560 reviews for:

Abigail

Magda Szabó

4.36 AVERAGE

medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

عالی بود. عالی. حتی بیشتر از انتظاراتم عاشقش شدم.
از اولین نامه‌ی ابیگیل فهمیدم کیه ولی باعث نشد که از ذوقم کم بشه. اتفاقا به‌نظرم اینکه می‌تونستی حدس بزنی ابیگیل کیه و از حدست مطمئن بودی، داستان رو جذاب‌تر کرده بود.
شخصیت گینا و رفتارهاش خیلی منطقی بود. این هم منطقی بود که یهو تبدیل به دختری عاقل و حرف‌گوش‌کن نشد. می‌تونستی حس کنی که داره تغییر می‌کنه، ولی تغییراتش یهویی نبودن.
خیلی لذت بردم و اصلا نمی‌تونستم کتاب رو زمین بذارم. خوشحالم اولین کتابی که از کتابخونه دانشکده گرفتم همچین چیز فوق‌العاده‌ای بود.

I am in admiration of the way that Szabó masterfully wrote the characters and the plot of the story. Gina’s arrogance and naivety at the beginning was not something I found annoying, but something I empathised with instead. Szabó conveyed this in a way where past these vices, you can see the hurt and fear Gina was experiencing because of the sudden uprooting of her life in Budapest into a strict, Christian boarding school. The reality of war and Hungary’s situation, seeped in through the cracks of Matula’s rigorous rules and preachings of a pious lifestyle, with the girls creating their own world of games and ceremonies within this black and white place. As much as we find comfort in these worlds that we create for ourselves, like Gina, we need to be present and awake with what is truly happening around us, and to put it simply, grow up. 
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

En attendant qu'on lui dise d'entrer, elle considéra la porte avec un attachement qu'elle n'avait pas ressenti jusque là. Les impeccables chiffres quatre de Kerekes, l'exigence de Hadjù de bien suivre la mesure des cantiques, l'ordre qu'il fallait respecter, les interdits qu'il ne fallait pas transgresser, la vie quotidienne de la forteresse, tout cela lui semblait à présent bienfaisant et sécurisant. Ce monde en noir et blanc était un monde propre, rigoureux, qui n'avait rien à voir avec l'indignité et la traîtrise, l'infamie, la mort ou le danger.

Une magnifique histoire sur l'étrange nostalgie que peut représenter une enfance dont l'innocence se retrouve entachée par la guerre et la mort. Une madelaine de Proust trop sèche et trop peu sucrée, que l’on est amené à chérir d'autant plus farouchement face aux pires adversités. Dans le pensionnat de Matula, prison protectrice d’innocences, on trouve l’amour sous toutes ses formes, mais surtout, ses plus tragiques. 

《 La guerre. La mort. Cocorico. 》

Dans le monde d’Abigaël, un banal cendrier acheté par fausse courtoisie importe bien plus que des mots doux soufflés à la nuit tombée dans un trou de serrure fermée. Le héros derrière Abigaël, que des jeux d'enfants auront protégé et insulté jusqu'aux dernières lignes de ce livre, cet être que l’humiliation et la haine touche moins que l'amour et le sens du devoir, cet être de chair et de pierre est probablement l'un des personnages les plus romantiques que j'ai pu lire.

《 Un jour tu me demanderas pardon pour cet instant. Dieu veuille que nous vivions cela l’un et l’autre. 》

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A charming coming of age set in a strict boarding school against the backdrop of war resistance. The beginning felt like A Little Princess (entitled child has to survive without her doting father) and the end like The Sound of Music (childhood joys interrupted by Nazis). This book captures both the petty traumas of childhood and the way larger war traumas encroach upon daily life for the schoolchildren. I alternated between chuckling with delight and deep sadness while reading, and literally gasped a few times. It was obvious early on who Abigail really was, which just made me fall in love with that character sooner.