for her to leave him then.” An outcast in her rural Hungarian village, Sari is the daughter of a táltos, a Wise Man, and with her odd personality and direct stare, is feared as a witch.
Before his death, though, Sari’s father extracted a promise from Sari’s cousin Ferenc, that he will marry her when she is of age. Until then, she lives with Judit, the midwife, furthering the village’s suspicions. When World War I breaks out, the men leave, and the women are left to fend for themselves, and life for Suri changes. Though still different, she has friends for the first time when the hardships of war bring the women in the community together. They receive little news from the men, and for some, life is better without their drunken, abusive husbands.
When a prisoner of war camp full of Italian men moves into Ferenc’s family home, the women, excited and nervous, line up for work and to catch a glimpse of men after such a long time without a male presence. As the rules become more lax, the women enjoy the men, many even having affairs and falling in love.
Once the war is over, this idyllic (though hedonistic) scene is shattered. Ferenc returns sullen and abusive, as do many of the war-shocked men. Fearful and angry, Sari plans to take the life of Ferenc, only realizing her mistake when other women line up at the door, begging Sari and Judit to help them with their own husbands.
Based on a true story, The Angel Makers is the almost unbelievable story of the women of Nagyrév, who poisoned over 40 people between 1914 and 1929 (though the rumored number is much higher: 300). Gregson sets the crimes up well, giving the women a taste of freedom and love so irresistible that they cannot return to the ways of life before the war. The abuse is shocking and intense so that the reader completely understands when Sari administers the first dose of poison to Ferenc. However, as woman after woman asks, begs, or bargains for help, the reader questions not only their choices but Sari’s as well.
Though I wished for an end as lyrical as the rest of The Angel Makers and a bit more depth in the female cast of characters, Gregson’s debut novel is an artful, compassionate, and darkly humorous look at the angel makers of Nagyrév.
*I received this book from the publisher Soho Press in exchange for an honest review.
When her father dies, Sari Arany stays motionless, “soaking in the impossibility that she could still be living while her father was dead” and stays there until she feels his presence gone. As she says, “It was all right for her to leave him then.” An outcast in her rural Hungarian village, Sari is the daughter of a táltos, a Wise Man, and with her odd personality and direct stare, is feared as a witch.
Before his death, though, Sari’s father extracted a promise from Sari’s cousin Ferenc, that he will marry her when she is of age. Until then, she lives with Judit, the midwife, furthering the village’s suspicions. When World War I breaks out, the men leave, and the women are left to fend for themselves, and life for Suri changes. Though still different, she has friends for the first time when the hardships of war bring the women in the community together. They receive little news from the men, and for some, life is better without their drunken, abusive husbands.
When a prisoner of war camp full of Italian men moves into Ferenc’s family home, the women, excited and nervous, line up for work and to catch a glimpse of men after such a long time without a male presence. As the rules become more lax, the women enjoy the men, many even having affairs and falling in love.
Once the war is over, this idyllic (though hedonistic) scene is shattered. Ferenc returns sullen and abusive, as do many of the war-shocked men. Fearful and angry, Sari plans to take the life of Ferenc, only realizing her mistake when other women line up at the door, begging Sari and Judit to help them with their own husbands.
Based on a true story, The Angel Makers is the almost unbelievable story of the women of Nagyrév, who poisoned over 40 people between 1914 and 1929 (though the rumored number is much higher: 300). Gregson sets the crimes up well, giving the women a taste of freedom and love so irresistible that they cannot return to the ways of life before the war. The abuse is shocking and intense so that the reader completely understands when Sari administers the first dose of poison to Ferenc. However, as woman after woman asks, begs, or bargains for help, the reader questions not only their choices but Sari’s as well.
Though I wished for an end as lyrical as the rest of The Angel Makers and a bit more depth in the female cast of characters, Gregson’s debut novel is an artful, compassionate, and darkly humorous look at the angel makers of Nagyrév.
rickijill's review against another edition
4.0
This week I read The Angel Makers by Jessica Gregson. The novel is based on a true story, and it is one of the most chilling historical stories I have ever read (not involving an oppressive government). If you are interested, google The Angelmakers of Nagyrev for more information.
The story begins in 1914, shortly before the beginning of World War I, in the tiny, remote Hungarian village of Faluscka. Fourteen year old Sari Arany's father, Jan, is a taltos, or wise man. He is very well-respecteed in their village, but not Sari. Wise women tend to be feared, and since her mother died during Sari's childbirth, rumors have surrounded Sari her whole life. Sari has been promised to Ferenc, the eighteen year old heir from the wealthiest family in the village. That was the custom in Hungary at the time: Girls' parents chose their husbands for them. Before Jan dies suddenly from a heart issue, Sari promises him that she will wait until she is eighteen before marrying Ferenc. World War I intervenes before Ferenc can persuade Sari to break her father's promise, and he goes off to fight. Sari does not live in her father's old house because it would not be proper, so she moves in with Judit, the village's midwife and rumored to be a witch.
About two years into the war, the army commandeered Ferenc's family's estate to use as a prisoner of war camp. The army holds many Italian prisoners there, and the army gives them far more freedom than is seemly. By this time, the women of the village have become accustomed to making their own way and not answering to overbearing, sometimes abusive, husbands. Many of the women have affairs with the prisoners, and many of the women are not happy when the war ends.
Sari has a relationship with an Italian named Marco. He was a history professor before the war, and Sari befriends him initially because she has a true love for learning. As Sari's services as a nurse are needed at the prison, Sari has the opportunity to meet with Marco, and their relationship deepens. At the end of the war, Ferenc comes home, and he is not the same young man he was before the war. He is abusive and cruel to Sari, and he forces her hand. She decides to kill him with arsenic to protect something precious to her, and her actions start a series of events that spiral crazily out of control.
I enjoyed The Angel Makers overall, but I must warn you that Gregson drops tons of f-bombs, and she is overly fond of the word discomfited. When writers overuse words, it is a distraction to me. I also found it difficult to sympathize with Sari in spite of the book's theme of choices and feminine empowerment. Still, Gregson's plot moves steadily along, and I could not put the book down. I read it in two days even with my very busy schedule this week.
The story begins in 1914, shortly before the beginning of World War I, in the tiny, remote Hungarian village of Faluscka. Fourteen year old Sari Arany's father, Jan, is a taltos, or wise man. He is very well-respecteed in their village, but not Sari. Wise women tend to be feared, and since her mother died during Sari's childbirth, rumors have surrounded Sari her whole life. Sari has been promised to Ferenc, the eighteen year old heir from the wealthiest family in the village. That was the custom in Hungary at the time: Girls' parents chose their husbands for them. Before Jan dies suddenly from a heart issue, Sari promises him that she will wait until she is eighteen before marrying Ferenc. World War I intervenes before Ferenc can persuade Sari to break her father's promise, and he goes off to fight. Sari does not live in her father's old house because it would not be proper, so she moves in with Judit, the village's midwife and rumored to be a witch.
About two years into the war, the army commandeered Ferenc's family's estate to use as a prisoner of war camp. The army holds many Italian prisoners there, and the army gives them far more freedom than is seemly. By this time, the women of the village have become accustomed to making their own way and not answering to overbearing, sometimes abusive, husbands. Many of the women have affairs with the prisoners, and many of the women are not happy when the war ends.
Sari has a relationship with an Italian named Marco. He was a history professor before the war, and Sari befriends him initially because she has a true love for learning. As Sari's services as a nurse are needed at the prison, Sari has the opportunity to meet with Marco, and their relationship deepens. At the end of the war, Ferenc comes home, and he is not the same young man he was before the war. He is abusive and cruel to Sari, and he forces her hand. She decides to kill him with arsenic to protect something precious to her, and her actions start a series of events that spiral crazily out of control.
I enjoyed The Angel Makers overall, but I must warn you that Gregson drops tons of f-bombs, and she is overly fond of the word discomfited. When writers overuse words, it is a distraction to me. I also found it difficult to sympathize with Sari in spite of the book's theme of choices and feminine empowerment. Still, Gregson's plot moves steadily along, and I could not put the book down. I read it in two days even with my very busy schedule this week.
amysbrittain's review against another edition
4.0
I was totally hooked by this one. The premise and the fictional characters and incredible events are based on a true story of a Hungarian village during and after WWI and how the "angel makers" their took matters into their own hands. A seemingly essential thread of the story was ended in the middle of the book and was then quickly dismissed, which felt somewhat unrealistic and unsatisfying--it also made the book seem like two different volumes. But it's been a while since I've been dying to get back to a book, so this one hit the spot. Would be a good book club choice.
nwhyte's review against another edition
"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1297381.html[return][return]If I hadn't somehow come across its author here on livejournal, I might not have picked up The Angel Makers, and that would have been a shame: this is a gripping narrative of a Hungarian village during and after the first world war, whose women resort to murdering their husbands when they return from the army. Almost all the action takes place in the village, stifled and trapped by the monotony of the Pannonian Plain - I saw one review which found this setting unrealistic - clearly by someone who had never been there! [return][return]In particular, the central character, Sari Arany (which we can accept as a translatuion convention: in Hungarian she would have been Arany Sari) is a fascinating figure, developing from introspective teenager to being the village midwife, registrar and procurer of poison. The chain of events is triggered by the billeting of captive Italian soldiers in Sari's boyfriend's family home, with all the emotional and sexual opportunities they offer for the women of the village. Sari's unwilling entanglement is entirely credible, and somehow inevitable. She pleads towards the end of the book that she was simply trying to do something for herself, and it rings true.[return][return]I read a lot of historical / political literature about conflict, and it tends to centre around the men who dominate historical discourse; The Angel Makers made me think about the histories that are not told. Gregson gives Sari a satisfying end to the story, which (having checked up a little on the historical incident on which the story is based) is perhaps a little bit unrealistic, but even so it is done in a way which stuck in my mind. An excellent read."
lilithka's review
n easy read at first sight but a gripping tale based on real story, an insight into woman's life at the beginning of the 20th century, her struggle for freedom on men.
atschakfoert's review against another edition
5.0
This would be a GREAT book discussion pick. The story moves very quickly and raises a lot of moral questions for the reader. It left me wondering what was fact and what was fiction (which has led me to a couple of interesting websites and a few more to-reads).
tessalitwish's review against another edition
3.0
A good read. A lot of cursing- which generally has its place but seemed very out of place in this book. The end seemed a little haphazard in places. But it was a good story and I did enjoy it.