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A review by emilyconstance
Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó
4.0
A great book with a really simple message: what's old isn't obsolete. i think using a family to explain the danger of turning a blind eye to history, or attempting to rectify it without taking the time to understand or learn from it was really helpful and digestible. I think it also communicates that not only does this apply to our collective history but our personal histories as well-since memories, our childhood, our past, & all our experiences, make up who we are, and thus confronting them and understanding them are essential to our health and wellbeing. That's another major theme of this book, which I found to be impressive given this was written in the 1960s when mental health was still largely taboo, let alone psychosocial health. Iza's parents health were significantly influenced by their ability to relate to their pasts while in the present, as losing that ability caused their physical states to deteriorate.
Szabó makes a compelling case that we cannot simply build over what was once; we need to incorporate not only artifacts but lessons from the old and craft them into our new creations—warning against the artificiality of technology, the uniformity of newer suburbs, and the hollowness of minimalism, and illuminating how these turn us into regimented machines, much like Iza. Szabó also stresses the importance of caring for and respecting those who came before us, the elderly. They have a beating & feeling heart, too, and just like their histories shouldn't be forgotten, neither should they.
Szabó makes a compelling case that we cannot simply build over what was once; we need to incorporate not only artifacts but lessons from the old and craft them into our new creations—warning against the artificiality of technology, the uniformity of newer suburbs, and the hollowness of minimalism, and illuminating how these turn us into regimented machines, much like Iza. Szabó also stresses the importance of caring for and respecting those who came before us, the elderly. They have a beating & feeling heart, too, and just like their histories shouldn't be forgotten, neither should they.