latetotheparty's review against another edition
2.0
This was man-fiction (like On the Road) and I struggled through it.
reasie's review against another edition
4.0
This is my definition of the perfect beach read... delightful short passages you can put down and pick back up again. Deeply steeped in nostalgia, and it helps that the nostalgia is from a bunch of people not far from my age, living abroad in Hungary in 1990-1991. Yeah, okay, I was in tenth grade then, but I feel like I get these guys pretty close.
Three magnificent female characters, four obnoxious and stupid male characters, one sad adorable male character, and loads of ambiguity and depth that misses the brains of the main characters, so caught up in their wants they miss their needs, and most importantly they miss connecting with each other.
It's not a downer, though. There's too much humor for that. My favorite scene is the funicular. It captures the wistful sense of the traveler sharply. That sense that you must absorb all you can from this place, because you are only visiting, that wherever you are, the real heart of the city is somewhere else, perhaps nearby, but you're missing it.
Three magnificent female characters, four obnoxious and stupid male characters, one sad adorable male character, and loads of ambiguity and depth that misses the brains of the main characters, so caught up in their wants they miss their needs, and most importantly they miss connecting with each other.
It's not a downer, though. There's too much humor for that. My favorite scene is the funicular. It captures the wistful sense of the traveler sharply. That sense that you must absorb all you can from this place, because you are only visiting, that wherever you are, the real heart of the city is somewhere else, perhaps nearby, but you're missing it.
rebus's review against another edition
4.0
Amazingly, many people on this site found this to be difficult reading. That says more about the educational level of the average reader than this fine book. Much in the manner of Whit Stillman or Bret Easton Ellis, Phillips excoriates the upper classes and the ugly American syndrome while still saying a great deal about Europe.
I suppose it would be difficult for those who have no knowledge or interest in history or geopolitics and who can't manage to get through Thomas Pynchon or David Foster Wallace. One of the few worthy novels since the early 90s, proving once again that the last great novelists all come from Gen X, while the Millennials have yet to produce even one good author (obsessed with moronic fantasy and sci fi and the utterly bankrupt process of world building). The real world is far more interesting than any being built by the idiots in the younger generations.
I suppose it would be difficult for those who have no knowledge or interest in history or geopolitics and who can't manage to get through Thomas Pynchon or David Foster Wallace. One of the few worthy novels since the early 90s, proving once again that the last great novelists all come from Gen X, while the Millennials have yet to produce even one good author (obsessed with moronic fantasy and sci fi and the utterly bankrupt process of world building). The real world is far more interesting than any being built by the idiots in the younger generations.
kiramke's review against another edition
3.0
My reaction to this book is very complicated. My first thought, my first feeling, was oh, how we hated these men in Prague, with their gold cards and their expat cafes and their ivy league theories and their inability to learn anything but pickup lines. But then, the author doesn't treat them with undue forgiveness, and I'm embarrassingly reminded I might want some of that forgiveness myself... And there are the one or two things that awaken my nostalgia, and then the quite interesting monologue about nostalgia... but then again, some rather unresolved character arcs, and a general rephrasing of life is elsewhere, with actual reference to Life is Elsewhere... oh, I don't know, it's complicated.
booksbecreads's review against another edition
2.0
This took me forever to get through, it would have been a 1 star for nme except no mater how bad and dragged out I found it, I still wanted to know what happened in the end. The end was no better than the rest of the story, a basic dissapointment.
It's a story of 5 ex pat American's in the newly liberated Hungarian city of Budapest. It makes me cringe to think this is the typical story of ex pat behaviours and makes me glad I never did the England thing.
I couldn't figure out when this book became all about John, it started being divided by a number of people's stories and then after Part II it seemed to rotate only around him.
Don't read it, it's not worth the time to invest.
SuBC: Read a book and do something in it (go to Budapest!)
It's a story of 5 ex pat American's in the newly liberated Hungarian city of Budapest. It makes me cringe to think this is the typical story of ex pat behaviours and makes me glad I never did the England thing.
I couldn't figure out when this book became all about John, it started being divided by a number of people's stories and then after Part II it seemed to rotate only around him.
Don't read it, it's not worth the time to invest.
SuBC: Read a book and do something in it (go to Budapest!)
anderson65's review against another edition
1.0
Difficult to get into, plodding.
Read half of the book & still wasn't into it. Quit.
Read half of the book & still wasn't into it. Quit.
btmarino84's review against another edition
4.0
Really great novel. Very funny and also sneakily emotional. The study guide in the back mentions that reviewers have noted the author's compassion for his characters and his lack of compassion for his characters. This is pretty funny and also pretty accurate, the author is something of a wise ass, but one who also writes beautifully and sympathetically. This is the 2nd novel of his I have read and loved, after The Song is You. One passage especially stood out to me as a good example of his style. One of the main characters is in love and heartbroken. He stands outside, on the streets of budapest, looking at the stars and smoking a cigarette. The author goes on for a page or two about the cliche of the scene, how the character knows its a cliche, but how the cliche is perfect for his current mood. The scene is simultaneously hilarious, beautiful and also quite emotional. Who of us has not had a very similar experience?
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.