Taken in December of 1999 in Budapest
DAILY PHOTO: Chain Bridge with a Hint of Sepia
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Tag Archives: Hungary
BOOK REVIEW: Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer
Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book’s strange title derives from an old Hungarian saying of “under a frog’s arse [and down a coal mine.]” That’s the position the protagonist, Gyuri Fischer, feels himself to be in during the course of the book, running from end of the Second World War through the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. Not many can see, let alone convey, the great absurdist comedy of life under a totalitarian regime, but Tibor Fischer manages to do so. Of course, no tale of life under a Communist regime is without a share of tragedy as well, and that plays out to make a gripping finale.
The book is a mostly chronological telling of the life story of a blue-collar worker who plays basketball well enough to be on the team of the factory he works for (and then, when he switches jobs, the railway.) Throughout the book, Gyuri wants nothing more than to leave Hungary behind. His lonely bachelor’s life and the grim nature of life in a Soviet satellite is too much to bear. One sees his fraying sanity as well as that of some of the other key characters. The sole bright-spot in Gyuri’s life is a love affair that plays out during the second half of the book.
I researched the events of the 1956 Uprising for my Master’s thesis, and Fischer’s book was quite accurate in the portion of the book that covers that time period. In places, I suspect the author favors exaggeration for comedic effect (such as in a hilarious segment that explains the origins of Budapest’s “White House” – a hideous piece of Stalinist architecture if ever there was one,) but he weaves real-world happenings into the stories of his book’s characters.
I’d highly recommend this book. If you’re interested in life under a Communist regime, but can’t take the grim and dreary way these stories are usually conveyed, you’ll find this book a refreshing change. (It’s not that the dreariness is absent, but the absurdity blunts the demoralization.) Alternatively, if you just like humor in your novels, this book will serve one well.
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DAILY PHOTO: Crab Fisher Sculpture, Margit-sziget
Taken in the summer of 2011 in Budapest
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DAILY PHOTO: Prince Eugene of Savoy, Budavári Palota
Taken in the Winter of 1999 in Budapest
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DAILY PHOTO: Esterhazy Palace, Fertőd
Taken in 1996 in Fertőd, Hungary
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DAILY PHOTO: St. Stephen’s, Budapest [Szent István Bazilika]
Taken in the summer of 2011 in Budapest
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DAILY PHOTO: A View from Normafa
Taken in December of 2008 at Normafa
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DAILY PHOTO: A Cold, Gray Day in Eger
DAILY PHOTO: Szent János-Plébánia Templom [St. John the Baptist], Szentendre
Taken in the summer of 2011 in Szentendre
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DAILY PHOTO: Republic of Councils Monument, Budapest
Taken in the summer of 2002 near Budapest
On the southwestern outskirts of Budapest, there’s a park that collects many of the statues from the Communist era. These are statues that were in prominent locations during the Cold War, but were too historic to destroy. This, the Republic of Councils Monument, is one of the most impressive, and was at XIV. Dózsa György Utca (Felvonulási tér, near the City Park [Varosliget.])
At any rate, the Memento Park is where Communist art goes to be kitsch.
