A review by serendipitysbooks
The Door by Magda Szabó

challenging emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 
I really enjoyed my listening experience with The Door, despite not liking any of the main characters and feeling that some of nuanaces and deeper meanings were passing me by. Where’s a literature professor when you need one? The confessional nature of the book made it well suited for audio. It was like having someone whisper their secret in your ear.

This book examines an unlikely and unconventional friendship between a writer and her housekeeper, Emerence. The two are pretty much polar opposites - one makes her living by writing, the other is illiterate; one is an atheist; the other a regular church goer. Emerence in particular is an enigma. Despite being an employee she very much sets the terms of the relationship. She expects people to bow to her will, and to know what that is without her having to state it. She’s mercurial and intensely private, not letting even her closest friends into her house. Yet she works hard, helps most anybody and seems to have plenty of friends. I recognise that many hard tragic things have happened to her and yet I was never able to muster much, if any sympathy or positive feelings for her. Her abuse of animals was beyond the pale and nearly had me DNFing on more than one occasion. The classist, entitled, self-absorbed nature of the narrator also rankled. I’m not sure if they were just genuinely unlikeable or if some cultural differences prevented me from forming a more sympathetic opinion of them. Thankfully I was still able to appreciate the writing, and since I read this in translation credit must also go the the translator for my reading experience. The book left me with plenty to think about - was Emerence at least a partial personification of twentieth century Hungary?, how much of the narrator was modelled on the author?, to what extent can a difficult past excuse present behaviour? and more. If you enjoy literary fiction, complicated women and toxic friendships this could be a good pick for you. For me it fell into the appreciated rather than enjoyed category.
 
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