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aliilman's review against another edition
3.0
I’ve read books that are more enjoyable than this, though I’ve also read books that are less enjoyable than this.
It doesn’t have a ‘set’ plot, but it was a decent read. The book’s split into four parts. I like the latter three parts more than the first. The first part was a bit of a drag. There are fictional historical elements embedded in the story. The second part in particular focuses on the origin of the fictional Horváth Press, a publishing house run by an Imre Horváth.
Set in 1990, a year after the fall of communism in Hungary. A group of young Americans spending their 20s with a close circle of people, exploring more about life themselves and hearing stories by local people in Hungary. And there is one Károly Gabor, a Canadian of Hungarian descent, who has returned to his parents’ home country as an investor.
It doesn’t have a ‘set’ plot, but it was a decent read. The book’s split into four parts. I like the latter three parts more than the first. The first part was a bit of a drag. There are fictional historical elements embedded in the story. The second part in particular focuses on the origin of the fictional Horváth Press, a publishing house run by an Imre Horváth.
Set in 1990, a year after the fall of communism in Hungary. A group of young Americans spending their 20s with a close circle of people, exploring more about life themselves and hearing stories by local people in Hungary. And there is one Károly Gabor, a Canadian of Hungarian descent, who has returned to his parents’ home country as an investor.
joypouros's review against another edition
1.0
This book was SO hard to slog through.
It was nearly 400 pages of pseudo-enlightening ramblings. Like at the very end of a college party where the only people left awake are deep in a drunken discussion/debate about life philosophies. They are stupid and naive, but because they are drunk, think they are wise and witty. That was this book.
Several entitled, self-important 20-somethings are in Budapest in the 90s. The entire book meanders through their selfish, self-loathing, self-important thoughts and feelings, save for a 75 page detour that takes you through several generations of a Hungarian family that owns a publishing company.
Phillips' style is very descriptive and winding, which in itself is not unpleasant, but becomes unbearable when the characters are not likable and the plot only reinforces how utterly contemptible the characters are. The writing seems self-indulgent and filled with musings of the meaning of life and how to get laid. If this is an accurate reflection of young adults in the 1990s, well let's just say it makes the millennial stereotype look admirable by comparison.
It was nearly 400 pages of pseudo-enlightening ramblings. Like at the very end of a college party where the only people left awake are deep in a drunken discussion/debate about life philosophies. They are stupid and naive, but because they are drunk, think they are wise and witty. That was this book.
Several entitled, self-important 20-somethings are in Budapest in the 90s. The entire book meanders through their selfish, self-loathing, self-important thoughts and feelings, save for a 75 page detour that takes you through several generations of a Hungarian family that owns a publishing company.
Phillips' style is very descriptive and winding, which in itself is not unpleasant, but becomes unbearable when the characters are not likable and the plot only reinforces how utterly contemptible the characters are. The writing seems self-indulgent and filled with musings of the meaning of life and how to get laid. If this is an accurate reflection of young adults in the 1990s, well let's just say it makes the millennial stereotype look admirable by comparison.
aniabot's review against another edition
2.0
It started out so promising, but fell shy of where i thought it was going to go. Not much actually happened, but i guess thats sort of the point. It portrays life in a very realistic way, but didn't take me away.
nonna7's review against another edition
1.0
This book was loved by all of the critics. It won awards. It is lauded as Rhapsodic,....A masterpiece of caustic satire, Really an old fashioned novel of ideas...., even "blaze with such all knowing poise..."
Well, maybe I'm a philistine, but I found this book to be pretentious and boring. Whatever happened to just good STORIES? Maybe that's why I like the crime genre so much. There is an actual story.
Well, maybe I'm a philistine, but I found this book to be pretentious and boring. Whatever happened to just good STORIES? Maybe that's why I like the crime genre so much. There is an actual story.
lou1sb's review against another edition
4.0
I've only written this about two other books: one, I remember, was [b:Catch 22|42908|Joseph Heller's Catch 22 (Monarch Notes)|Walter James Miller|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169960548s/42908.jpg|42362], the other I don't remember so well, but they all fall under 'Category: Books the Other Reviewers Got Wrong.' Those other reviewers, with all their Couldn't-Bear-To -Finnish (see what I did there?) and their But-it's-set-in-Budapest! and their The Only Good Character is John Price, they all got it wrong. Particularly the last group, I think, but also particularly the first group. I have a feel many reviewers picked up the book, read the first part where the five are having self-obsessed verbal masturbation around a cafe table in Budapest and, disgusted at these North Americans and their Lack of Respect for the Locals, skipped to the last section where the remaining four (it dwindles) this time all real Americans have self-obsessed histrionics, again with a Lack of Respect for the Locals. I get the feeling that most reviewers judge the book on those two sections, and forget about the entire middle section, the entire character development, which [a:Arthur Phillips|16223|Arthur Phillips|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1300779822p2/16223.jpg] expertly shatters, one after the other. No character remains on their pedestal. You sort of get the feeling he got the Hungarians Right by not putting them on a pedestal. The one he does put on a pedestal never really gets up there and his fall is from Stroke, not from crying-fit-on-Margaret-Bridge or Emotional-Breakdown or complete-refusal-to-ever-associate-with-family-again. But come to think of it, [a:Arthur Phillips|16223|Arthur Phillips|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1300779822p2/16223.jpg] got it wrong too. He could've called it 'Five Americans and Their Crazy Journey Through Early Post-Communist Fauxrope (Well, Four Americans and A Canadian, But We Were Saving Cover Space and Really Who Cares About Canada?)' or, even better, he could've called it 'Rick Steves Europe 1990', and then he could've really cashed in. But I got it wrong too. I kept thinking 'No, that's not what's meant to happen, you love her, or, alternatively, the other girl, but choose!' or 'No, you love Budapest, don't leave to New York or Prague or mysterious points further East.' All the characters certainly get it wrong, except the Canadian Nostalgia Fetishist who, (and here comes the spoiler) ends up in a psychiatrist's office in rural Ontario because of his Understanding of The Way Things Are. And anyway, part of the book is set in Prague (the last line. Not even the last sentence really but the last line) and there are constant cheeky references to that more fashionable Eastern Capital, the one that survived Two World Wars worth of bombing and decades of communism to be taken over by drunken stag nights stumbling past the Kafka Museum on their way between Bar and Prostitute, or who ignore the Old Jewish Cemetery to sit in the nearby spit-on-the-floor-as-well-as-the-name Kafka Cafe, proud dispensers of the Worst Coffee in Europe, and the Second Worst Service in Europe (The Best Coffee and the Worst Service, for Those Playing at Home, are both in Vienna; the first at a cafe a few blocks from the main square, with a squirrel in a birdcage, and the second at a cafe opposite Wien Westbahnhof), these Prague tourists probably have only a vague awareness of [a:Kafka|5223|Franz Kafka|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1287463493p2/5223.jpg] or [a:Kundera|6343|Milan Kundera|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1216972285p2/6343.jpg], not to mention [b:Valerie and Her Week of Wonders|325151|Valerie and Her Week of Wonders|Vítězslav Nezval|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173761018s/325151.jpg|2124372] which, Google just informs me, has been made into a movie. Wow.
This book started off a Four, ascended to the lofty heights of a Five for the middle section (yes, it's actually about Europe now, not about how Americans get everything wrong and ruin everything!) and then ascended back down to a Bare-Three-and-a-Half when it all went to shit towards the end and Everything-Was-Ruined-Forever, creeping back up to Four for it's perfect speed-skater-esque dismount. And if you think speed-skaters don't dismount then...but no, I don't want to spoil it for you.
This book started off a Four, ascended to the lofty heights of a Five for the middle section (yes, it's actually about Europe now, not about how Americans get everything wrong and ruin everything!) and then ascended back down to a Bare-Three-and-a-Half when it all went to shit towards the end and Everything-Was-Ruined-Forever, creeping back up to Four for it's perfect speed-skater-esque dismount. And if you think speed-skaters don't dismount then...but no, I don't want to spoil it for you.
anatomydetective's review against another edition
3.0
50 Shades of Chasing Amy in Budapest? Mmm kinda, yeah. That might be this book. It was actually beautifully written at points, but the plot and characterization were lacking. The pacing absolutely fell apart at the end and the last 70 or so pages dragged on, as did the first 30.
wmhenrymorris's review against another edition
Part of being an LDS missionary serving in Romanian in 1992/1993 was the feeling that
a) you were missing out by not being in Budapest (or in Prague)
b) you were missing out on not being able to leverage your American exoticism and energy for some sort of vague gain and fun
c) you were superior to the expats and the tourists because you spoke near fluent Romanian and met hundreds of the locals in there own homes, and, with many of them, learn their stories
d) you were building something more interesting, lasting and useful and care more about the people than the buzzing expats
I'm not entirely sure what it means that this novel confirms a, b, c and d. I recommend it to Gen Xers that aren't yet sick of playing around with irony. No else should really bother.
a) you were missing out by not being in Budapest (or in Prague)
b) you were missing out on not being able to leverage your American exoticism and energy for some sort of vague gain and fun
c) you were superior to the expats and the tourists because you spoke near fluent Romanian and met hundreds of the locals in there own homes, and, with many of them, learn their stories
d) you were building something more interesting, lasting and useful and care more about the people than the buzzing expats
I'm not entirely sure what it means that this novel confirms a, b, c and d. I recommend it to Gen Xers that aren't yet sick of playing around with irony. No else should really bother.
slerner310's review against another edition
3.0
This book starts light, enjoyable and satiric, and becomes more nuanced in its second half. An interesting exploration of the intersection between nostalgia and reality and the pitfalls of the ex-pat life with some interesting, characters, particularly the non-American ones.