Customer Reviews

Another Love

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The story started at the border in September 1959. A woman who attempted the illegal crossing was shot at the spot at a stormy night. Lieutenant Marosi found out he knew the woman, whom he ever truly loved and still do. Why did she want to leave? She could leave the country in 1956 and even later she could get help from someone, e.g. Marosi himself, but she didn't. Why was that? Lit. Marosi read the puzzling message written by her just not long before the attempt. He wanted to find the explanation.

The book has an interesting opening and the blurb. The mystery wasn't about finding the murders but about knowing this woman, Eva Szalánczky. Through the interviews of people who "knew" her, we begin to get to know Eva, as well as Marosi did, who thought he knew her. During his investigation, Marosi noticed that Eva's leave occurred not long after her coworker, Livia, was seriously attacked by Livia's husband ..

This story illustrated the period when Hungary experienced the transition from the old party to the new one, how people struggled to live on. And it's especially difficult for people like Eva. That is probably the main message the writer Galgóczi wanted to convey.

The character Eva was considered to be based on Galgóczi's personal experiences. Ironically, Eva died in 1959, one month before the ban on the Hungarian Writers' Union was lifted, while Galgóczi died in 1989 before the collapse of the Soviet-allied system in Eastern Europe.

This book is not for Happy-ever-after readers. But if you don't mind that and are interested in this historical background, you wouldn't be disappointed.

Another Way is based on this novel, and is also worth watching, though the book is even better.

Lieutenant Marosi of the border patrol recognizes the body of his friend Eva who was shot while trying to cross the border from Hungary to Austria in 1959. In order to understand what drove his friend to her death, he follows the trail of her life, and finds Livia, who's in a hospital after being shot by her husband. He finds out that Eva was strong in her beliefs in a dangerous time, and that Eva was having an affair with Livia. Galgóczi's amazing novel is full of Hungarian politics, as well as character studies of people struggling with low expectations and betrayals. The book is also the basis of the movie "Another Way", but the book is much more clear about Eva's motivations for trying to leave the country.