In such a short book, Ágota Kristóf manages to squeeze in Hungarian small-town life during the war, Kristallnacht, the Holocaust, the relationship between the German soldiers and the Hungarian citizens, how the life of a gay person was at that time, the meaninglessness of war, the Russian liberation of Hungary and its not-so-nice aftermath. The story is narrated by the twins together as they describe their life at their grandmother’s place, the people they meet, the new things they learn, the friends they make, how the war years pass, and the challenges they and their grandmother face together. The grandmother is a tough customer but the twins manage to handle the situation. A mother takes her two young twin sons and leaves them at their grandmother’s place. The story told in ‘ The Notebook’ happens during the time of the Second World War. The English translation of ‘The Notebook’ that I read is published by Grove Press, an indie publisher based out of New York. I read this for #ReadIndies hosted by Kaggsy from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Lizzy from Lizzy’s Literary Life. For a long time, I thought that Ágota Kristóf was the European / Hungarian version of Agatha Christie □ Ágota Kristóf is a totally different author, of course, and very different from Agatha Christie. I was inspired by a friend to get Ágota Kristóf’s ‘ The Notebook‘ and read it.
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