A review by milesjmoran
Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi

5.0

This is an utterly beautiful book. The writing is stunning, at times simple but always clever and perfectly assembled, and each of the characters were gorgeous in their own tragic ways. A premise such as this, where the daughter leaves home, usually produces a book about her and of her own coming of age story, which is what I was expecting. However, Skylark herself is scarcely in this novel and yet she is, in the minds of her parents who simultaneously miss her and don't. The themes of this are sombre and yet there is a lot of lightness and humour to it as well, which Kosztolanyi balances masterfully. Some will find the ending abrupt and purposeless, almost as though the book could have carried on for another hundred or so pages, but I loved that about Skylark. This story doesn't really have a resolution, nothing is really mended come the final sentences, but I feel this is genius. It isn't out of laziness that Kosztolanyi did this. There was purpose behind it and that is tangible in every word, making it a poignant book.