A review by nigelbrown
The Book of Fathers by Miklós Vámos
4.0
4.5 An interesting and touchingly human novel about the serendipitous nature of life.
It is described in the blurb as Kornel Csillig’s fortunes on inheriting a timepiece and his descendants fortunes, being able to predict various future events.
You would think this would make it tale of success and familial happiness, it is, in fact, a depressing story of catastrophic marriages, death and disaster.
The two most gratifying aspects you come away with, having read this, are, firstly, what an incredibly tough history Hungary has had, especially the peasants and the jewish community, and secondly how wonderfully precious and indeed, equal our ancestry is. My own children’s blood is a melting pot of at least four nationalities, not to mention around six vastly divided areas of England, and that’s only four generations worth.
It is luxuriously written, superbly translated or, most likely, both
My only criticism, and this could be attributed to my poor concentration levels , is that it can sometimes be a little confusing each time the baton is passed on.
It is described in the blurb as Kornel Csillig’s fortunes on inheriting a timepiece and his descendants fortunes, being able to predict various future events.
You would think this would make it tale of success and familial happiness, it is, in fact, a depressing story of catastrophic marriages, death and disaster.
The two most gratifying aspects you come away with, having read this, are, firstly, what an incredibly tough history Hungary has had, especially the peasants and the jewish community, and secondly how wonderfully precious and indeed, equal our ancestry is. My own children’s blood is a melting pot of at least four nationalities, not to mention around six vastly divided areas of England, and that’s only four generations worth.
It is luxuriously written, superbly translated or, most likely, both
My only criticism, and this could be attributed to my poor concentration levels , is that it can sometimes be a little confusing each time the baton is passed on.