Product Description

A castle at the foot of the Carpathian mountains in the 1930s. Two men, inseparable in their youth, meet for the first time in forty-one years. They have spent their lives waiting for this moment. Four decades earlier a murky, traumatic event - something to do with a betrayal, and a woman - led to their sudden separation. Now, as their lives draw to a close, the devastating truth about that moment will be revealed. EMBERS is a masterpiece - an unforgettable story of passion, fidelity, truth and deception.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60738 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-06
• Original language: German
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In Sándor Márai's Embers, two old men, once the best of friends, meet after a 41-year break in their relationship. They dine together, taking the same places at the table that they had assumed on the last meal they shared, then sit beside each other in front of a dying fire, one of them near-silent, the other one, his host, slowly and deliberately tracing the course of their dead friendship. This sensitive, long-considered elaboration of one man's lifelong grievance is as gripping as any adventure story, and explains why Maáai's forgotten 1942 masterpiece is being compared with the work of Thomas Mann. In some ways, M´rai's work is more modern than Mann's. His simplicity and succinct, unadorned lyricism may call to mind Latin American novelists like Gabriel García Márquez, or even Italo Calvino. It is the tone of magical realism, although Márai's work is only magical in the sense that he completely engages his reader, spinning a web of words as his wounded central character describes his betrayal and abandonment at the hands of his closest friend. Even the setting, an old castle, evokes dark fairy tales.

The story of the rediscovery of Embers is as fascinating as the novel itself. A celebrated Hungarian novelist of the 1930s, Márai survived the war but was persecuted by the Communists after they came to power. His books were suppressed, even destroyed, and he was forced to flee his country in 1948. He died in San Diego in 1989, one year before the neglected Embers was finally reprinted in his native land. This reprint was discovered by the Italian writer and publisher Roberto Calasso, and the subsequent editions have become international bestsellers. All of his novels are now slated for American publication. --Regina Marler

Review
Two men who have not seen each other for over 40 years sit down to a final meal together in a forgotten castle at the foot of the Carpathia mountains. The last time they met - in the company of a beautiful woman - an unspoken act of betrayal left all three lives shattered.

New York Times Book Review
Lustrous...a jewelled antique (with) a musical command of motifs, variations, tempos and cadences...thrilling.

Customer Reviews

Oh, for the good old days of Austro-Hungary
It is always interesting when a book from the past - Embers was written in 1942 - gets rediscovered or translated for the first time. A similar thing happened recently with the excellent Suite Française. This is a very different kind of book, though, a nostalgic evocation of the colourful, pluralistic days (for some) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The story is simple: an aging General sits in his castle in the Carpathian Mountains awaiting his inseparable boyhood friend who he had not seen for forty-one years. However, he had not seen him because his friend had fled after a devastating act of betrayal which had left their lives shattered. Everything is arranged to reproduce the exact conditions, even the meals, of their final meeting before the incident. A profound meditation on the nature of friendship and personal loyalty, much of the novel revolves around a moving monologue by the General to his almost silent friend recounting their lives together and the reality of their duty to each other. Of course, a woman is involved. The evening gets darker and the wine flows as freely as the words. Strongly elegiac in nature Embers is a beautifully written story, rather slow in pace but short enough to overcome that, and is of considerable historical interest. It does, though, contain rather anachronistic notions of pride and duty, and the quaint view that the strongest bond between two human beings is that between two men. Plato may have believed that but I don't. And whatever betrayal someone had committed against me I could never have afforded the luxury of sitting around in my castle and moping about it for forty years. Like most people, I would have to have got a job! Strongly recommended, though.

Great novel by Hungary's Sandor Marai
This is the third book I have read from Hungarian author Sandor Marai, after Eszther's Inheritance and Divorce in Buda (neither of which is translated into English, as far as I know). Embers is better than Divorce but not as good as Eszther. By this point, one can find certain common elements in Marai's books: middle-aged or elderly individuals remembering bitterly their past, long flashbacks, encounters after a very long time, long winded speeches, a pessimistic view of life. Embers tells the tale of two friends, who met when they were teenagers at the military academy of the Austro-Hungarian empire. One, named Henrik, came from a rich family; the other, named Konrad, came from a poor one. For many years, they were inseparable. Now (the action takes place in 1940) they are 75 years old, and they haven't met in 41 years, after Konrad fled after a mysterious hunt with Henrik. He went on to live on the Orient for 40 years. What cause him to flee? And did Henrik's wife, the late Krisztina, has anything to do with his decision? After receiving Konrad in his country house in the Hungarian Carpathians, the hidden truth slowly starts to emerge. A great book, though perhaps not a masterpiece (Marai's writing style can be a bit too verbose and heavy going at times).

get to the point.
What would you say to your old best friend if he had suddenly disappeared, and then had re-appeared forty-odd years later?
Probably 'Where the hell did YOU go?' and then you'd let him answer.

The premise to this book is great, it's got a nice moody cover, great reviews, - but the truth is this story just goes on and on, discussing just about everything except where the hell Konrad has been or why he vanished. In fact the poor guy barely gets a word in, and must be sitting there in the candlelight wishing he'd never returned.

Even on the odd occasion that Konrad gets the chance, even an invitation to explain himself, the General butts in and waffles on for pages and pages about anything and everything all over again. And in the end you sense that Konrad has just given up and is looking at his watch.

Certainly the story is well written, but no-one talks like this, nor would treat a guest so rudely. Hardly suprising that this old bore has lived alone all these years. He wouldn't have many friends, and certainly no repeat visitors.

I finished the book out of grim determination and a strange curiosity as to whether poor Konrad would finally get a word in. But now it's over I don't feel I can even hand this book into a second hand store as it would be unkind to pass this tedious but well written yawn into someone else's life.

I would suggest that anyone looking for the passion and emotional charge that this book pretends to offer would be far better off to consider 'Love in the Time of Cholera' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I know you'll read all those other reviews again and ignore mine, but you will only have yourself to blame. I'm sure Konrad had a great story to tell, but we'll never know, he slipped out quietly while the General was pontificating into the air.