Stephanie Jane recenzis No Live Files Remain de Andras Forgach
Essentially nonfiction
3 steloj
A novel in the sense that some scenes have been fleshed out with imagined detail and dialogue, No Live Files Remain reads as a nonfiction memoir or history book through which Hungarian writer András Forgách works out his shock from discovering his mother's double life. Her meetings with her handlers are interspersed with the actual reports written by 'Mrs Papai' (Bruria), Forgách's father (also an informant and spy), and higher members of the Kadar regime. I found this switching of viewpoints quite difficult to follow at first although the use of clearly different fonts helps a lot. The writing, however, gives an atmospheric impression of Budapest at the time and of the paranoia within the family and Hungary itself. The Forgáchs are Jews, Hebrew-speaking Bruria having been born and raised in Palestine, so the regime is keen for insights in Israel and Zionism. Political and ideological clashes swirl all through …
A novel in the sense that some scenes have been fleshed out with imagined detail and dialogue, No Live Files Remain reads as a nonfiction memoir or history book through which Hungarian writer András Forgách works out his shock from discovering his mother's double life. Her meetings with her handlers are interspersed with the actual reports written by 'Mrs Papai' (Bruria), Forgách's father (also an informant and spy), and higher members of the Kadar regime. I found this switching of viewpoints quite difficult to follow at first although the use of clearly different fonts helps a lot. The writing, however, gives an atmospheric impression of Budapest at the time and of the paranoia within the family and Hungary itself. The Forgáchs are Jews, Hebrew-speaking Bruria having been born and raised in Palestine, so the regime is keen for insights in Israel and Zionism. Political and ideological clashes swirl all through this book in a way that is particularly evocative of the era.
I was a little bemused by a poetry interlude in the middle of No Live Files Remain. Following this, András Forgách speaks directly of his memories of childhood incidents that he now sees in a different light and how he feels about the way his mother was treated during her decade of informing. In its presentation, this is certainly an unusual book and it didn't all completely work for me. I did enjoy being transported back to 1970s and 1980s Budapest, especially having visited the city just last autumn, and learning about Jewish families split between Hungary, Palestine and Israel. Bruria's bemoaning her being stranded between two homelands, neither of which really feel like home, is particularly poignant and the discussions of Israel's annexation of Palestinian land was interesting considering that this is still ongoing over three decades later.