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A review by missbear
The Door by Magda Szabó
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It was one of my goals for this year to actually make an effort to read books by authors who I've already tried and enjoyed. I say it all the time when I read a book by someone new — "I'm definitely going to read more by this author!" — and then the new year rolls around with so many new authors to try and I forget to go back. But this year, I was trying to maximize the number of books I really enjoyed, so I thought it would be a good strategy — and I was so right! Katalin Street was an unexpected delight last year and was so original and unique with its odd ghost perspective that I couldn't really imagine what another book by Szabó would be like. And The Door is completely different, in every way, but it still had that lightning strike effect that Katalin Street had, maybe even more so.
The thing that stood out to me most about The Door is that it's not magical realism (like Katalin Street is), everything in the book is theoretically realistic, and yet it has this feeling the whole time that something vaguely supernatural might be around the corner at any moment. This energy keeps the story incredibly compelling, which is especially impressive considering that there's very little plot and not much of a narrative arc. Even when events happen or time passes chronologically, you get the sense that the only point of including these kinds of details in the story is for the sake of developing the character of Emerence or the relationship between her and the narrator. And it works, because Emerence is such a strange and intriguing person, and the housekeeper/mistress relationship that the story is centered around is so unexpected. And, of course, because Szabó is such a talented writer. I'm ready to read anything she's written, no matter what the content is.
The thing that stood out to me most about The Door is that it's not magical realism (like Katalin Street is), everything in the book is theoretically realistic, and yet it has this feeling the whole time that something vaguely supernatural might be around the corner at any moment. This energy keeps the story incredibly compelling, which is especially impressive considering that there's very little plot and not much of a narrative arc. Even when events happen or time passes chronologically, you get the sense that the only point of including these kinds of details in the story is for the sake of developing the character of Emerence or the relationship between her and the narrator. And it works, because Emerence is such a strange and intriguing person, and the housekeeper/mistress relationship that the story is centered around is so unexpected. And, of course, because Szabó is such a talented writer. I'm ready to read anything she's written, no matter what the content is.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty