Customer Reviews

To Err Is Divine: A Novel

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Unfortunately, I didn't have time to read this in long stretches so I think I missed a few things, but I thought the premise was interesting and original, and came off well even in translation. It is not an "active" book; be prepared for a slow, detailed, read. It reminded me in some ways of Ibsen's play "An Enemy of the People". I will probably read it again when I have more time.

Anna Levay is a quiet person. You might not even notice her if you passed her on the street. She's heavy-ish and sixty-ish, a widowed schoolteacher with a cordially estranged son. She's the terror of her classroom, but a fond memory to two (going on three) generations of students. She's one of the little people in a pervasively corrupt village where only the big people do more than scrape by. Like everyone else in her world she muddles by well enough, just hoping not to attract attention from anyone important.

And, quite abruptly, she's a saint or something like it. That embarassing halo was her first clue. It wouldn't go away, but at least no one else seemed to notice. Then the miracles started piling up unintentionally, including mysterious behaviors of animals when she came near, magical (and overly personal) growth of her plants, water into wine (not the done thing in a school environment), and miracle cures. But Anna is a sensible woman with little time for miracles, and a vague wish that they'd just go away. Sensibly, she seeks out a doctor to see if her sainthood can be cured - not that she's so explicit about a state that she barely believe in herself. The doctor, however, is one of the town's venal in-crowd, and quickly realizes the commercial potential of her miraculous cures.

Agota Bozai's story is a gentle stroll through the life of this ordinary woman as extraordinary things start to happen around her. She's honest, unassuming, and easy to like. As a result, she make the perfect counter to the petty power trading, embezzling, and scamming so rampant in the post-Soviet world. It's not a satire, so much as a wry look business-as-usual when something and someone very unusual appear among them. The right reader will find a lot to like in this little book.

//wiredweird

While taking a bath, a 59 year old school widowed teacher, notices a peculiar golden aura around her head, and at first tries to hide this halo..Eventually, she realizes that hardly anyone notices it. While wandering the beach, thousands of fish flock to the beach for a real fisherman's holiday. But the hotel/tourist industry, and local politicians investigate this very strange occurence. Even strange things also happen in the local church, and the priest is not sure whether a miracle really happens or not. Finally, a doctor notices her very unique powers, and the powers that be open a posh and expensive medical/ health center. The rest is a fun page turner with many bizarre turns, a mix of pointilistic realism, and the possible supernatural. Very enjoyble way to spend a few hours!

The book delivers a good feeling of what it is like to live in a former communistic country. The story line, which is that of a woman with the power to cure, gets old fast. The book should have been a simple short story.